Kushmonster

Kushmonster

Friday, February 25, 2011

World Corrupting JP Morgue Whore Outed

I never heard of her until a couple of weeks ago, but thanks to the escalating battle over the suppression of the prices of the precious metals and manipulation of that market primarily through the naked shorting of the metals through unbacked paper derivatives, many of us have come to know the name of Blythe Masters who is presently being assailed, excoriated and generally vilified across the various metals sites across the net. As current head of global commodities for JP Morgan Chase, Masters is now coming to be known for the creation of the dreadful financial instruments known as derivatives apparently at the core of the global economic meltdown. With its astounding exposure to some 90 trillion dollars in derivatives largely based on its takeover of the defunct Bear Stearns silver derivative positions, the JP Morgue is one of the biggest of the TBTF, along with that other insolvent zombie, the Bank Of America, the looming and inevitable collapses of which will drag the world economy into oblivion. http://kushmonster.blogspot.com/2010/03/in-article-posted-march-18-2010-on.html So along with Turd Ferguson, Jesse, Max Keiser, Zerohedge, and the rest, we salute the evil eminence and present face of catastrophic greed, insensible, insatiable self interest and rapacious avarice in this revenant from the dark side.



http://tfmetalsreport.blogspot.com/

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Army Wages Low Intensity Warfare In Southeastern Colorado

Trinidad State Junior College was the scene of the latest confrontation in the five year running battle between local ranchers and townspeople of the various agricultural enclaves and towns of Southeastern Colorado and the US Army over the proposed massive expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS). A crowd of more than 100 crammed the Pioneer Room at the Sullivan Student Union to witness the most recent Environmental Assessment of the continuing Environmental Impact Study involving the three decades of Army development of the PCMS. The government expropriation of hundreds of thousands of acres of local farmland by eminent domain in 1981 has left scores of area families devastated in the wake of the creation of the PCMS.

The latest meetings inviting public comment concerning environmental consequences of ongoing Army development of the PCMS have been called in response to a new Army Pinon Canyon Environmental Assessment in answer to a ruling by Federal Judge Richard Matsch in 2009. That ruling declared the previous Army environmental assessment inadequate and cited past failures to protect the fragile prairie grasslands, effectively blocking any expansion of PCMS. The new 43 page report besides "defending and reasserting " Army plans to ramp up training at the site, suggests that any full environmental impact study is unnecessary. The following is from a January 23, 2011 Pueblo Chieftan article.

The assessment report is more blunt, concluding "the proposed action may be approved and implemented without significant adverse, unmitigated environmental impacts. As a result, proceeding with a (full environmental study is not necessary."As to how much additional training can Pinon Canyon withstand, it says "the upper level of training that can be accomplished while maintaining a sustainable environment has not yet been determined."
For the opponents who took the Army to court in 2008, the new assessment boils down to the Army defying Matsch's ruling and insisting it will determine what the historical levels of training have been and whether the training range is being damaged by heavier use.
"Neither Acts of Congress nor the federal judiciary have deterred the Army from moving ahead with its plans," said Jean Aguerre, president of the Not 1 More acre! group that won the lawsuit in 2009. She was referring to Matsch's ruling as well a formal ban on the Army spending money to expand Pinon Canyon-- money that Congress has renewed each year since 2008.
"The Pentagon continues to defy every level of democracy while holding an entire region and its people hostage," Aguirre said in a statement Friday.
.

After perfunctory and introductory statements from Colonel Robert McLaughlin, the
commander of the Fort Carson Army base, and a facilitator from the Environmental Protection Agency moderating the public comments, the floor was opened to individuals who had signed up to speak. The outrage and sense of betrayal experienced by the concerned citizens assembled in the Student Union was palpable and universal. Most shared and even amplified the sentiments of Jean Aguerre in the Pueblo Chieftan article above. While the comments were ostensibly limited to specific concerns about the Environmental Assessment, the resulting discussion was a wide ranging and eloquent testimony to the past five years of intense conflict between the long time generational residents, local activists and the Army.

While many of the respondents gave expert testimony as to the economic and environmental devastation occurring in the region due to the Army's expropriation of the Pinon Canyon lands starting in the early 80s when numerous local ranches were seized by eminent domain, others simply detailed their painful and wrenching personal experiences at the hands of the Army overlords. Still others questioned and openly challenged the legality and constitutionality of a government which unilaterally asserted its dictatorial claims to the lands and livelihoods of its own citizens. While pointing out the loss of a local feed mill in Trinidad at the cost of several hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to the local economy due to the loss of local cattle ranches, one speaker suggested that the Army tactics were similar to those used in military operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Iraq and that Southeastern Colorado had been declared a zone of operations similar to those areas of ongoing military engagement.

Indeed the progressive militarization of civil society is nowhere more in evidence than the plains of Southeastern Colorado where some of the most "conservative" and staunch supporters of the military have been transformed into its most adamant and vocal opponents. The resulting radicalization of this heartland rural populace accomplished by the unrestrained, coercive and illegal military intervention poses some interesting questions as to the real agenda of the Pentagon in the Pinon Canyon and beyond. One respondent even went so far as to quote Army documents which purportedly welcomed the opportunity provided by the PCMS expansion to isolate, surround, and employ remote towns as staging areas for military and paramilitary operations.

The recent resolution passed by the Trinidad City Council to enter into a "partnership"with the Army has further roiled the already volatile conflict between the opponents of PCMS expansion and the Army. The resolution, suggesting and implying a crucial level of cooperation between the council and Army objectives in the region reinforced the prevailing view among resident activists of betrayal and marginalization not only by the Army but by their elected representatives. The resolution reads as follows:

“A resolution of the city council of the city of Trinidad, Colorado, declaring the city’s general support of partnerships and programs that enhance the strength, resilience and readiness of United States military service members and their families. Whereas, the city council of the city of Trinidad, Colorado recognizes the steadfast commitment that United States military service members and their families are making on a daily basis. And, whereas the city council further recognizes that the strength of United States military service members and their families is supported by the strength of their home communities and communities surrounding their current duty stations, and, whereas, on behalf of the citizens of Trinidad, Colorado, the city council desires to declare its general support of partnerships and programs that enhance the strength, resilience and readiness of United States military service members and their families. Now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Trinidad, Colorado, that, one, a declaration of support on behalf of the citizens of Trinidad, Colorado, the city council hereby declares its support of partnerships and programs that enhance the strength, resilience and readiness of United States military service members and their families.”

Though enthusiastically welcomed by the Army, the resolution was passed without debate and significant public input, and with the recent Army environmental release has only exacerbated concerns about not only the further expansion of the PCMS, but the increasing levels of military activity in Southeastern Colorado. A waiver granted to the Army by Congress concerning the significant environmental degradation at the site further opening up the possibility of virtually unlimited expansion of the PCMS and the ongoing expropriation of local landowners was addressed the Council meeting by Doug Holdread.

“If everybody gets together, we can get this waiver rescinded,” Holdread said. “Once the waiver is terminated I think we can get back to a place where we can all talk to each other again. Until that waiver is terminated, we don’t want to do anything that will misrepresent Trinidad or Las Animas County.”

At the very least, the implications of such rampant domestic military provocations conducted in the name of national security raise serious questions as to the actual aims and objectives of the government in dealing with its own citizenry. These disturbing questions seem to be quite unequivocally answered in the very real and serious consequences of the pending and real US military occupation of Southeastern Colorado so drastically impacting the lives of its farmers, ranchers and residents. One of the many speakers, decked out in black cowboy hat and blue jeans, seemed to speak for many of those present as he read the oath to the Constitution, laboriously copied onto several 3x5 note pad pages, to the Army commander and his adjutants, pointedly asking them how they could so obviously dishonor this oath and especially those in attendance with their unwelcome presence.

Ps. it has just come to our attention that El Paso County has just eclipsed Denver County in population, largely due to the astounding influx of some 80,000 soldiers over the past several years to Fort Carson near Colorado Springs. Posse Comitatus seems moot at this point

Friday, February 11, 2011

Brief Reflection on the Egyptian "Revolutionaries"

all revolutions are of the belly. while hunger is intrinsically a "gut feeling" it admits of nothing particularly admirable or commendable though it should naturally incite our sympathy. it's easy for us to sit in our comfortable loge at the world's amphitheater and applaud in hindsight the predictable outcome of thirty years and more of individual and heroic day to day struggles to little more than subsist in grinding poverty in the living terror of a repressive police state where simply to speak out puts one in peril of life. its quite another matter to realistically and with historical hindsight soberly assess the limited possibilities which await these attempts to break the shackles which inevitably bind millions of gruesomely impoverished and dispossessed individuals to the convoluted matrix of global financial imperatives. chances are that the once ignored and scorned canaille coursing through the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and the Suez will find the exhilaration of their liberation a brief, short-lived, and passing tribute to the innate resilience which has allowed them to live, labor, and love with the innate dignity which is their greatest possession. in the meantime they await a most uncertain and perilous future at the hands of the same dark forces of oppression which have mysteriously been transformed into shimmering mirages of their deepest longings.

"Behind the facade of proclaiming democratic reforms of autocratic regimes in the entire region, the Greater Middle East was and is a blueprint to extend US military control and to break open the statist economies in the entire span of states from Morocco to the borders of China and Russia." F.W. Engdahl


belated postmortem:Egypt to protest against anti-protest law
The new decree-law issued by the cabinet yesterday draws the ire of activists and labourers who plan to take their objections to the street in massive protests on Friday Lina El-Wardani , Thursday 24 Mar 2011
The Egyptian cabinet approved yesterday a decree-law that criminalises strikes, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins that interrupt private or state owned businesses or affect the economy in any way.
The decree-law also assigns severe punishment to those who call for or incite action, with the maximum sentence one year in prison and fines of up to half a million pounds.
The new law, which still needs to be approved by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, will be in force as long as the emergency law is still in force. Egypt has been in a state of emergency since the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat in 1981.

February 9,2011-Israel Destroys a Medical Supply Warehouse in Gaza


http://redactednews.blogspot.com/2011/02/ken-okeefe-gordon-duff-new-attacks-in.html
While the corporate media circus broadcasting the latest CIA coup d'état In Egypt challenges American Idol for viewer share, its business as usual for the Zionist state in its apartheid gulag in Gaza. Meanwhile Egypt's Foreign Defense Minister and Field Marshall Tantawis is in the US for talks concerning anti-tunnel technology and building a concrete barrier wall In Rafah.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Agricultural Revolutionaries in La Purgatoire



Forget about Mubarak, OBAMA MUST GO!

As the country drifts like a rudderless ship to the shoals of inevitable catastrophe and economic ruin, it is time that thinking Americans themselves reach the unavoidable and inevitable conclusion that their president, Barack Hussein Obama, either by neglect or design, and in collusion with the predators of the major financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, J.P Morgan Chase, who have engineered a war of financial attrition against the American people and who have directly financed and subsidized his regime, is:

1.Pursuing unjust and unlawful wars of aggression across the world, resulting in the deaths not only of thousands of American citizens and countless foreign civilians especially in the Middle East but also the ongoing destabilization and outright occupation of sovereign nations in the name of globalist and corporate entities whose interests are inimical and even treasonous to the Constitution of the United States, resulting in the criminal deprivation of American citizens of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" through the misappropriation, squandering and misallocation of funds essential to the national welfare in the prosecution of these wars

2.Enacting domestic and economic policies through coercive and draconian legislation which seeks to curtail and eliminate God given rights of free expression and dissent as guaranteed by the Constitution such as the Patriot Act, the Food Safety Modernization Act, the Affordable Health Care Act and numerous other pieces of legislation crafted and designed by the same corporate entities, national security, intelligence and military agencies who are the direct beneficiaries of income extorted and illegally confiscated from the citizens of the United States for the benefit of the private banks operating under the illegal extra-judicial and extra-legislative fiscal and monetary policies of the Federal Reserve.

3.Implementing policies of extra-judicial assassination, illegal surveillance and torture, searches and seizures, against not only foreign nationals but American citizens in the name of extraordinary and redundant National Security apparatuses, the establishment of an unprecedented militarization of domestic police agencies and the direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Law by the deployment of Army brigades in the continental US under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security.

4.Allowing the ongoing poisoning of the food supply by the rampant introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms into the crops of the American heartland at the behest of Monsanto Corporation, the poisoning of the air with the regular aerosol spraying of barium and aluminum compounds into the upper atmosphere to facilitate military experiments with scalar weaponry and over the horizon radar, the unprecedented pollution of US territorial and international waters and the US mainland by a foreign national corporation British Petroleum due to the lack of regulatory oversight, and vested financial interests including his own personal investments.

5.Supporting and subsidizing the genocidal murder of millions of unborn children under the auspices of the multi-billion dollar abortion industry known as the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

6. Forget about Mubarak, OBAMA MUST GO!

nota bene: there are 8,290,000 entries for Google: Obama must go!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Reagan and the Cult of Neptune-Mercurius Fomalhaut


February 6,1911
2:15 p.m. CST
Tampico, Illinois
89W47 41N38



In honor of the hundredth birthday of the fortieth president of the United States of America, Kushmonster is proud to offer in a series of installments "Reagan and the Cult of Neptune" originally published in 1984 by the late Mercurius Fomalhaut. This seminal study of the horoscope of Ronald Reagan comprises not only an astrological delineation of the actual birthchart of Mr. Reagan but embodies peculiar and trenchant commentary on the social, political, and economic substrata of America in the '80s. This general theme was revisited by Kushmonster at the request of Mr. Stephen K., director of the Occult Power Company, in 2008 on the occasion of the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency in Obama, Neptune, and the Culture of Death http://kushmonster.blogspot.com/2009/09/obama-and-culture-of-death.html


REAGAN AND THE CULT OF NEPTUNE
"If you ever injected truth into politics, you have no politics"- Will Rogers

Any attempt to understand this, the horoscope of the fortieth president of the United States, must necessarily begin with a consideration of the planet Neptune which was rising in the constellation of Gemini on the afternoon of February 6, 1911, at Tampico Illinois at the moment of Ronald Wilson Reagan's debouchement into this world. In addition to its placement in the foreground of the nativity, this planet bears a multitude of aspects which further augment its important influence.



It is not surprising that we should find Neptune in such a state of prominence here, for its influence is a common ingredient in the horoscopes of actors, Hollywood "stars", media personalities and the like, whose business it is to portray, depict, fabricate, dissimulate, or otherwise convey a semblance of reality. For Neptune, through it association with the star field of Pisces, connotes imagination, make-believe, fantasy, play-acting, image producing etc... As all of these partake to a degree of illusion and a certain subterfuge, Neptune assumes prominence not only in the genitures of actors, artists, spiritists, and mediums, but also the maps of used car dealers, film-flam men, parasites, alcoholics, habitual criminals and those who deceive, dupe, delude and falsify. For the image creating facility of Neptune can be used or abused, resulting in the inspirational creations of the genuine artist and the deception and treachery which, at its worst, finds expression in the intimidation enslavement, and extortion of others through manipulation.

As imagination implies flight, fancy, and escape from the uncongenial toils of mundane reality,
if only in the reverie of the dreamer, so also is there a notorious predilection among

Neptunians to fight shy of the harsher realities and indulge in various forms of escapism such as drugs, alcohol, cultism and perhaps ultimately, psychotic withdrawal and schizophrenia. One can recognize these same tendencies at work in the widespread fascination with film and television as well as other forms of entertainment which offer the media habitué a convenient route of escape from the responsibilities, cares, trials and everyday worries which necessarily attend our mundane existences. Indeed, "fascination" is an apt keyword for the influence of Neptune, and as a gauge of this influence, one need only look at the faces of and audience passively enthralled in a movie theater or in front of a television screen as the cold phosphorescence flickers back and forth across the mesmerized, zombie like features. One can witness the characteristic inaction, blank receptivity, and passivity of Neptune reflected in this mute absorption of celluloid images which arise and then just as quickly disappear back into nothingness. Thus the cinema as well as other forms of media are but one of the most obvious representations of the Neptunian ergie in modern society.

Another arena of activity in which we can discern the illusory weavings of Neptune is the law and its sister profession politics. For here too is the decided need to persuade, cajole, convince, wheedle, seduce, or inveigle a certain group of individuals (a jury) or a mass of people (the electorate) into accepting a particular point of view or undertaking a course of action.. It is a fact that scarcely needs mentioning that lawyers and power politicians are masters of deceit, distortion and misrepresentation. Perhaps this is why these gentlemen are forever swearing oaths, taking affidavits and impugning the honor of others while vociferously upholding their own. We can witness this same attempt to persuade, delude, and misrepresent in the subliminal techniques of modern commercial advertising's well as the propaganda and news campaigns of political regimes. And here we discern another important sphere of the societal activity in which Neptune plays a significant role; the business and commercial sector which depends upon the often unscrupulous, cynical and subtly coercive methods of advertising to sell a dubious bill of goods to a suggestible populace.

With this rather lengthy preamble I think we have already come a long way towards an

understanding of this individual who now occupies the Oval Office. Indeed, Reagan's career as radio personality-emcee-actor-salesman-politician-born-again Christian is so perfectly Neptunian as to be archetypal. His film career alone, during the course of which he portrayed so many characters near and dear to the heart of the American public, would argue strongly for this contention. Gangsters, gunslingers, college professors, football heroes are a few instance of the Hollywood mythos to which he has applied his generally recognized mediocre talents. " A good salesman" is how a certain Congressman described him in "attempting" to sell his economic program. This attribution is not a surprising description to apply to a man who once sold laundry soap on television. Reagan's ability to "sell" his personal "image" as well has been responsible for his success as an actor and politician, for it will be seen that this "image" has been tailor made to suit the reigning tastes of a significant portion of the American populace. Essential in this regard is an intense and over-riding involvement with the mass media, a natural outgrowth of his work in the cinema, which has resulted in a hybrid union of those two abiding media spectacles of the American public; entertainment and politics. Indeed, the obsessive fascination of the masses for celluloid fantasy has finally left the confines of the movie theater and television screen and applied itself to the world at large. Yes, this country has crossed over into that strange and nebulous frontier where the demarcation between the real and the imaginary is fatally obscured. Thus we can see that all too familiar script being enacted in the halls of government, replete with costumed heroes and villains, props and scenery, at this Hollywood White House. Neddless to say, this intrusion of the world of make believe into the arena of international relations offers some dangerous and distinctly disturbing possibilities.

*************

The constellation of Gemini was in the ascendant at Tampico at the moment of Reagan's birth. Traditionally, this placement gives a special emphasis to the planet Mercury which is recognized as the nocturnal ruler of this starfield. Gemini is a dual or mutable sign which reinforces the already pronounced tendency toward duplicity, duality, and changefulness. As Mercury has rulership over commerce. business and the like, anything which implies exchange, transaction, trade, etc..., it is not surprising to find that the minions of Gemini excel in those areas, being adept, shrewd, quick witted, changeful, protean, accommodating , alive to the prospect of profit, opportunistic. Thus there is to noticed in Reagan's demeanor a certain "mercurial" nature, partaking of all the above qualities. Again, it is no surprising that his administration has been seen by some as an amalgamation of business interests; and his cabinet, an exalted board of directors. Indeed, his prevailing vision of America is that of a great corporation of which he is the chief executive officer. His controversial "economic program", the avowed goal of tax reduction, slashing of federal spending, indeed the whole economic and commercial aura of his regime are consistent with this mercurial signification.

On the other hand, there is a certain characteristic amorality attributable to Mercury which clothes itself alternately in apparently contradictory tendencies in an effort to take and gain advantage especially of a monetary nature. And thus Mercury (especially in affliction as is the case in Reagan's map) is the regent of those who take to that less reputable business undertaking-crime. Thieves, confidence men, swindlers, pickpockets, petty criminals, and extortionists are all of this ilk and anyone in general whose "business" requires deft fingers, quick wits and swift feet to flee from the long arm of the law. Thus in some quarters, this president has been accused of "robbing" the poor, the needy, elderly, disabled and dependent (the usual marks for a common street criminal) while adding such ill gotten gains to the already bulging coffers of those whom he might be said to truly represent; thus grossly fattening the military budget and enriching big business through the creation of tax loopholes and shelters. In this respect then we have the following thoughts on the Geminian nature.
"They always seem to get the best of the bargain. In money dealing they are clever, perhaps too clever for their own good, especialy in the handling of petty cash. Hating to have to part with their money, they usually succeed in making the other fellow pay up when dining out, or when attending the theater..."
When we consider the actual position of Mercury in this map, this propensity for deception, scheming and falsifying is given an added dimension, for Neptune is opposing Mercury from across the horizon. Of this C.E.O. Carter explains:
"This configuration usually indicates an astute and cunning type of person capable of deep scheming and in fact, generally unable to avoid some degree of deception. although not necessarily for evil...It is clear that a lack of real self confidence may easily induce a person to resort to deceit"
Thus a confused, inwardly insecure, self deluding mentality is revealed which either through design or necessity finds itself the perpetrator of ongoing deception or, as a result of more or less conscious intrigues, becomes the victim of its own delusory designs. Deep scheming plotting and dissembling are all in abundance here indicated, which especially when combined with the influence of Pluto and Mars (to be presented later) indicate a ruthless, relentless and cruel ambition.

Again what must be emphasized in this context is the Neptunian predilection for distortion, hyperbole and magnification, for when we consider that Neptune is configured with both the natal Sun and Moon (by quincunx and sextile respectively) the propensity for fantastical projections, self delusions and a particularly crude form of empty posturing are much in evidence. Cyril Fagan gives eloquent testimony of this type of personality:

"The simplest statement of fact is so dramatized that the truth gets submerged or disappears altogether; so the false takes its place. Those who have the lights natally configured with Neptune and that planet in the foreground of the geniture tend to lead a fictitious life, a life of make-believe. Escaping from reality they are seldom their real selves. all of the time they try to ape someone else. This arises from a deep sense of inferiority. Realizing that inherently they are nobodies and devoid of genuine accomplishments, they incline to live by proxy."



This is certainly in accord with our judgment so far and is scarcely surprising in view of this man's incredible talent for appearing to be other than he is. It also tends to make one think that Ronald Reagan is acting his greatest role complete with script, props and scenery at this Hollywood at the White House, and that perhaps he just might be once again selling soap for someone else.

It goes without saying that the confidence man, the thief, or for that matter the unscrupulous businessman and scheming politician could scarcely perpetrate their fraud without some connivance designed to solicit the trust and confidence of the would-be dupe. And so these pretenders clothe themselves with the semblance of the most unassailable respectability, impeccable morality, honesty, idealism and righteousness in the
accomplishment of their nefarious schemes. On the other hand, it is viewed as expeditious to attribute all of one's own unsavory, ignoble, and malicious motivations and thus the evidence of
moral degeneracy and duplicitous motives to a convenient person, race, or ideology. This is especially the case in those political merchants of fear who can effectively mirror their own evil intentions in some sinister foe on the other side of the barbed wire or iron curtain. What is operative then is that classic mechanism of "projection" which involves a rejection, disavowal, and repression of all of ones own inferior and negative characteristics. This "shadow ", a constituent feature of every psyche, is then "projected onto the world at large thus breeding the all too familiar delusory and persecutory complexes of the paranoiac. In this respect we were witness to and instance of this pervasive phenomena when Reagan proclaimed the Russian leadership "liars, cheats and criminals", thus betraying his own shadow world of deceit, innuendo and outright falsity. Apropos of this we have the following from Donald Bradley:
"The Neptune dominated soul actually spawns its own Satans, it won conspiratorial forces, its own destructive images, and projects them on the world as "enemies"...(and further)..."The inveterate witch hunter and subversion detector in politics...can be counted on to sport hypersensitive Neptunes"
Turning again briefly to a considerate of the ascendant in Gemini,which Fagan has referred to as the "boyish constellation", we are informed that such a placement confers a youthful appearance which is retained even in advanced age". In this case, despite obvious senile infirmity as evidenced in his dithering, stuttering, and drooling in his television debates with Carter, Reagan does maintain a relative buoyancy in wit and manner which has served to so charmingly disarm his critics and opponents. This apparent ingenuousness has not failed to impress the Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, who, while obviously disagreeing with theta president's economic policies, at the same time declares Reagan to be one "of the nicest guys I've ever met", and blames the chief executive's harsh attitudes toward the elderly, the poor, and the disabled on the president's "advisers".

Contributing to this pleasance and aura of youth in a man who some regard as the very devil incarnate is the fact that both the Sun and Moon, as well as configurating Neptune, are in strong aspect to Jupiter which is squaring the Sun in Capricorn and opposing the Moon in Aries. It might be noted at this point that another charming individual had both of the "lights" in mutual configuration with Jupiter-Adolf Hitler. Undoubtedly this planetary arrangement was to a great degree responsible of the Fuehrer's winning ways and spectacular popularity with his own countrymen. In combination with the Geminian ascendant, this particular configuration produces what has been aptly referred to as the "puer aeternus", that individual whose expectations of life remain on the emotional and intellectual level of, say, a twelve year old boy. Carter elucidates this aspect with a special cogency in this case.
"There is often a youthful and boyish freshness that is quite as pleasant to behold as the steadier effects of the trine and sextile; but this juvenility may lead to catastrophes when it means that there is a young head on old shoulders and the responsibilities of age are carried on in the spirit of a schoolboy"
Ignoring the complex of psychological factors which this represents for the moment, what we have here is an individual who "wants everything to be just dandy all the time". It is not hard to see that Reagan's humor, his general unserious demeanor and cavalier attitudes can be traced to the perpetual juvenility. Perhaps this also explains why a septuagenarian apparently well into the pasture lands of senility would cling to that artifact of childhood which he has curiously adopted as his personal emblem-the jellybean jar.

Another effect of this Jupterian inordination is a thirst for "vainglory and show" for an afflicted Jupiter gravitates quite naturally to the empty ostentation of pompous display of which Reagan's inaugural proceedings are the most telling example. It is a well known fact that the Jupiter influenced individual openly seeks, indeed craves social approbation , applause, recognition, and the platitudes and kudos of the throng. All of these impellations are well in evidence here as well as a high-rolling life style, wealth, and open extravagance which seeks the adulation of the masses while disdaining the proximity of the same. At the worst then we can recognize the consummate bigot and pharisee, always murmuring prayers of gratitude to the Higher Powers that "he" is so blessed and favored so, mistaking as he does, the worldly spectacles of wealth and power as a sign of divine approbation.


With these speculations we arrive at a consideration of the Sun and Moon in this particular

geniture. To begin with, we find that these bodies, which have a prime importance in interpretation, are in square aspect, indicating a personality which, for better or worse is at extreme odds with itself. As C.E.O Carter avers:
"This is a position of incompatibility both inner and outer and the inner strife may be reflected in brusque and rude manners. It makes for unpopularity, or sometimes for alternations of favor and disfavor, and the native may be much liked by some and much assailed by others..."
The nature of this inner conflict can be illustrated by the respective zodiacal positions of the lights. The Moon as the significator of all that is ephemeral, passing, fluctuating and changing, is the seat of our affections desires and wants, and as such represents the image, personal, mask, or aggregation of qualities we present to the world. Its placement in Aries would impart an energetic, imperious, brusque, ego-centric, autocratic, daring, brash, self-confident, opinionated personality...looking before you leap, shooting your mouth off and diving into things with unexcelled bravado. All of these are the most obvious Arien characteristics. Reagan's "gunslinger" persona which so many political cartoonists are trying to represent is a fine portrayal of Reagan's lunar Aries. Yet we must remember that what we are dealing with is the role this actor is portraying and not his essence which is solar and Capricorn.

The placement of the Sun in Capricorn gives a character quite different and even in contradistinction to the foregoing lunar indications. Being the exaltation of Mars and the nocturnal house of Saturn, Capricorn is expressive of the trials, burdens, responsibilities, and cares of mundane existence and, at the same time, being the repository of both of the lords of the material plane, of the lofty possibilities of attainment and accomplishment open to those who can bear the heavy load placed squarely on the shoulders of the natives of this constellation. Sun in Capricorn presents a picture of an austere, disciplined, methodical,calculating, even morose individual; shrewd, exceedingly ambitious, painstaking, severe, exacting, pessimistic, possible misanthropic, untrusting, and perhaps most consistently forever yielding to he past. Timorous, bizarre and uncanny are the minions of the goat-fish, their omnipresent fears and forebodings bearing witness to the terrors, trials, and tortures which they have endured in the past and whose scars they bear and which continue to haunt them, often on unconscious levels. Minions of this constellation frequently experience life as a serious and even grim struggle throughout the course of which they are impelled to overcome many and formidable obstacles and difficulties. All the while feelings of doubt, inferiority, inadequacy and despair do their heels as the arduously scale the rock and barren and yet majestic terrain of their life's path.



It is generally recognized that the Sun and Moon in adverse aspect in the natal chart is often expressive of an uncongenial relationship between the parents. Also generally acknowledged is the serious alcoholism which afflicted Reagan's father Jack contributing to his early demise at the age of 58. As his mother Nelle was a teetotaler who forsook her Catholic faith for a Christian congregation called the Disciples of Christ, a congregation described as the "driest of the dry" and into which the nominally Catholic Reagan was baptized, it can be assumed that the relationship of Jack Reagan, a chronically unemployed shoe salesman with the "Irish (Catholic) curse"and his wife Nelle was extremely strained at best. The personal and conflicting dichotomy expressive of Reagan's early and formative years is reflected in this square aspect of the lights. The planet Jupiter afflicts both of the lights with the Sun at the fulcrum of a dynamic T-square while Neptune adds a quincunx aspect to the Sun and a close nearly partile sextile to the Moon. Of Neptune and the Sun Carter has the following:
"This must be accounted a position that subtly weakens the character, for the native is as a rule easily played upon, either through his vanity of his sympathies or both. He seldom realizes his own motives and may in extreme cases think that he is acting the part of a martyr or saint when in fact he is gratifying his self approbation. There is a craving for something great, wonderful, and out of the ordinary, but there is not the ability of the wisdom to pursue what is genuinely possessed of these attributes, and those who bait the hook with specious promises can usually fish for the native successfully"
The obvious inference here is that the fortieth president, rather than embodying that image of rugged individualism and leadership marketed and sold to the American electorate is rather an easily manipulated and somewhat credulous and gullible pawn delivering a sales pitch for a covert agenda pre-scripted for mass consumption by his handlers. And so with this brief exposition, we can begin to recognize the man behind the curtain, and with it the truth which is masked by the facade. Contrary to the Geminian buoyancy, optimism, levity, charm, and ease, we now witness a cold, retiring, regretful, even timorous and insecure individual marked by resentment spawned by a crippling sense of personal inferiority, in his worst moments devoid of that trademark personal warmth and geniality, skulking in the shadow world of imagined fear and haunted by foreboding, nursing memories of a dark and brutal childhood, callous, unsympathetic, inured to the pain and sufferings of others as he has become purposefully inured to his own. Here then is Reagan the fund-slasher, the bigot, the misanthrope, the witch hunter and militarist.

It is a well known fact that, as Cyril Fagan avers, the Capricornian is"obsessed with economy".
Yet this trait, here combined with the extravagance and thirst for opulence of Jupiter,

compounded with the moral stupefaction of Neptune, the tricky and opportunistic Gemini ascendant, the unrestrained and yet misplaced idealism of the Aries Moon, produces the type of arch-hypocrite and falsifier, who in his obsession with economy and in blind service to his wealthy benefactors, fattens the coffers of the rich by robbing the poor, a particularly cowardly and reprehensible action. What we have then is the niggardliness of the miser and yet the extravagance of the bon vivant. Indeed it is an entirely consistent inconsistency that a man of such blind optimism, imprudence, and extravagant wastefulness in service to the interests of exorbitant wealth would demand austerity, abstinence and privation of the general citizenry. Astrologically this is indicated by the aspects which both Jupiter and Neptune apply to the Sun. And of course this is only another example of that peculiar state of mind which Donald Bradley refers to as "cognitive dissonance". In the hopelessly distorted mirrors of the Neptunian consciousness he defines such a characteristic imbalance as "a phenomena wherein conflicting trends and ideas exist side by side in the same psyche".



Another obvious feature of the Capricornian influence is here in evidence, namely the predilection Reagan has for the past and his overweening nostalgia and sentimentality of the times of yore. Politically, this is expressed in that empty propaganda of restoring America to a time of former greatness. And this has no doubt hit a popular vein of sentiment in the substrata of the national psyche. Proof of this supposition is the fact that Reagan's Sun is conjunct the Moon of the July 4, 1776 chart (Gar Ostend) indicating that Reagan represents a very deeply rooted and indigenous expression of the national consciousness. The past and all that is hoary, old, antiquated, dead and forgotten is expressive of the plane Saturn. Thus the natives of Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, have an inordinate fondness for the past, and indeed often live in their memories to such a degree, that they neglect not only the future but the present as well as noted by this excerpt from one of the lectures of Rudolf Steiner:
"Those who have a particular inclination towards Saturn in earthly existence are people who like to be gazing always into the past, who are opposed to progress, who ever and again want to bring back the past."
Certainly in the former actor's political philosophy can be discerned a decided strain of "conservatism'. To conserve, delimit, constrain, withhold is distinctly a Saturnian trait. Again in Reagan's call to make America as great as it "once was," to restore it to its former glory we can discern this backward looking gaze. Yet in this modern age, which demands if anything a constant revitalization of old concepts and a translation of old values into new, too great a revisiting of the past runs the risk of losing track of the road into the future. Quite a striking and graphic representation of this tendency is reflected in Francisco Goya's painting of the myth of Saturn devouring his own children. (above left)

At this juncture we arrive at a consideration of an aspect which assumes crucial importance in this map as it expands on and amplifies the meaning of the Sun-Moon square aspect from Capricorn to Aries. This of course is a parallel square enacted in the early degrees of those same two constellations involving the planets Saturn and Uranus. The character of this particular aspect, which is admittedly of longer duration and thus partakes of a more universal or general significance has in this case as well a more personal dimension as the Sun and Moon are also involved. In other words, as Reagan is the focus of cosmic forces in his capacity of at least the putative leader of his nation, he partakes both personally and collectively in the significations of this important contact. Of this configuration we have the revealing insight provided by C.E.O. Carter:
"The contradictory character of these planets is well illustrated by the story of the Russian czar of whom it was said (in the time of the serfs) that he would gladly have seen all men free, if, freed they would do exactly what he wanted. It is the character of Saturn-Uranian contacts to act in a manner exactly opposite to the native's theories and often to alter the latter erratically, ringing all the changes between a rigid autocracy and anarchic "freedom". Consistency is no one of the virtues of this combination, and after many changes, one may find the native as positive as ever in his conviction of being right"
I included this rather lengthy quote as it serves to describe succinctly the character of a man whom his old political foe, Edmund Brown, called "the political chameleon". Indeed, it is noteworthy that this particular contact shows up with surprising consistency in the celestial themes of American power politicians and demagogues of the past few decades; Liddy, Hunt. Johnson, Ford, Nixon, to name only a few, indicating an identification of a curious strain of political thinking with this violent, dangerous, erratic, and destructive combination.

In this particular as, Uranus casts its rays toward the sun in Capricorn while Saturn throws its rays ahead to the Moon in Aries. As the square between the lights and Jupiter makes for a contentious, self willed and imperious personality, so also will the square between the larger planets magnify and expand that propensity with its own "anarchy, fitful and wayward traits". Make no mistake about it. Tyranny, and violence, fueled by a characteristic arrogance, intolerance and "of drastic action" and force to settle the issue when combined with the Neptunian predilection for dissimulation and deception point to a very dangerous individual, especially in view of the opposition of Mars and Pluto and its implications of brutality across the horizon amidst a welter of other adverse aspects. This is especially so when we consider the harsh cardinal constellation emphasis with the malefic in prominence and Mars itself at the western angle. Passages such as the following from Cyril Fagan descriptive of the Arien influence are scarcely reassuring:

"Tending to hold extreme views on life and for the most part unencumbered with sentimetnm the diehards among the Ariens can readily produce to their own satisfaction, panaceas for all human ills. Not a few of them are of the opinion that many sociological problems could be solved at a stroke, to the betterment of the race, if the insane, the incurable, the aged and the criminal class s generally were painlessly exterminated."
The placement of Saturn in themartial constellation of Aries has bee variously described, but bign the nocturnal house of fiery Mars, Aries is traditionally recognized as a bad placement for the cold, dry planet of karma and the past. For Saturn is always looking backward, a trait ill-suited to the impetuous, onrushing, dynamic energies of Aries. Speaking of Saturn in Aries, we have the following from Andres Boulton:
"Individuals of both sexes are apt to become lazy, prejudiced, selfish, and impatient, grouters, belligerent, bitter. They are born soldiers, executives, or leaders, though bossy, pitiless, cruel, dry and cowardly."
and further from the ancient, Manetho:
"Saturn in the signs of Mars (Aries and Scorpio) makes men very lazy and disinclined for action, cowards, timorous, of drooping spirit, wretched, always tormenting their hearts with woes..."
As Uranus represents all theta is vital, new, further-looking. and untrammeled by the strictures of tradition and custom, indeed signifies revolutionaries, the avant-garde, its placement in the sign of Saturn would greatly reduce its effective expression; block, retard and frustrate its original and inventive genius, all the more so since it is in square aspect to Saturn. At the same time and "anarchistic" tendency is here in evidence. the revolutionary thrust of Uranus acts against its own nature, so to speak, and produces the reactionary intent on overthrowing the status quo to be sure yet his revolutionary vision is directed toward a reinstatement of the past as indicated by the inordination with Saturn. This one sows not simply cling to a past and outmoded species of social behavior as in the case of the Russian czar. No, he fights not only to bring back the past, but also to stifle, quench, and suppress whatever is new, vital, different or progressive in society and uphold instead a system of values which motivated the generations of more ha a half century ago. Such then is the diatheses of political and social upheaval represented by the conflict between Saturn, the planet of the past and Uranus, the planet of revolutionary change.



In an age of anxiety, unsurety, and doubt it is not surprising, indeed is to be expected that there would arise a tendency to return, at least figuratively, to an era when affairs seemed less problematical and threatening. This is, on the surface a pretty safe avenue of retreat for it is well known that each successive level of individual and cultural development demands an increasingly evolved and sophisticated awareness with which to adequately deal with the constantly changing vistas of the future, while the past, and as such all that is hereditary, habit, and custom is crystallized, already formed, inert and unchangeable and thus secure Psychologically speaking, this backward looking tendency becomes especially acute in the common anxiety neuroses of the modern age where the individual becomes fixated at some previous level of development, longing for that unproblematical and dependent stage of early childhood, and ultimately the paradisiacal, intrauterine bliss of the womb, where suspended in the warmth of the enveloping amniotic fluids, one lived in union with the primordial life forces. This "Oedipal trauma" of Sigmund Freud has been applied to astrological symbology with real insight by Donald Bradley (Garth Allen) in his excellent treatise on the planetary influences, "Taking the Kid Glove Off Astrology". And with the following ruminations from thatseminal volume we come to further insights into these complex of meaning with has special relevance to this particular horoscope:
"No individual, no matter how full-blown and well integrated he becomes, ever really forgets those nine glorious months he spent in paradise. Consequently, much psychic energy...is spent in futile efforts to return to this state of sheer bliss, where everything is given without asking...(but) for all it paradisiacal qualities, there is always the serpent to reckon with in Eden...The Neptunian's distrust go others, his insistence that there must be a snake in the grass somewhere, sometimes reaches fantastic heights, to his own undoing...in the everyday world, apart from -isms and -osophies, those with afflicted Neptunes are identifiable by their tireless tendency toward name calling and calumny and the suspicions of conspiracy by others. to a Neptunian, apparently, everything must have an ulterior motive and anteing to which they object must be to work of the devil, or at least, be of sinister design...Aware that the serpent is a universal phallic symbol of a special sort, Carl Jung found it figurative of what he called the Dark Brother and the Shadow in the constitution of the human psyche. According to Jung, the formation of devils, monsters, and traitors arises from reflections of archetypes within the soul itself. The Neptune dominated soul actually spawns its own conspiratorial forces, it own destructive images, and projects them onto the world as "enemies"...It was in his discovery of the now notorious Oedipus complex that Freud solved the riddle of the serpent in the Garden. Deep within the human unconscious stirs the dim memory, and despairing realization that the matrix must be shared with the father...the implication to our astrological minds is that Neptune often represents not only the psychical incestuous wishes for the mother...but physical murderous wishes against the father...worth pondering is the fact that ambivalent love-hate abreactions toward paternal symbols...are the key characteristics of paranoid behavior...the mental disease paranoia itself.. is keyed directly to the motives of jealousy of the father and father-surrogates believed dogging the patients heels with sinister ends in mind."
One might well be wondering at this point what all of these abstruse speculations have to do with Mr. Reagan's horoscope. Yet, if we follow up the significant themes so far discussed, especially in reference to the influence of Neptune, a distinct Oedipal tendency can in this case be confirmed. Indeed, this man, elected at such a crucial juncture of American and world history, represents what might only be called a national Oedipal conflict, erupting in a collective paranoiac reaction, occasioned as it is in and individual illness by the pressures, stresses, and anxieties of social change and conflict. The disturbing re-emergence of McCarthyism and paranoia concerning the threat of communism along with the profusion of fundamentalist christian cults are all symptomatic of this psychic malaise which seems at this stage to have reached a chronic and threatening stage of development. It is not to difficult to see that this smug and silly afflatus of spiritual supremacy, thinly disguised as "patriotism", is but the over compensation of a national neurosis marked by feelings of frustration, impotence, inadequacy, and defeat. Rather than constructively and consciously deal with this problem, which involves admitting this state of affairs to oneself, the neurotic foible is to cast the blame on someone or something else. The stage is conveniently set for the program, the inquisition, the persecution, or war which will eradicate the problem once and for all.

It was Jack Kerouac who said that, "Woman has broken the moral backbone of America"

Admitting what this reflects of his personal life, this statement nonetheless is a profound insight into the national consciousness. And when we admit of America's spiritual intransigence, and the desperate lack of any kind of guiding moral ideal despite all protestations to the contrary, we can understand that what is lacking is the clear, sound, authoritative guidance of the masculine and solar principle embodied in the father. The symptoms of this condition are manifold; America's unprecedented material acquisitiveness, luxuriating, hoarding to itself the natural wealth of the planet, literally sucking the teat of the earth like some colossal overgrown infant (Eric Fromm wrote that the Oedipal psyche looked upon the earth itself as a gigantic breast at which it wished to be forever suckling). On the other hand, a stark deficiency is felt, the lack of a genuine spiritual identity and the profound absence of any defined cultural or philosophical ideal. As Georges Clemenceau acerbically expressed it: "America has gone from barbarism to degeneracy without the usual interim of civilization"



Here, the old psychological rule applies: If there is an exaggerated conscious attitude or practice, the unconscious holds the opposite and equal attitude. Thus as an overcompensation for this psychic emasculation, there appears the need for autocratic power, for brute force is always the final response of the impotent. As the very embodiment of this national gelding, we have our multi-pronged phallus force of nuclear weaponry, an arsenal of thousands of phallic idols aimed at the heart of Mother Russia in an international cosmic enactment of the primal incest wish. Closer to home, we have the closet doors swinging open in increasing numbers to reveal yet another male, "liberated" from the onerous responsibilities of fatherhood by an oversolicitous mother. At the same time America's penchant for that tent-house revivalist brand of fundamentalist christianity with its fire and brimstone, authoritarian, Jehovean paternalism is alike a confession of the lack of moral and spiritual guidance provided by the father. It is really no surprise that fundamentalists have pilloried faggotry as well as communism as the archest evil, being victims as they are of the reigning impotence. But such is the ergie of Neptune which guarantees that animosity is the result of two individuals or groups projecting into one another their darkest fears. This fear then, which produces such a militant sense of righteousness and intolerance , is merely these gnawing feelings of impotence, betrayal and rejection, and powerlessness. In its most basic sense, this is experienced sexually and contributes, on the one hand, toward an epidemic of sexual impotence, ejaculator praecox, frigidity, prudery, and religious hysteria; and on the other hand, to prurience, lasciviousness, bestiality, rape, sodomy, lesbianism, voyeurism, coprophilia. pornography and sadomasochism. The common factor is a suppression, warping and stunting of the procreative instincts, leading eventually to cruelty, sadism, force, and violence to awaken the extinguished vital urge. In extremes, this leads to homicidal inclinations and on the international scale to that ultimate confession of impotence, genocidal warfare.

With a consideration of these psychological complexities we penetrate still further into the enshrouding mists of Neptune, an influence which pervades, saturates, and thus conditions so much of our social life. At the same time we can understand how, in Ronald Reagan are distilled all of these diverse strains of this peculiar complex, at the basis of which is the longing for the mother as the manifestation of the Oedipal conflict. Thus in the modern cinema, in politics, in the subliminal techniques of modern advertising, the consistent feature is one of manipulation, seduction, and the subtle coercion of the masses. The characteristic dependence, fascination, bondage and parasitism of Neptune arises from a deeply felt sense of inferiority and failure attributable to the neurotic fixation of the mother. This fixity is then transferred to the state, the official church, or any institution, cult , or order from which source is expected the fanciful recapitulation of the all providing, all satisfying, all absorbing care of the mother archetype. In the process any possibility of individuality is necessarily forfeited. For only in the individual does the possibility of the most cherished ideal of human freedom in its deepest sense arise. Obviously this is not possible when one still lives in the shadow of bondage and enslavement to a country, ideology, national identity, or social control.

In this present society, which paradoxically prides itself at every turn with its great and inalienable freedom, the instance of psychological bondage and enslavement are manifold, beginning at birth with the pervasive dependence on the doctor and the hospital, where mother and child are separated and virtually imprisoned, subjected to humiliating, harmful, and unnecessary procedures. thus it is of no surprise that Neptune assumes eminences in the various mundane charts of the ill and infirm who fall victim to the predatory instincts and "suctorial impositions" of the medical community.



This victimization and exploitation reach a most subtle and insidious expression in the vulgar Hollywood and television scenarios, and in the mass circulation of pornography and madison avenue commercialism which itself it but a more subliminal form of that some pornography. Again, what is in evidence it the attempt to exploit the foibles and inferiorities of a gullible and suggestible populace, who as a result, are easily manipulated into "buying" some artificial and preconceived image of how one should look, what one should wear, etc..., necessitating the purchase of numerous useless, frivolous, and even harmful commodities. And what is the basis of this fascination? A crude form of sexual innuendo which exploits the deep-seated feelings of inadequacy mentioned above. It is no wonder then that these vulgar manipulators are always soliciting the services of the popular stars of cinema and sport, as well as media personalities in the merchandising of their dubious and contemptible wares. For it is to these "sex symbols" that so many individuals look as role models upon which to anchor their own rootless and drifting sense of self insufficiency. And thus the poor dupe in the local supermarket scan pick up a tube of deodorant or even a package of hot dogs with the unconscious subliminal message all the while conditioning him or her in the belief that this or that will "make him a man" or her a woman, and that her will be all the more successful, glamorous, popular, fulfilled, and above all, "sexy". And whats more is that our unsuspecting "consumer" will know that all this is true because his or her favorite television star said so. The same goes for the popular cinema, where a cheap and freewheeling kind of perennially adolescent sexuality as embodied in perpetually pubescent immature and supercilious personages is idealized. Actually this" image" is only the reflection of the emotionally and sexually repressed masses, exalted and enthroned at the box office in a gross compensation of a pitiful personal inadequacy.

Indeed, this is why one can discern in the modern film and increasingly on television itself, a
preoccupation with sadomasochism brutality, vice, perversion and bloodlust, otherwise know by those empty platitudes, "sex and violence". And of course, the widespread and contiguous phenomenon of pornography we have the bedrock of this degradation and putrefaction of the procreative instinct. Thus in the dark, anonymous comfort of the movie theater (how like the womb!), one can see enacted and identify with all those degraded, crapulous, and sordid impulses of the unconscious or, on the other hand, those sentimental and nostalgic rehashing of and insipid culture besotted with trivia. for it is a rule that wherever one has pornographic and sadomasochistic violence, that inanity, boredom and impotence reign, dressed up in a kind of shoddy glamour.

It was Wilhelm Reich, in his book "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", who recognized these

same collective impulses at work in the masses of Germany, which led ultimately to the rise of the institutionalized violence of the Nazi regime. The parallel thus established helps one to recognize the political and social repression have as their basis this warping and stunting of the sexual instinct and a subsequent attempt to reawaken the quashed urges through brutality and sadistic cruelty. From his Freudian standpoint, Reich attributed this to an incapacity for healthy orgasm, itself the consequence of the various forms of sexual fixation and repression existing on unconscious levels. Ultimately though, this dangerous inhibition must be traced to deeper levels of being of which the sexual nature is but the most immediate expression. For it is only in the psyche, and the spirit that the individual can attain a true awareness of his indivisible self, and thus liberate himself from the determining grounds of instinctual and hereditary predispositions and their inevitable expression in habitual and merely reactive behavior.It is only to these latter, representing the lower self, that the principalities and power as attain power over man. that is the reason that these powers (embodied in various political and social institutions) try at all costs to keep mankind stumbling and groping in the darkness and confusion of the lower impulses of his desire nature.

Descending from these speculations to the matter at hand, it can now be readily understood that Ronald Reagan embodies the distilled essence of the national proclivity for falsification, self deception, and delusion. Indeed his whole undistinguished career has been little more that a long process of grooming by the principalities he is enslaved to for this final act, this elaborate and illicit charade wherein are united all those various Neptunian strains of American social unreality; "business" and advertising, the Hollywood cinema, politics, fundamentalist pseudo-christianity etc... and their ultimate expression in the terror and collective insanity of militarism and institutionalized violence, at the root of which lies a debasement of the vital urges. In simple terms then, Reagan and the forces which he represents are anti-life and he must be considered an anti-man, or more succinctly a "doppelganger".

Such is the end product of the pervasive influence of Neptune in our society, a nation which put so much faith in the mere appearance of things; in cheap glamour and showmanship, in useless gadgetry, it its stars and idols in Hollywood, on Wall Street, and in Washington, and which invests so little faith in the human individual. Reagan is a penultimate expression of this frightful self deceit. Given the Neptunian's predilection for illusion, make-believe, chicanery, mystification, and downright falsity, we can discern that theta jolly, good old boy, always smiling, howdy partner, courageous image of Reagan is merely the substanceless phantom of celluloid which dissolves into nothingness one the projector lights flicker off and the film reels grind to a halt. And if we look behind the foot-lights, the glitter and the facade, we are treated tot quite a different reality, one which is indicated in one final planetary configuration involving Mars, Pluto and Neptune across the horizon.

Neptune and Pluto straddle the ascendant in Reagan's horoscope with Mars setting in Sagittarius drawing both of the larger planets into opposition. Mars is also in aspect to Saturn in Aries, thus bringing the idealistic yet cowardly nature of that placement into play with self righteous, crusading Mars in the constellation of the archer, bent on avenging the deeds of all malefactors. Of this Fagan says:
"Sagittarius delights in rewarding the righteous and in punishing the wicked and many of them are attracted to positions in courts of law... its vices are pride, ambition, hauteur, intolerance, snobbery, and the urge to separate the chosen from the bourgeois, attitudes that inevitably lead to oppression, war, and strife."
It is interesting to note that the trine between Mars and Saturn here conjoins the exact same degrees held by the Sun trine Moon and Jupiter in the map of Adolf Hitler, a man whose political philosophy partook of those same qualities to an extreme. Otherwise , Mars in this placement gives us the picture of the "universal policeman" which when combined with the hysteria of Neptune magnified by the hyper-idealism of the Aries Moon and the stern, exacting Sun in Capricorn reveals the implacable imposition of a rigid and autocratic ideology of militant coercion and fascist repression. Also interesting in this respect is the fact that Reagan's hero John Wayne had Mars in Sagittarius as well. His image as that implacable and fearless paladin, the upholder of a generation's cherished ideals of the absolute morality of "law and order" based on "racial purity" are certainly the hallmark signature of Sagittarius and Aries.

When we consider the relationship of Mars to Neptune and Pluto across the horizon, these foregoing tendencies are only affirmed and strengthened. Again we have the following from Cyril Fagan:
"Disciplinarians, dreaded fot their inexorable sternness have been born with Mars and Pluto in conjunction or opposition from the fore ground. Masochistic tendencies, or marked hysteria, may be in evidence should Neptune be in the foreground and configurated with Mars."
And here we have a clear and unmistakeable confirmation of our previous speculations. For it is apparent from this and other indications that beneath that affable, outgoing, apparently ingenuous, witty appearance there lies a much less appealing , yes, forbidding aggregation of unsavory qualities. Indeed, this disparity between appearance and reality so characteristic of image creating Neptune, is here to be seen in bold relief. Hard-heartedness, callousness, cruelty, sadism, and brutality are much in evidence along with a sordid and prurient sexual nature which finds its deepest pleasure in inflicting pain.

*****************



Around the turn of the century, "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" was being received with wild enthusiasm in the European capitals. The immense popularity of this extravaganza along with dozens of other "wild west" troupes attest to the fascination with which Europeans have long regarded the settling of the American frontier. The novels of Karl May, romantic idealizations of the cowboy and indian sagas of the American west, amounted to 70 volumes with total sales near 30 million copies. The popularity of this western myth is in evidence to this day in West Germany, where exist numerous Western "bundts" under the auspices of which, wildest aficionados complete with elaborate sets and props, dress up as cowboys and indians and gamboling about in the Bavarian woods, relive that era of american history which has such great and lasting appeal. And of course we are all aware of that endless outpouring of "westerns" which have depicted in such roseate and heroic hues the grisly and horrible Indain Wars of the 19th century, which up until the time of the second World War, stood as one of the most striking examples of genocide in modern times. It was in this genre of film which Ronald Reagan played his own small part.

Adolf Hitler had more than a passing interest in the American west. In fact, the Fuerher was an

ardent admirer of the cowboy-gunslinger image, so much so, that in the post World War I days, he paraded around in wide brimmed hat, knee high black boots, equipped with riding crop much to the amusement of his contemporaries who never guessed that this ludicrous latter-day cowboy would someday lead Germany on its fatal path of world conquest. Later, during his rise of power, it is said that Hitler developed an obsession with the cinema and would screen two or three movies each evening in his luxurious apartment in the Prinzeregentenstrasse in Munich after tete á tete with a circle which was later to become the Nazi hierarchy. he was said to have a special fondness for John Wayne, and even later, during the early days of the the war, would run and re-run the movies of Wayne and other cowboy actors in his personal theater. This fascination was eventually superseded by an exclusive enthrallment with footage flown in daily from all fronts of a war which he regarded as his personal cinematic masterpiece.

It is also a widely known fact that Hitler modeled his infamous concentration camps on the Indian reservations of the American west. Added to this is the fact ha, in recent surveys in wet Germany, the prevalent view amongst school age children, many of whom had no knowledge that Hitler even existed, was that he was a kid of Jesse James, a romantic and daring outlaw who believed in that kind of justice that came out of the end of a six-shooter. With these admission we can witness some remarkable parallels between the Nazi-cowboy and the six gun diplomacy of his american counterpart, Ronald Reagan.

The parallel continues. It was Hitler, that master of deception and manipulation, who successfully baited his hooks with promises of restoring a lost German grandeur tarnished by the stinging humiliation of Versailles. Another retriever of lost greatness, Hitler was the victim of a brutal and sadistic father, a drunkard and rapist whose poisoned masculine image was ingrained in the Fuehrer form his earliest days. In contrast, he was, from all accounts a faithful and dutiful son, solicitous and caring for his mother, even nursing her in her old age and illness. Yet, the innate malignancy and sexual malice of this man need no recounting, and are certainly consistent with the psycho-sexual themes elucidated earlier.

The question which emerges from all of this is: are we condemned to repaet a past of which we have lost memory of as in Santayana's oft quoted maxim? In Reagan's insistence that there is nothing to be ashamed of in our involvement in Vietnam, on the contrary, in his assertion that this horrible genocidal war was a "noble cause" can we not discern this same fatal hubris which led Germany and the world to catastrophe and the abomination of Auschwitz? For the Neptunian always paints the brightest, most ideal, and exalted picture of the great day to come, only to have such castles in the air collapse and crumble into dust as time and Saturn prove the folly of all falsity. All this talk of national superiority and world historic destiny, and that shining "City on a Hill" of his pre-election speech is calculated to reassure a fearful and anxious populace which has mutely and helplessly watched their world begin slowly eroded away from within and without. Yet, understudying the duplicitous currents of Neptune as we do, such promises of unrivaled national destiny will undoubtedly prove the revers . And as is in the case of so many other political messiahs who enjoy a brief popularity before their utopias, grand schemes, and cities on hills crumble into dust, so will go Reagan, the living repository of so much delusion, false hope and hidden malice.