Taxation Without Representation, 250 Years Later
The US Pluto return to his natal position ensures that this question won’t go away until it's finally resolved
If you feel like you’re living through a period of unhinged, Holy-hell chaos, well… you are in fact doing just that. With transit Neptune (now retrograde at that), lurking on the cusp of the US 4th house, you can be sure this frenetic intensity that’s surging through the collective won’t go away anytime soon.
That and the uneasy feeling of “you can’t believe anything” is pervasive now in the collective. It’s a world-wide sentiment for sure, but for the US (because of transit Neptune’s position on the highly charged cusp of the US 4th house), that feeling is multiplied exponentially. And what’s doubling down on this now is that Saturn has all but stalled, ready to turn retrograde himself on July 26th. Buckle-up, folks; it’s gonna get worse. Much worse before it gets better. As I said in a recent Note, if you’ve not practiced the skill of holding center in the chaos, you’re going to get some serious on-the-job training in the many, many months to come. It’s either that, or become wholly consumed in the swirl of it all.
Now is a great time to get comfortable doing things that don’t involve a screen. Connect with nature, journal (with pen and paper), garden, exercise, get to know your neighbors, read books, go to your local library and farmer’s market. If you allow yourself to connect to presence and life offline, things won’t seem so chaotic and dire.
Like all planets, Neptune’s energy is a double edged sword. His forte is to obscure reality. To cast a fog over all there is. He makes discerning truth from fiction near impossible, making the on-going kabuki theater you’re blasted with seem like reality. Deep-fakes so real now that even those who are highly skilled at clocking the tell-tale inconsistencies that would mark these as fake are left shrugging their shoulders. That’s the domain of Neptune. And Neptune at home in Pisces? You get 4th of July UFC fights and the promise of alien (ALIEN!!) disclosures to distract you from the multitudes of elites implicated in the Epstein files and a government who’s protecting them. That’s an empowered Neptune at home in Pisces on the cusp of the 4th. What you’re left with is your own gut instinct. Because every other sense (especially sight), is bamboozled by Neptune’s sleight-of-hand.
And learning to trust your own gut is the upside of Neptune. Learning to trust your own inner knowing. Because along with the ability to obscure comes the ability to see clearly through the fog. In the same way that all magic (in the occult sense) emanates from the same source, it’s only intent that separates black magic from the white. Neptune won’t just give up his secrets easily, though. Thus ⸺ and not to beat a dead horse, but it’s true ⸺ you’ve got to face him down from a position of centeredness. Lose that center, and you’re right back in the fog, looking forward to the next bread-and-circus distraction tossed your way. Anything to keep you from looking behind the veil. And you can be sure that your ability to wield the light is capped by your ability to hold the dark. It’s a fundamental truism of Natural Law.
For his part, transit Pluto is again retrograde (and has been since May 7th), pressing back full force once more upon his US natal position and the cusp of the US 2nd house. A nation founded largely upon the rage of being taxed without any say upon representation is again addressing that same question. The revised version of that being the abject absurdity of a government taxing your life force energy (your labor). The absurdity of this on its own, yes ⸺ but especially so in the absence of that government’s demonstrating any modicum of fiscal control themselves, and in absence of being able to readily identify where that money goes. Or, more to the point, hiding where that money goes. Because, don’t forget ⸺ Neptune’s in on the action along with Pluto by way of their sextile alignment.
Which then begs the question of who, exactly, is being “represented” in this taxation arrangement? It’s clear to the most casual observer that it’s not the person whose life force is being taxed. Pluto has been forcing this issue over the last several years. Neptune is doing his part to blur and blind the collective to the truth of the matter. And Saturn is doing his damndest ⸺ albeit hobbled in hostile, Piscean territory ⸺ to bring a just-the-facts-ma’am reckoning to this situation. For more on that, see this.
And for Pluto’s part in this, he is methodically and deftly illuminating the nature of (especially so) planetary returns. Returns force the energies present in the birth chart placement to the surface so as to be dealt with and resolved. Doesn’t matter if it’s in a personal birth chart, or that of a country. And a Pluto return is a big deal. Any country that has endured long enough to see a Pluto return (Rome, for example), is left completely reshaped from the way it entered it that return. Pluto’s promise isn’t ease. He’s in no way, shape or form a benefic energy. His is to transform in the way that a wrecking ball transforms a cityscape.
And transformation is, of course, the way of the Universe. Nothing remains static; nothing remains the same. Empires rise and, either transform or fall. Humans, however, strive above all for things to remain as-is. Ariel and I teach this concept in our trainings; the human psyche wired as it is with the overriding propensity to conflate “sameness” with “safety”, which enables a whole host of trickle down problems. The least of which being a droning sense of suffering. The Buddha summed this idea up quite succinctly when he said that “pain is inevitable; suffering is optional”. Something to keep in mind during this tumultuous period we’re in.
Back on June 15th I said that the US-Iran “peace deal” was going to be a non-starter. That deal, of course, crumbled on the evening of July 7th. This sets up a very interesting next few days as Venus will break kal sarpa (the Serpent’s coil) on July 10th.
As Venus rules both the US 11th house (Congress) and the now highly charged US 6th (first responders, military), this might just be the impetus for some kind of retaliatory action on our soil. Or more likely, given the astrology, a false flag operation. Especially given the disruptive duo (Mars and Uranus) currently traversing that Taurus/6th house territory. I gotta say that, I was really apprehensive about the week surrounding the 4th, as the astrology looked about as grim as I’ve seen. I can usually find a bright spot in any reading, but those several days were looking bleak. Two things: I did not account for the kal sarpa holding the lid on those energies in a positive sense, and I did not factor Venus’s breaking kal sarpa with those energies still very much in play. She being the ruler of the US 6th and 11th adds much to the equation. If you’re curious as to what those energies are, and their potential outcomes, AND what to do about it, see this.
I get that all of this sounds dire. So do reports of a pending hurricane. And if you’re in the path of an incoming hurricane, it’s best to prepare. Same with astrological weather. As always, the smart thing to do is get up a few days on provisions. If you’re up a few days, get up a week. If you’re up a week, get up two. And so on.
Maybe all this astrological energy just dissipates in a way so as not to disrupt the power or communications grid, or the supply chain. That would be great… and yet, I know what I see in the astrology. Our society is built in such a way that the slightest disruption can cause a magnification of downstream effects.
No need to fret about it; just be prepared.
⸺ Keith