Democrats and Republicans grilled Facebook, Google and Twitter at a highly partisan congressional hearing Wednesday that exposed differing views and deep distrust about the power of Silicon Valley to police the web. Senate lawmakers had invited the three tech giants’ top executives to testify as part of a broad review of decades-old federal laws known as Section 230 that spare social media sites from being held liable for the posts, photos and videos they allow or remove. Many members of Congress increasingly have come to see the rules as outdated, and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday also said he believes it is necessary to “update the law.” https://wapo.st/3mylV00
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
This is one of the great quotes in science. Coming from Einstein, who simplified physics into general relativity, it is a great statement of how to conduct science.
Most individuals writing on specialized subjects (including astrology) are faced with the daunting task of getting complex ideas across to the lay public. How does one do it, if you cannot introduce the public to specialized techniques well understood and accepted by astrologers. To my mind, the answer is not to stay with simplified astrology (e.g. sun sign astrology) but to introduce the methods and techniques used by professional astrologers so that earnest readers begin to understand the complexity of the subject.
So why am I going into this rant? Yesterday’s news on the senate hearing of the social media tech giants gives me an opportunity to explain the use of some well known but little used techniques in astrology. In this post I will use the diurnal horoscope [1] of the US national chart – the Sibly and introduce the reader to the concept of mundane aspects [2].
What is a diurnal
horoscope?
Diurnal are daily
charts calculated for the birth time and birth location, but for a specific
day.
What is a mundane
aspect?
A mundane aspect is an aspect (an astrological angle) between two points in space—for example, between two planets—that is measured along the celestial equator. This distinguishes mundane aspects from the aspects relied upon by most astrologers, who usually consider only angles that are measured along the ecliptic (the circle of the zodiac). Mundane aspects are rarely used by contemporary astrologers.
Therefore, for example, a mundane square can be the formed by planets occupying the 10th and 1st house cusps, or say the 10th and 7th house cusps even when the angular separation measured along the zodiac is more or less than 90 degrees.
Having understood, these two basic concepts, let us now draw the diurnal horoscope of the US Sibly for Oct. 28, the date of the news above. What do we find? Uranus is on the 1st cusp (the Ascendant), Pluto is on the MC (10th cusp) and the TNP Poseidon is on the Descendant (7th cusp). In other words Pluto is in a mundane square to Uranus and the TNP Poseidon.
Most astrologers who have confined themselves to measuring the Uranus-Pluto square along the circle of the zodiac claim that the “effective period” of this particular and very dramatic outer-planet transit was between 2012-2015. But as we can see the two planets are still in a mundane square and very active in Washington, DC.
Pluto in Capricorn represents the traditional hierarchical order in society, where authorities at the top give orders that are to be obeyed by all those below. These “orders” may be literal policies and rules of social operation, or they may be less tangible instructions, often internalized by individuals, concerning what we all should believe about our culture and how we should conduct our social relations. In Capricorn, Pluto symbolizes the overwhelming power of large institutions, including governments, corporations, and all social organizations.
And very simply put, Uranus is about freedom of expression so that at the heart of the Uranus-Pluto square are conflicts that surround the question: Who decides what is permissible in society? Do individuals have the freedom to choose what they will or won’t do, or do collective agencies — from public opinion to various kinds of dominant social institutions — have the power to determine what actions will and won’t be allowed? Are some institutions like the social media platforms operating in secrecy to serve only the institution itself or the elites in power?
Let us remember that the Uranus-Pluto square can be double-sided. One isn’t “good” and the other “bad.” That’s far too simplistic. Uranus can mean standing up for individual freedom against the draconian power of a collective — whether governmental, corporate, or social — that no longer considers the needs of individuals, which is the dark side of Pluto in Capricorn. But the equation can work the other way, too. How about when individuals (Antifa or BLM movements) or social media giants misuse freedom? In such a case, the government must force conformity against these outlaws”.
Having understood the dynamics of the Uranus-Pluto square let us get back to the Sibly diurnal for Oct. 28, the date of the Senate hearing. Martha Wescott links the TNP Poseidon to the media as well as propaganda and interprets the Uranus-Pluto-Poseidon combination as below:
Uranus-Poseidon: the use of electronic media as a vehicle for information or persuasion.
Pluto-Poseidon: to recognize the pervasive and invasive power of the media, advertising or ideologic propaganda; to see attempts to influence, control, dominate or manipulate people through these things.
[1] http://aliceportman.com/diurnal-daily-charts/
Further reading:
The PS5, Social Media and Mass Censorship – What Can Be Done? https://bit.ly/2TFCb2B
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