Assessing the World Food Crisis

Over the last week or so, there's been a number of disturbing stories in the news, regarding serious problems in the food and agricultural industry, that could impact all of us before too long. Ever since Pluto entered Capricorn in late Jan. 2008, the decaying infrastructure, has come to light in dramatic fashion. (The failing US economy is the most overt manifestation of the underlying problems being exposed.) The world food shortages are clearly mirrored by Saturn's transit through the sign of Virgo, and it's upcoming station on May 2. Moreover, the seismic-shifting Uranus-Pluto square, which is not exact until 2012, is within orb(10 degrees), and providing a glimpse of things to come.

The Aug. 1, 2008 total solar eclipse, will directly activate the Uranus/Pluto midpoint. German astrologer Reinhold Ebertin describes the principle of this midpoint as: "The process of transformation. (The collapse of the old order of things, the construction of the new.) Revolution." And as this eclipse rises at the nation's capital, we find the direct midpoint picture: Ascendant = Eclipse = Uranus/Pluto- which links this powerful astral complex to the USA.

The once in 128 year Uranus-Pluto conjunctions of 1963-68(exact 1965-66) occurred in Virgo(16-17th degree), as the collective awareness of food, health, and environmental issues, underwent a transformative revolution. Theoretically, the degree of an outer planet conjunction remains sensitive, and responsive to transits for the duration of it's cycle. And by October 2008, transiting Saturn will begin to cross back and forth over this sensitized degree area until August 2009.

It's not only Saturn moving through the sign of food, harvest, and agriculture, that concerns us- but the simultaneous activation of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction degree, even as these planets start to move into their world-changing aspect. And astrologers know that impending issues of peak oil, food or water shortages, and possible climate change from global warming, will likely come to a head during the Uranus-Pluto alignment.

The major planetary aspect on the horizon between Saturn and Uranus, is in effect from the summer of 2008 till the fall of 2010. And the first exact opposition just happens to form on election day- Nov. 4, 2008. As Uranus moves much slower, it's power to instigate change by destabilizing conditions, is stronger then Saturn's drive to maintain the status quo. Therefore, the developmental tension for collective change may be a disruptive influence for those resisting change.

The current transit of Pluto to the US Midheaven(1 Libra), reflects not only the intense power struggle for the Presidency, or the changes regarding the nation's reputation in the world- but also the domestic crisis, involving land, housing, and agriculture(IC). The housing crisis is at the root of the global economic crisis.

Here are a few recent news stories:

Assessing the Global Food Crisis
"A silent tsunami which knows no borders sweeping the world".

That is how the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) summed up the global food shortages. It is certainly a storm that has hit with little warning and has plunged an extra 100 million people into poverty."
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Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
"Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing."
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UN Chief Warns World Must Urgently Increase Food Production
"The U.N. chief warned Sunday that the world must urgently increase food production to ease skyrocketing prices and pledged to set up a task force on a crisis threatening to destabilize developing nations."
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Japan's Hunger Becomes a Dire Warning for Other Nations
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The World Food Crisis
-the last paragraph reads...
"Congress should also embrace trade and development policies that help developing countries regulate markets with an eye to feeding the hungry rather than feeding corporate profits. This principle, known as “food sovereignty,” sees struggling farmers and hungry people and says, as the Oakland Institute’s Anuradha Mittal observes, that it is time to “stop worshiping the golden calf of the so-called free market and embrace, instead, the principle [that] every country and every people have a right to food that is affordable.” As Mittal says, “When the market deprives them of this, it is the market that has to give.”
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5.2 Quake Shakes the Midwest

"Residents across the Midwest were awakened Friday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago, homes in Cincinnati and nerves across the region but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage.

Dozens of aftershocks followed, one with a magnitude of 4.6.

The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 45 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Milwaukee, Des Moines, Iowa, and Atlanta, nearly 400 miles to the southeast."
My Way News

This earthquake might be a literal metaphor of recent tremblors, that have rattled the nerves of working-class residents in the Midwest. And it's not surprising to find Uranus, the planet of sudden, unexpected upsets and disruptions, was rising when the quake struck.

The Spring Equinox(Aries Ingress) chart at West Salem set the stage for events of this nature, with the violent, red star Antares(10 Sagittarius) on the Ascendant, and the malefic star Alkaid(27 Virgo) conjunct the Midheaven. Alkaid has long been associated with natural disasters and earthquakes.

Radical Astrology

Irish astrologer Bill Sheeran's thoughtful articles:
Radical Astrology

The Enchanted Universe

A respected academic creates a 'scandal' with a new work that merges cultural and planetary history with astrology.
Interview by Shelley L. Ackerman

"Is the universe conscious? And does the cosmos actually care about what happens to Earth? In a new book, "Cosmos and Psyche" cultural historian and professor at California Institute of Integral Studies, Richard Tarnas, Ph.D., makes the case for a caring and sentient universe. While many scientists and academics subscribe to a paradigm in which faith and reason are separate, Tarnas offers an integrated perspective. Using astrology and planetary correspondences to illustrate patterns in world history, he reminds us that the stars do, in fact, light the way for humanity in its spiritual evolution and struggle with maturity."
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Understanding Our Moment in History:
An Interview with Richard Tarnas
by Scott London

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

From the New York times:
"As a professor of computer sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, Randy F. Pausch expected students to pay attention to his lectures. He never expected that the rest of the world would listen, too.

But today, more than 10 million people have tuned into Dr. Pausch’s last lecture, a whimsical and poignant talk about Captain Kirk, zero gravity and achieving childhood dreams. The 70-minute talk has been translated into seven languages, and this week Hyperion is publishing “The Last Lecture,” a book by Dr. Pausch and a collaborator, Jeff Zaslow.

“The whole thing is very strange,” Dr. Pausch said over lunch at a diner near Norfolk, Va. “I just gave a talk. I gave talks my whole life.” But of course, this wasn’t just any talk. “Let’s not ignore the obvious,” he said. “If I’d given that lecture but I weren’t dying, it wouldn’t have had the gravitas. Context is everything.”

Dr. Pausch, 47, is dying of pancreatic cancer, a disease that kills 95 percent of its victims, usually within months of diagnosis."
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"Randy Pausch (born 10/23/60) is a Prof. of Computer Science, and Design at CMU in Pitts, PA. In Sept. 2006, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He pursued a very aggressive cancer treatment; however in Aug. of 2007 he was told that the cancer had metastasized, and he had a remaining three to six months of good health.

Pausch delivered his "Last Public Lecture," titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," at CMU on Sept. 18, 2007. This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"

During the lecture, Pausch was upbeat and humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage.

Pausch was named "Person of the Week" on ABC's World News on Sept. 21. His "Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media, became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery. On Oct. 22, 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and recapped his "Last Lecture" for millions of TV viewers." (Wikipedia)

This is one of those American feel good stories, where an astrologer knows before looking, there's a deep resonance between the individual and the collective. Randy Pausch's strong will to live, is given prominence by a Mars-Sirius conjunction in his birth chart. Sirius, the 'Dog Star' at 14 Cancer, is the brightest star in the heavens, with a notable influence on the national character of the USA(the Sun conjoins Sirius on July 4).

When Dr. Pausch delivered his inspirational Last Lecture on Sept. 18, 2007, benefic Jupiter was probably transiting his Moon, near the US Ascendant, as it squared his natal Nodes. Soon thereafter, he became a media star, and is seen by many as an iconic, wounded healer, and teacher figure. This identification comes from the tight contact between Pausch's natal Chiron and the US Moon.

As Pluto currently transits Pausch's natal Jupiter- his tremendous faith, optimism, and self-confidence, receive the most profound and powerful stimulus imaginable.

Financial Astrology

The following article presents a good overview of the rough economic times ahead.
PLUTO IN CAPRICORN: THE GOOD, THE BAD, EVEN WORSE, AND REDEMPTION
R.Merriman

A thoughtful article by Robert Gover on the USA's prospective financial future.
Grand Cross & Great Depressions

Pluto, A Planet Wronged!

An homage to the April 2 Pluto station-retrograde:

PLUTO, A PLANET WRONGED!
By Arch Crawford(Wall Street astrologer/technician)
Article