Pluto stations retrograde

Whenever some poor soul guns down several innocents, and the news cameras descend so that we might watch hour after hour of some town’s misery, I go to my ephemeris to see which planetary culprit has brought us this story. Yesterday in Binghamton, when Jiverly Wong turned his powerlessness into rage and killed 13 people and himself, Mars opposed Saturn and Pluto–planet of power and mayhem–was stationing retrograde. Then in Pittsburgh, another gunman acted out his impotence by donning a bullet-proof vest and lying in wait for the officers called to his house. In Wagner, a father kills his five children after discovering his wife was leaving him for another man. Mars Saturn oppositions can elicit destructive energy–also frustrated rage. Sometimes Pluto stations will bring deadly explosions; often enough unexpected violence is in the news. Knowing the planets involved gives us better alternatives than mere rubber-necking. We know which god requires our attention. Mars, Saturn and Pluto ask us to look into issues of self-assertion, respect, and power, willing to transform whatever negativity we find. Search for the shadow Jiverly in your own (hopefully less precarious) life. Where do you feel frustrated and powerless? Touch in and offer compassion to yourself–then to all the victims around the globe.