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India tension after 'cow protectors' assault Dalits in Gujarat



Tension has gripped parts of the Indian state of Gujarat after reports that seven men from the low-caste Dalit community had attempted suicide. The men tried to take their own lives to protest against last week's assault on four Dalit men allegedly by the members of a Hindu hardline group. The Dalit men were assaulted while trying to skin a dead cow. Many Hindus consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animal is banned in many Indian states. Last year, a Muslim man was lynched by a violent mob that attacked his house over allegations that his family had been storing and consuming beef at home. There have several other attacks across India where Muslim men have been accused of eating or smuggling beef. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36832687




On July 11, four young Dalit men were barbarically stripped, flogged and dragged behind an SUV in Una. A video clip of the incident travelled across the state triggered spontaneous protests. The hereditary profession of skinning dead cattle comes with a stigma as old as the caste system. Untouchability, exclusion and discrimination have been an eternal part of the community's reality. But the latest threat -- rampant cow vigilantism -- brings with it a threat to life.
The incident took place just a day before the First Quarter Moon. A chart for the Moon phase at Una shows the luminaries as part of a significant Cross on the angles.  Here the Sun is conjunct the star Castor, alpha Geminorum. The Twins represent the brotherhood-sisterhood of all humankind, their Alpha star marks the struggles between the polarities of cold hatred, cruelty, greed and intolerance vs crusades for humanity, rights and social justice [1].  Meanwhile, the Moon is among the stars of the Virgin, the Herdsman and the Centaur [2]. In a gross distortion of the Virgin’s longing for purity, there are those here who attempt to “purify” the human race. In such cases the Herdsman’s reaping hook and the “punisher” Centaur combine with the Virgin’s desire for purity to ruthlessly eliminate those who are not of their race or religion.






As the raging Dalit protests are snowballing into a major worry for the government the New Moon of August 2, 2016 takes place conjunct Saturn-Pluto on the IC -  a sensitive point in  India’s chart (August 15, 1947; 0:00 hrs IST Delhi).  The New Moon is placed amid the stars of the Egyptian Scarabaeus (our modern Crab), between Acubens and Asellus Aus of Cancer. It nests over the head of Hydra. North are Alpha Lyncis and Gianfar of Draco. About this area Nick Fiorenza writes:

Acubens, Alpha Cancer lies next to King Cobra Star Cluster M67, composed of about 500 stars, one of most ancient star clusters known (~3 to 5 billion years). Acubens and M67 expresses as a long established heritage, lineage, inheritance, birthright, bloodline or something passed down through generations. Acubens impels a need to protect, collect and nurture, also to hide and shelter, the essence of the Crab. Acubens can also articulate our entrapment in dogma and in contract passed down though lineage. This dogma is upheld by our personal belief structures—the ideas we hold about our lives and the experiences we have in our lives—often inherited. Acubens can impel a tenacious and stubborn resistance to release the patterns we hold that keep us entrapped in limiting life scenarios.

Asellus Aus. and Bor., the southern and northern stars that create the ass of the Crab, also called the two donkeys (associated with nearby Praesepe, the beehive star cluster, also called the manger), can indicate antiquated patterns, personal and collective dogmatic belief structures, and sticky modalities of being that perpetuate stasis. Classically they are considered to be unfortunate stars with a somewhat stubborn (I would say sticky) nature. They can stimulate a desire to nourish and fortify, but also to accumulate to such a degree that one can get self-consumed.
This New Moon and lunar cycle impels us to collect and hold that which is of value and truly nurturing but also to relinquish that which limits our emergence into light and illumination. It challenges us to do all we can to achieve a greater vision for the evolutionary freedom and fulfillment that we seek—freedom from the dogmas, both collective and personal, that keep us entrapped in our patterns of the past and in an old world paradigm.

[1] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg (v.1, p.427)

[2] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg (v.2, p.99 - 101)

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