Rejoice to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!

We could vote as if we're giving a gift to our descendants—to the people who will live here on the planet after us.

We could regard this an initiatory ritual that will serve as a symbol of our renewed intention to create a New Earth together, healing the damage that has been done to nature.

It would be the first of a new series of devotions—our promise to ourselves and each other to bless future generations with holy acts of practical compassion.





Here's a link to my free weekly email newsletter, featuring the Free Will Astrology horoscopes, plus a bunch of other stuff. It arrives every Tuesday morning.

Read past issues of the newsletter.

Sign up here for your free subscription.





If you'd like to read my thoughts on the election, find them here.





"Election" — a poem by Alfred K. LaMotte:

I voted.

I voted for the rainbow.

I voted for the cry of a loon.

I voted for my grandfather’s bones
that feed beetles now.

I voted for a singing brook that sparkles
under a North Dakota bean field.

I voted for salty air through which the whimbrel flies
South along the shores of two continents.

I voted for melting snow that returns to the wellspring
of darkness, where the sky is born from the earth.

I voted for daemonic mushrooms in the loam,
and the old democracy of worms.

I voted for the wordless treaty that cannot be broken
by white men or brown, because it is made of star semen,
thistle sap, hieroglyphs of the weevil in prairie oak.

I voted for the local, the small, the brim
that does not spill over, the abolition of waste,
the luxury of enough.

I voted for the commonwealth of the ancient forest,
a larva for every beak, a wing-tinted flower
for every moth’s disguise, a well-fed mammal’s corpse
for every colony of maggots.

I voted for open borders between death and birth.

I voted on the ballot of a fallen leaf of sycamore
that cannot be erased, for it becomes the dust and rain,
and then a tree again.

I voted for more fallow time to cultivate wild flowers,
more recess in schools to cultivate play,
more leisure, tax free, more space between days.

I voted to increase the profit of evening silence
and the price of a thrush song.
I voted for ten million stars in your next inhalation.

—Alfred K. LaMotte





THE LIBERATED IMAGINATION VERSUS THE SHACKLED IMAGINATION

We really are at war right now. It's a war of the liberated imagination versus the shackled imagination.

It's a war of empathy and compassion against bigotry and proud selfishness.

It's a war of love and beauty against the ugly forces of grotesque, vacuous heartlessness—against the dismal, stupefied enemies of empathy.

There's a time for everything, as the ancient Chinese book of oracles, the I Ching, would say. And now is the time to fight and struggle with practical fervor in behalf of LOVE.

But in the midst of the conflict, it's our sacred duty to invoke the spirit of celebration. For our own sake and the sake of those we want to help and serve, we should express joy and excitement and curiosity and tenderness. We should cultivate an ecstatic sense of connection with all of creation — which, after all, fuels our passionate commitment to the powers of love.

+

"The only war that matters is the war against the imagination. All other wars are subsumed in it." So said poet Diane di Prima.

That idea has been a cornerstone of my creative, spiritual, and political work for decades.

Read Diane di Prima's whole poem.

+

You can listen to or read more of my meditations on the holiness of the imagination here:

You Are a Prophet

Fear Versus Intuition





REJOICE TO LIVE IN A SPLENDIDLY DISTURBING TIME

"I rejoice to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!" said Helen Keller. She was a smart activist who worked hard in behalf of women's equality, labor rights, anti-militarism, and a fair and just economic system.

Was she being sarcastic or satirical in saying she loved being alive during a time of upheaval? Not at all. She derived excitement and vigor from critiquing injustice. Her lust for life soared as she lent her considerable energy to making life on earth more sustainable and enjoyable for more people.

I invite you to consider adopting her attitude: Generate personal power by taking practical action in behalf of your high ideals.





SHADOW SCHOOL

You're a gorgeous mystery with a wild heart and a lofty purpose. But like all of us, you also have a dark side -- a part of your psyche that snarls and bites, that's unconscious and irrational, that is motivated by ill will or twisted passions or instinctual fears.

It's your own personal portion of the world's sickness: a mess of repressed longings, enervating wounds, ignorant delusions, and unripe powers. You'd prefer to ignore it because it's unflattering or uncomfortable or very different from what you imagine yourself to be.

If you acknowledge its existence at all (many of us don't), you might call it the devil, your evil twin, your inner monster, or your personal demon. Psychologist Carl Jung referred to it as the shadow. He regarded it as the lead that the authentic alchemists of the Middle Ages sought to transmute into gold.

+

Astrologer Steven Forrest has a different name for the shadow: stuff. "Work on your stuff," he says, "or your stuff will work on you." He means that it will sabotage you if you're not aggressive about identifying, negotiating with, and transforming it.

+

The shadow is not inherently evil. If it is ignored or denied, it may become monstrous to compensate. Only then is it likely to "demonically possess" its owner, leading to compulsive, exaggerated, "evil" behavior.

+

"The shadow, which is in conflict with the acknowledged values, cannot be accepted as a negative part of one's own psyche and is therefore projected -- that is, it is transferred to the outside world and experienced as an outside object. It is combated, punished, and exterminated as 'the alien out there' instead of being dealt with as one's own inner problem."

—Erich Neumann, Depth Psychology and a New Ethic

+

The qualities in ourselves that we deny or dislike are often the very qualities that we most bitterly complain about in other people.

So for instance, an old friend of mine named Mark had a special disgust for friends who were unavailable to him when he really needed them. But I was witness to him engaging in the same behavior three different times, disappearing from the lives of his friends just when they needed him most.

+

"Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event," said Jung. If you disown a part of your personality, it'll materialize as an unexpected detour.

Everyone who believes in the devil is the devil.

+

TO READ THE REST OF "SHADOW SCHOOL," go here.





WE ARE ALL AFFECTING THE WORLD

Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another.

Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is a supreme creative act.

—Ram Dass





WHAT CAN YOU ELIMINATE?

What do you need to kill off in yourself in order to tune in to the beauty that's hidden from you? What worn-out shticks are blinding you to the blessings that life is conspiring to give you?

Which of your theories may have been useful and even brilliant in the past but are now keeping you from becoming aware of the ever-fresh creation that unfolds before you?





BE A WEAVE

What if there's no contradiction between being your idiosyncratic self in love with your life and serving others with the best gifts you have to give?

What if exploring your inner world to activate your personal genius dovetails perfectly with fighting to recreate the soulless culture we're embedded in?

What if working on your own salvation makes you a more effective force in liberating others from their suffering?





PEOPLE WHO HATE ME

Last week's horoscopes and newsletter provoked very strong angry emotions in some readers. Read the newsletter here.

I haven't been on the receiving end of such unmitigated spite and spleen and vituperation since I informed my fourth grade class that I liked Kit Kats better than Mars bars.

After reading my endorsements for the election, 310 people unsubscribed from my newsletter, and about 50 of them wrote me enraged foul-mouthed emails telling me what an idiotic, misinformed, ignorant, delusional, misguided dirtbag I am.

36 of the incensed emails were from Trump supporters and the rest were from QAnon folks and "spiritual" people who have inexplicably glommed onto Trump.

I confess I was surprised to learn that I've had ANY Trump and QAnon readers. In my mind, it's obvious to everyone that I am and have always been a Feminist Tantric Qabalist Democratic-Socialist Poet Musician Astrologer.

For the last 30+ years, I've been expressing my passionately progressive political ideas quite frankly and frequently. Read more about that on my Facebook post here.

In any case, this newsletter had 61,115 subscribers before last week's uproar, and it now has 61,190. Yes, 310 unsubscribed— about 0.5% of the total—but 385 new subscribers joined. Thanks!

And the gratifying reality is that far more of you readers expressed support for me expressing my political views than didn't.

+

I did notice that fewer people than usual bought my Expanded Audio Horoscopes last week. Revenues were down a bit. So maybe I did get punished somewhat for expressing my passionate ideals.

That's too bad, in a way. Like everyone else, I need money, especially because I give away my horoscopes and newsletter for free, as well as all my music. Plus major portions of all of my books are available to read online for free, and at libraries.

But I wouldn't have done anything different in last week's newsletter. We are in an emergency situation, all of us here in America. The stakes are as high and dire as they have been in my lifetime.

And of course, since I love you all, and I love us all, I'm going to speak out strongly about what I see as the best ways for us to emerge healed from the dangerous predicaments we're in. I want the best for us all.





If you'd like to donate to me:

1. Visit my Gift Page — and contribute to me now and then via the "Friends and Family" option.

2. Buy my Expanded Audio Horoscopes and/or Sunbursts, my Daily Text Message Horoscopes

3. Commit to offering me a regular donation through my Patreon page.

4. Send checks or cash to me at P.O. Box 4400, San Rafael, CA 94913.

+

P.S.: No pressure, though! I understand that some of you don't have enough money yourself, and it wouldn't make sense for you to give some to me.





CONSERVATIVES FOR BIDEN

I've been a progressive since the age of 16. And so I disagreed fiercely with George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan; likewise with John McCain and Mitt Romney. Except for Bush's great work in Africa, their policies and philosophies were inimical to my own spiritual and political vision.

But they all had an asset that Trump doesn't. Bush, Reagan, McCain, and Romney were and are not broken, monstrous, vicious, vile psychopaths without any redeeming features. Bush, Reagan, McCain, and Romney were and are decent human beings.

If you're conservative, voting Trump out of office doesn't mean you're being disloyal to your conservative principles. In fact, just the opposite: You're declaring that your conservative principles are so important to you that you won't continue to allow a monster to hijack them.

Many Republicans, some very powerful, have made that exact determination. They include:

Dan Coats, who served as Trump's Director of National Intelligence;

Jim Mattis, who served as Trump's Secretary of Defense;

John Kelly, who served as Trump's Chief of Staff;

George Will, iconic conservative columnist for more than 40 years;

Michael Steele, former Chairperson of the Republican National Committee.





WHAT TO DO ABOUT LOVED ONES WHO ARE TRUMP SUPPORTERS?

My old friend Ronnie Record expresses my own perspective well in the following essay: "What I am uncertain of and what I do not know quite how to handle is my perception and relationship and feelings for those close to me who continue to support Donald Trump even after an almost daily avalanche of idiotic, insidious, insane, illegal, immoral, and incompetent statements and actions have transpired over the course of his first term.

"Their continued support for this corrupt, compromised, incompetent, conspiratorial nut presents a problem I have some difficulty coping with. I'm open to advice. Getting conned by an excellent con man is not an indictment of one's character. It simply means that you got fooled. Shame on the con man. But getting fooled again by the same con and the same con man, well, that's shame on you. And the con got exposed right before our eyes every single day for 4 years now!

"So how do I handle this? How best to move forward with friends and family and a society that is either bewilderingly gullible or shockingly misinformed or sorrowfully brainwashed or, God forbid, actually thinks that families crossing the border illegally should be ripped apart and the children thrown in cages, that that is a good thing.

"Or, possibly all of the above, they are gullible, misinformed, brainwashed victims of an onslaught of lies. Of course, we all are gullible misinformed brainwashed sentient entities acting out of partial ignorance and hidden self interest and all that. So the problem is not unique to Trump supporters. It's just so blatant and overboard and awful that it's hard for me to understand how intelligent thoughtful compassionate nice people can still support him.

"So even though I believe I've got my dance down and will be able to continue to appreciate the beauty of the world no matter the outcome of the election, I still have a lot of work to do coping with the people I care about who seem to have somehow strayed or been led into another dimension. It's my very own episode of the Twilight Zone."





JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT

One of my main reasons for being on planet Earth is to help minimize and alleviate the world's suffering — among my fellow humans as well as among the animals and plants.

As president, Joe Biden will be in alignment with my goal: He will markedly reduce suffering.

If Donald Trump is re-elected, he will continue to do what he has already done: dramatically increase suffering.

As columnist Maureen Dowd wrote, "Biden is an empath, Trump a sociopath."

So yes, I endorse Joe Biden for President. And I endorse every Democratic candidate for the US Congress, both the Senate and the House.

I endorse every Democratic candidate for governor and every Democratic candidate for every state legislature.

The collusion of the Republican Party with Donald Trump's Reign of Error and Terror shows that it has become, at least temporarily, a party without scruples or integrity.

We can hope that once Trump has left office, the GOP might regain its commitment to actual conservative principles and shed its devotion to a malicious tyrant with no principles.

While I am not and have never been and will never be a member of the Democratic Party, I believe that in this election it is key to the health of democracy and the well-being of Americans that Democratic candidates win.

One Hundred Good Reasons to Vote for Joe Biden

+

Wherever you live, here's how to vote in the election

More info on how to vote





THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL. THE POLITICAL IS PERSONAL

A reader asked me: "What do you think it means for the election that Mercury is now in retrograde and comes out of it on Nov. 3?"

Here's my response: It's a highly favorable time for us to meditate on the fact that the personal is political and the political is personal; the spiritual is political and the political is spiritual.

We will gain integrity, authenticity, and power by deploying the truth articulated by journalist Martha Gellhorn: "People say with pride, 'I’m not interested in politics.' They may as well say, 'I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, job, rights, freedoms, future.' If we mean to keep control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics."





THE SPIRITUAL IS POLITICAL. THE POLITICAL IS SPIRITUAL.

“A spirituality that is only private and self-absorbed, one devoid of an authentic political and social consciousness, does little to halt the suicidal juggernaut of history.

"On the other hand, an activism that is not purified by profound spiritual and psychological self-awareness ... will only perpetuate the problem it is trying to solve, however righteous its intentions."

—Andrew Harvey





THE COMING PROGRESSIVE MAJORITY

It's only a matter of time before Progressives are the majority in American politics

More info





ASTROLOGY AND POLITICS

Some readers tell me with straight-faced delusional certainty that astrology and politics shouldn't be combined. They don't know much about history! Many political leaders throughout the ages have regularly consulted astrologers. As just one example, US President Ronald Reagan consulted the astrologer Joan Quigley about every decision he made.

Here's a partial list

For example: In ancient China there was a doctrine called the "Mandate of Heaven." Because of it, a ruling dynasty often gave way to new leadership when many planets gathered in one astrological sign. In May, 1059 B.C., for instance, a large conjunction in Cancer signaled the end of the Shang kings, who had grown corrupt. Wen, a rebel with great integrity and wisdom, ascended to the throne.

For example: In 1226, Mongol astrologer Yeh-lu Ch'uts'ai saved 100,000 lives. His boss, Genghis Khan, had ordered a massacre of the Tangut people, but the sage insisted that a heavenly sign—a colossal planetary conjunction in Capricorn—was a clear omen not to proceed with the plan. Amazingly, Khan agreed.

For example, as mentioned above, President Ronald Reagan made extensive use of the services of astrologer Joan Quigley. Here's a quote from a memoir by Donald Regan, who was Reagan's Chief of Staff:

“Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.”

More.





BLACK AMERICANS FOR BIDEN

Amy Gardner writes: "Black Americans have already been voting in striking numbers, helping to drive historic levels of early voting as mail ballots have flooded election offices and people have endured huge lines to cast ballots in person across the country.

In interviews in 10 states where early voting is underway, Black voters said this year’s presidential election is the most important of their lifetime

"They spoke of a sense of urgency to protect the nation’s democracy, and their role in it, which they believe a second Trump term would erode beyond repair.

"Many said they view the president as a racist who cannot bring himself to disavow white supremacists or the year’s spate of police killings of unarmed Black Americans, and they believe the country is less safe for themselves and their families.

"Over and over again, Black Americans described their vote this year as much more than a choice between two presidential candidates, but as an urgent stand in the long fight against racial injustice in America, which the year’s events have made clear is not yet over."

— Amy Gardner

More.





SCIENCE FOR BIDEN

Numerous science journals have taken the unprecedented step of endorsing a presidential candidate in this year's election: Joe Biden, of course.

For example, the prestigious journal Nature wrote the following: "Trump has damaged science — and it could take decades to recover. His actions have exacerbated the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States, rolled back environmental and public-health regulations and undermined science and scientific institutions. Some of the harm could be permanent."

More info.


Here are other science journals that have taken editorial stances against Trump: the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Science, Scientific American, PLOS, PNAS, CellPress, and JAMA.





NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS FOR BIDEN

489 national security experts, including 22 four-star officers, have endorsed Joe Biden for president, saying the "current president" is not up to "the enormous responsibilities of his office."

Read more.

Read even more.





ICONIC CONSERVATIVE PUNDIT FOR BIDEN

George Will is a conservative columnist who has been writing rightwing musings since 1974. The conservative Wall Street Journal once called him "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America." He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977.

And yet George Will has been steadfastly and vociferously critical of Donald Trump's presidency. In a recent column, he wrote, "Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers." George Will, A staunch conservative for over 50 years, is voting for Joe Biden.





MARINE GENERAL JOHN KELLY FOR BIDEN

Marine General John Kelly served as the White House chief of staff for Donald Trump. Before that he served as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration.

But now Kelly says that Trump "is the most flawed person" he's ever known. According to Kelly, "The depths of Trump's dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else."





MESSAGE TO REPUBLICANS FROM REPUBLICAN LEADERS

Here's a message to Republicans from four long-time Republican leaders, Stuart Stevens, Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt and Reed Galen:

Trump is a boor, incapable and unfit for office.

As Republicans, will you stand with Trump, or will you stand with, and stand up for, America? Will you protect democracy or protect a single person and his family?

You know what Republican elected officials have said about Trump behind closed doors from the start because you are often — maybe always — behind those doors. You’ve seen the haunted look in a colleague’s or a boss’s eyes after a meeting with the unstable, unfit man who is our president. You know in your heart that Trump should not be president for another day.

As conservatives, we long argued that culture was the soul of America. We were right, but it is Trump who now assaults our nation’s soul.

Trump's failures have cost nearly 220,000 Americans their lives and tens of millions their jobs. His instability is increasing; you see it every day. The choice now is: America or Trump? Now is the time to stand with the country you love.





EX-CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR BIDEN

Michael Steele has served as chairperson of the Republican National Committee and several other political offices as a Republican. In 1995, the Maryland Republican Party selected him as their Republican Man of the Year. But in this election, he's voting for Joe Biden.

Steele has been a fierce critic of Trump throughout his administration, accused the president of exacerbating division, seeking the favor of dictators, and embracing outdated economic principles.

“Trump has posited a single purpose for the GOP — the celebration of him,” he added, lamenting how the Republican Party had “given up its voice on things that mattered and instead bent the arc of the party towards the baser motives of one man, who is neither a Republican nor a conservative.”

Read more.





The Atlantic magazine sums it up:

Donald Trump is the worst president this country has seen since Andrew Johnson, or perhaps James Buchanan, or perhaps ever.

Trump has brought our country low;

he has divided our people;

he has pitted race against race;

he has corrupted our democracy;

he has shown contempt for American ideals;

he has made cruelty a sacrament;

he has provided comfort to propagators of hate;

he has abandoned America’s allies;

he has aligned himself with dictators;

he has encouraged terrorism and mob violence;

he has undermined the agencies and departments of government;

he has despoiled the environment;

he has opposed free speech;

he has lied frenetically and evangelized for conspiracism;

he has stolen children from their parents;

he has made himself an advocate of a hostile foreign power;

and he has failed to protect America from a ravaging virus.

Trump is not responsible for all of the 220,000 COVID-19-related deaths in America. But through his avarice and ignorance and negligence and titanic incompetence, he has allowed tens of thousands of Americans to suffer and die, many alone, all needlessly. With each passing day, his presidency reaps more death.

More.





We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

—Elie Wiesel

+

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

―Desmond Tutu

+

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

—Paulo Freire

+

Intellectual neutrality is not possible in a historical world of exploitation and oppression.

—Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza





LIST OF THINGS TO DO

1. Expect nothing, but ask for everything.

2. Gently but gleefully smash an unnecessary personal taboo.

3. End your association with a situation or place that feels oppressive.

4. Buck tradition with wit and compassion rather than with wrath and cynicism.

5. Escape an old niche where you got trapped for the sake of peace and harmony.

6. Carry a gift with you at all times in case you run into a fresh beauty who makes you feel doubly alive.