My natal Sun-Moon is in the fray for this one, so I'll probably join you in the Radiohead listening party. My son required a hospital visit yesterday after sustaining a cut to his forehead. This seems to be a Mars-Pluto theme.
On the world transit front, I see the developing situation with Israel/Lebanon as being related to the Mars-Pluto transit. Recall that the latest cycles of violence with Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza were initiated (escalated) under Mars-Pluto hard aspects in February 2022 and October 2023. I expect the Full Moon will emphasize these disturbing events in its characteristic way.
Too bad about your son -- best wishes for his recovery. Head injury makes sense for the Aries Moon component, with Aries ruling the head in medical astrology.
In Weekend Entertainment Guide tomorrow, I'm going to point out the US Pluto conjunct MC astrocartography line, which goes through both Russia and the Middle East, being triggered in the course of the US Pluto return. If Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza both began with transiting Mars-Pluto aspects while the US was having its Pluto return, that would also be transiting Mars in hard aspect to US Pluto. Good to tie that together.
First, on re-discovering, “OK Computer,” I had a similar experience with it about a year ago. While, for the most part, I’ve not been a big fan of Radiohead’s stuff after that album, that one and their previous efforts are true gems. I’m glad to hear “OK Computer” is providing you some comfort and strength in your endeavors, including the editing and publishing process!
As to your comments on the astrology, as a former journalist, a long-time media critic and an astrology content creator, I believe a discussion about journalist ethics might behoove us.
(And if you believe I wrote that paragraph just so I could use “behoove,” a part of you is correct! 🤣)
In all seriousness, the algorithms promote content that stimulates/engages people, for better or worse, and fear sells (perhaps in a similar way to why roller coasters and horror movies sell; maybe people have lives that feel dull and predictable so they seek vicarious thrills, even if it is from astrologers predicting a particular Full Moon has invited the Four Horsemen to its moonlit party.)
Anyway, yeah, even though my daily life has been reasonably chill during this transit, I’ve seen the tensions flare up in online interactions between me and people I care about.
Last but not least, my condolences on the loss of your former teacher. Life sucks sometimes.
Thank you for the condolences. Re: media ethics, I had journalistic training working for school newspapers middle school through college. My college newspaper, the University of Oregon's Oregon Daily Emerald, was especially good at reinforcing the importance of fact-checking, and I have definitely relied on that training in my current editing project. People come to astrology from a wide variety of backgrounds, and many astrologers probably don't have journalistic training. I also wonder if journalistic training is different now than it was when I was in college 20 years ago, because at that time, there was a lot of importance placed on avoiding the appearance of political bias, and that does not seem to be the way the media operates today.
Online videos were also not commonplace 20 years ago, and I think the easy access to excitement that they offer has warped people today. I think people were more okay with being bored once in a while 20 years ago. Sadly, the example I gave about "a cabal of deranged elites could release aerosolized Ebola to cull the population" was not just something I made up — it was based on a non-astrological video my mom watched in the past week. Astrologers are certainly not the only people engaging in the fomenting of fear these days, but we need to set a better example.
That’s cool that you worked at the Daily Emerald at the U of O. As I may have mentioned to you elsewhere, I was all set—and excited—to go to the U of O until USC gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse in scholarship money and I went there, always my dream choice that felt out of reach. Anyway, there are only a few pivot points in my life that I wonder about if I’d taken the other road, and that college choice is one of them.
As for that training in journalistic ethics, this has been one of my “soapbox topics” on my daily podcast this year, the idea that if you’re going to be creating content, it’s better to learn just the basics.
However, as you said, journalism ethics have changed greatly in the past 20 years. When I was in college in the early 1990s, it was fringe or “alternative” media outlets that came from a stated POV, which was once called “advocacy journalism,” but the majority of outlets looked down on it. Personally, I believe both models have value, but the KEY is you have to be honest if you’re doing advocacy journalism.
In the early 2000s, with its obviously trolling-the-Left “Fair and Balanced” tagline, FOX News broke that rule and, well, we’ve never looked back. So, as much as I critique the so-called Left media these days, I’m well aware that this ecosystem was mostly seeded by the Right (before that, with talk radio blowhards like Rush Limbaugh!).
Last, there was ONE thing when I was in journalism school that drove me mad and that was how the Journalism school had, as one of its 3 departments, Public Relations (the other two were Print Journalism and Broadcast Journalism). I once got into a pretty heated exchange with one of my professors, a man who was a highly renowed Sports Information Director and who I actually quite respected, but my beef with him was that Public Relations is NOT journalism because, at its core, it’s not about searching for and sharing truth—no matter what it reveals—-but rather about putting a good face on a product.
Well, I definitely lost that battle, and now it seems like the vast majority of media are a form of public relations and creating media to discover the truth and share it seems like it belongs to the previous millenium.
Yes, this old man is going to go outside and shake his fist at the clouds now! Ha ha.
Cardinal cross. Ugh. My story is that a well-meaning report I sent after spending a week with my Libra bro and Gemini-Taurus sis-in-law, both of whom should be in assisted living, was not received well by her five adult children. Three sent email blast attacks, two threatening legal action, one saying I'd torn apart the family, and all unleashing "misinformation." Even the two remaining sibs stopped all communication with me. Ouch ouch ouch. That is *some* of what coincided with the cardinal cross hitting my 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses. But no blood, Eva!
Oh, wow, good grief! Concerns about someone's cognitive health make a lot of sense for the Full Moon in Aries, given that Aries is associated with the head and brain in medical astrology.
My natal Sun-Moon is in the fray for this one, so I'll probably join you in the Radiohead listening party. My son required a hospital visit yesterday after sustaining a cut to his forehead. This seems to be a Mars-Pluto theme.
On the world transit front, I see the developing situation with Israel/Lebanon as being related to the Mars-Pluto transit. Recall that the latest cycles of violence with Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza were initiated (escalated) under Mars-Pluto hard aspects in February 2022 and October 2023. I expect the Full Moon will emphasize these disturbing events in its characteristic way.
Too bad about your son -- best wishes for his recovery. Head injury makes sense for the Aries Moon component, with Aries ruling the head in medical astrology.
In Weekend Entertainment Guide tomorrow, I'm going to point out the US Pluto conjunct MC astrocartography line, which goes through both Russia and the Middle East, being triggered in the course of the US Pluto return. If Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza both began with transiting Mars-Pluto aspects while the US was having its Pluto return, that would also be transiting Mars in hard aspect to US Pluto. Good to tie that together.
Radiohead for the win. 🥇
First, on re-discovering, “OK Computer,” I had a similar experience with it about a year ago. While, for the most part, I’ve not been a big fan of Radiohead’s stuff after that album, that one and their previous efforts are true gems. I’m glad to hear “OK Computer” is providing you some comfort and strength in your endeavors, including the editing and publishing process!
As to your comments on the astrology, as a former journalist, a long-time media critic and an astrology content creator, I believe a discussion about journalist ethics might behoove us.
(And if you believe I wrote that paragraph just so I could use “behoove,” a part of you is correct! 🤣)
In all seriousness, the algorithms promote content that stimulates/engages people, for better or worse, and fear sells (perhaps in a similar way to why roller coasters and horror movies sell; maybe people have lives that feel dull and predictable so they seek vicarious thrills, even if it is from astrologers predicting a particular Full Moon has invited the Four Horsemen to its moonlit party.)
Anyway, yeah, even though my daily life has been reasonably chill during this transit, I’ve seen the tensions flare up in online interactions between me and people I care about.
Last but not least, my condolences on the loss of your former teacher. Life sucks sometimes.
Thank you for the condolences. Re: media ethics, I had journalistic training working for school newspapers middle school through college. My college newspaper, the University of Oregon's Oregon Daily Emerald, was especially good at reinforcing the importance of fact-checking, and I have definitely relied on that training in my current editing project. People come to astrology from a wide variety of backgrounds, and many astrologers probably don't have journalistic training. I also wonder if journalistic training is different now than it was when I was in college 20 years ago, because at that time, there was a lot of importance placed on avoiding the appearance of political bias, and that does not seem to be the way the media operates today.
Online videos were also not commonplace 20 years ago, and I think the easy access to excitement that they offer has warped people today. I think people were more okay with being bored once in a while 20 years ago. Sadly, the example I gave about "a cabal of deranged elites could release aerosolized Ebola to cull the population" was not just something I made up — it was based on a non-astrological video my mom watched in the past week. Astrologers are certainly not the only people engaging in the fomenting of fear these days, but we need to set a better example.
That’s cool that you worked at the Daily Emerald at the U of O. As I may have mentioned to you elsewhere, I was all set—and excited—to go to the U of O until USC gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse in scholarship money and I went there, always my dream choice that felt out of reach. Anyway, there are only a few pivot points in my life that I wonder about if I’d taken the other road, and that college choice is one of them.
As for that training in journalistic ethics, this has been one of my “soapbox topics” on my daily podcast this year, the idea that if you’re going to be creating content, it’s better to learn just the basics.
However, as you said, journalism ethics have changed greatly in the past 20 years. When I was in college in the early 1990s, it was fringe or “alternative” media outlets that came from a stated POV, which was once called “advocacy journalism,” but the majority of outlets looked down on it. Personally, I believe both models have value, but the KEY is you have to be honest if you’re doing advocacy journalism.
In the early 2000s, with its obviously trolling-the-Left “Fair and Balanced” tagline, FOX News broke that rule and, well, we’ve never looked back. So, as much as I critique the so-called Left media these days, I’m well aware that this ecosystem was mostly seeded by the Right (before that, with talk radio blowhards like Rush Limbaugh!).
Last, there was ONE thing when I was in journalism school that drove me mad and that was how the Journalism school had, as one of its 3 departments, Public Relations (the other two were Print Journalism and Broadcast Journalism). I once got into a pretty heated exchange with one of my professors, a man who was a highly renowed Sports Information Director and who I actually quite respected, but my beef with him was that Public Relations is NOT journalism because, at its core, it’s not about searching for and sharing truth—no matter what it reveals—-but rather about putting a good face on a product.
Well, I definitely lost that battle, and now it seems like the vast majority of media are a form of public relations and creating media to discover the truth and share it seems like it belongs to the previous millenium.
Yes, this old man is going to go outside and shake his fist at the clouds now! Ha ha.
Sorry to read of the stream of accidents and bad news. May life begin to find a center point soon.
Thank you!
I'm feeling all of the heat from this moon ♈️ let's hope for the next 6 month cycle to be smoother for thr cardinal signs.
Cardinal cross. Ugh. My story is that a well-meaning report I sent after spending a week with my Libra bro and Gemini-Taurus sis-in-law, both of whom should be in assisted living, was not received well by her five adult children. Three sent email blast attacks, two threatening legal action, one saying I'd torn apart the family, and all unleashing "misinformation." Even the two remaining sibs stopped all communication with me. Ouch ouch ouch. That is *some* of what coincided with the cardinal cross hitting my 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses. But no blood, Eva!
Oh, wow, good grief! Concerns about someone's cognitive health make a lot of sense for the Full Moon in Aries, given that Aries is associated with the head and brain in medical astrology.