This morning I headed off to my once-a-week two hour yoga class, which I have only recently started going to. It's a tough class, and although I take other classes throughout the week, I always look towards this one with both a sense of anticipation and fear, kind of similar to how you might feel on a first-date with the super hot person you always dreamed would ask you out.
Anyway, at the beginning of class, Abby (the instructor, who yes, is super hot, in a curvy-southern-gal-yoga-expert kind of way) told us she'd been receiving tweets from John Friend all morning about the forces of nature manifesting in our lives right now -- that is, astrology. I've always had a love-hate relationship with astrology, finding some uncanny truths in at times (like anything about the Saturn Returns phenomennon) and complete bullshit at other times. But when she read the astrological forecast to us, I found myself riveted. Here's an excerpt:
"Don't be surprised if you find yourself nearly speechless this week... as strange (actually, downright weird) plot twists throw even the best-laid plans into a tizzy... this kaleidoscope of change, whether personal or collective, taxes already overburdened nervous systems. Holding steady in the midst of so much upheaval requires a strong center and an even stronger heart.
The source of tumult is the ongoing Saturn/Uranus opposition. Exact on April 26, this tense interaction symbolizes the dissolution of the status quo a breakdown that is taking many forms, some obvious, some subtle, and some completely unexpected. Saturn symbolizes the distillation of wisdom from experience. Uranus is the principle of revolution. Oppositions signify polarization. Keep in mind, Uranus only disturbs what is stagnant. So while it may look as if reliable structures are dissolving, it's really lifeless systems - no longer valuable or viable - that are disintegrating."
As I folded into my forward bend and down dog, I thought about what an auspicious forecast this is for the opening of the People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia today. Although I decided not to go, it's been in my heart and mind all day and this past weekend, as well. For me, like many of the activists who went to Copenhagen and were attacked by the police outside of the Bella Center when we attempted to hold a People's Conference within eyeshot and earshot of the world's leaders there, it feels like the happy ending we all dreamed of on that day -- just months later, some place much warmer, with the Bolivian Honor Guard standing by to protect those who would dare to dream up real solutions rather than assaulted by them. We couldn't have our People' Conference there -- the coming together of the earth-lovers and the dreamers, the non-profits and the activists and the indigenous peoples of the world -- but at least one world leader heard our cry and did something about it. I only wish I'd known it would turn out this way before buying a $1200 plane ticket to Denmark in the dead of winter.
But, I digress. As Abby read us the world's horoscope for this week and I straightened my arms and strengthened my abs to go into plank pose, I thought about how I can't imagine anything that I want more than the dissolution of this lifeless system, sometimes; other times I realize how painful a process that is likely to be for most of the human inhabitants of this planet, and how much destruction such a process implies. And yet, its equally true that maintaining the system will cause lots of destruction, as well -- perhaps enough to threaten the very fabric of the web of life on earth, the only place that we know for sure that life exists. It's as if we must dissolve the lifeless system that is proving no longer viable in order to protect the very life-systems of earth themselves.
Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, who called for the People's Conference, spoke perfectly clearly about the necessity of dissolving certain systems (I wonder if he read his horoscope?) during his opening speech today:
"We are here because in Copenhagen the so-called developed countries failed in their obligation to provide substantial commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. We have two paths: either Pachamama or death. We have two paths: either capitalism dies or Mother Earth dies. Either capitalism lives or Mother Earth lives. Of course, brothers and sisters, we are here for life, for humanity and for the rights of Mother Earth. Long live the rights of Mother Earth! Death to capitalism!"
All I have to say is, Day-um. That's ballzy. I'd be careful of getting on any planes, however, for a couple of years. People who advocate such strong views against capitalism tend have a tendency to end up in unfortunate accidents.
