The Foiled Plot to End All Protests

Dear Friend and Reader:

Last week, I cautioned that some kind of false-flag event might be used to disrupt the Occupy Wall Street protests that have now spread to 1,100 cities in the United States. As of press time, the protesters had too strong a presence in Zuccotti Park for New York City to move ahead with its proposed 'cleaning' of the park first thing Friday morning. Protesters spent the night mopping and scrubbing the plaza in the financial district. That is a real movement, and it's going to grow as the Uranus-Pluto square -- the 2012 aspect -- comes into focus. Unlike protesting a war, which might be seen as ideological and unpatriotic, there's nothing un-American about wanting to feed your children. Wednesday night Keith Olbermann reported that according to a new survey, one in five Americans said they had trouble feeding their families the past year.

Her sign reads, "I inherited money at 21. I have had health and dental insurance all my life. I want to live in a world where we all have enough. I have more than enough. Tax me! Rich kid for redistribution! I am the 1% and I stand with the 99%." Photographer unknown; city unknown; source: Electrical Audio website.

Directly or indirectly, it seems that the world economic crisis is affecting everyone, and even if it's not affecting you, you may still be outraged by the ways in which the 'bailouts' of Wall Street firms and U.S. banks seem to have gone directly into bonuses for top executives. Bank of America, which got nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in bailouts, is about to lay off 30,000 workers.

This kind of greed is what the Occupy Wall Street protests are about -- and they are catching on. Saturday is the planned worldwide 15 October event, which officially takes the #Occupy movement global. Though this protest movement started a month ago with the big story being how it was being ignored by the media, I would say it's doing very well right now. Sure, much of the coverage has been pretty stupid, which The Onion summed up this week as, "Nation Waiting For Protesters to Clearly Articulate Demands Before Ignoring Them."

Though Fox News portrays those protesting as a bunch of anarchists who have never worked for anything in their lives, in truth this is a broad-based movement of educated people who know that our society is being ripped off and our economy is being destroyed. To my ear, those so-called conservative elements calling for dismantling the government (what they call deregulation) so that it's easier for them to do business have as much credibility as the mafia calling for the dismantling of the organized crime unit.

As author and war correspondent Chris Hedges put it last week, "Those who are protesting the rise of the corporate state are in fact on the political spectrum the true conservatives because they're calling for the restoration of the rule of law. The radicals have seized power and they have trashed all regulations and legal impediments to a corporate reconfiguration of American society into a form of neo-feudalism. And that's what we're really asking for -- is the restoration of the rule of law."

That is an interesting image of Pluto in Capricorn -- and this is going to be an interesting revolution. The hippies are now the conservatives (who would preserve the power of the state) and the self-acclaimed conservatives are now the anarchists (who are doing a good job taking it apart).

Speaking of the rule of law, on Tuesday, the federal government's top cops held a press conference and announced that a big terrorism plot had been foiled. Let's see if I can get this right. The Iranian government was going to hire a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, while he was in New York. This was supposed to happen in a restaurant and in theory lots of innocent people would have been killed. The plot was disrupted and it never got anywhere near actually happening.

Protest at Chase bank in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2011. The signs say, 'Make Banks Pay'. Photo from open-source Flickr stream.

"Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real, and many lives would have been lost," said Robert Mueller, head of the FBI, claiming victory on behalf of the nation.

Funny, this was the same scenario for an action-thriller I suggested to my literary agent last month, though in my version, the plot was foiled by an astrologer who was asked by Iran to cast the perfect chart for the event. The astrologer had a friend who was an FBI agent, he passed the tip along and saved the day. Okay, just kidding about that part.

My favorite critique of this 'terror plot' came from Glen Greenwald's blog on Salon.com. He wrote, "The most difficult challenge in writing about the Iranian Terror Plot unveiled yesterday is to take it seriously enough to analyze it. Iranian Muslims in the Quds Force sending marauding bands of Mexican drug cartel assassins onto sacred American soil to commit Terrorism -- against Saudi Arabia and possibly Israel -- is what Bill Kristol and John Bolton would feverishly dream up while dropping acid and madly cackling at the possibility that they could get someone to believe it."

In case you don't know those names, Bill Kristol was Dan Quayle's chief of staff when he was vice president, he's associated with several prominent neoconservative think tanks, and is the godfather of the Neocon movement. John Bolton is the big guy with the walrus moustache who wanted to blow the top 10 floors off of the United Nations (to which he was a delegate under Bush). Now imagine them taking LSD together, and dreaming up something really weird. That's what this plot sounds like.

Queens Galley soup kitchen in Kingston, NY, which feeds anyone who walks in three meals a day and provides emergency housing for 50. According to a new survey, one in five Americans has struggled to feed themselves or their family this year. Photo by Eric.

Thursday, The New York Times informed us that Mansour J. Arbabsiar, the suspect allegedly at the center of the alleged terrorist plot, was someone who was so disorganized he literally could not manage to wear matching socks. "He was perennially disheveled, friends and acquaintances said, and hopelessly disorganized," the newspaper wrote. They quoted an old friend: "He was always losing his keys and his cellphone. He was not capable of carrying out this plan." Hmm, he's got something in common with many of the alleged 9/11 hijackers.

The Times noted, "American officials, who say the plot was endorsed by top Iranian authorities, were exploring why the sophisticated Quds Force might have chosen to rely on so amateurish an agent as Mr. Arbabsiar."

Maybe astrology will give us a clue. Let's take a look at the chart for the big announcement that the terror plot had been foiled. When I first looked at this chart, the story seemed plausible. But as I studied the placements more carefully, the whole thing seemed, well, the word is tidy. Tidier than a chaotic lead conspirator who could not keep track of his cellphone. Tidier than an international conspiracy to commit mass murder. How was that Mexican gang going to get into the United States? I guess they were going to sneak past right where the fence along the border is supposed to go.

The chart is basically that of the Aries Full Moon. Federal officials made their announcement Tuesday just a few hours before the Moon reached its exact opposition to the Sun. It's true that the Full Moon can have a precipitating effect, like the wind blowing through a tree full of ripe apples. [That was the case in August 2006, when another such plot was uncovered on the Full Moon, this one in the UK. That was the famous one that led to not being able to bring more than a few ounces of liquid onto an airplane. It turned out to be a domestic plot, based right in England.]

This chart has Capricorn rising, and we find Saturn (the ruler of Capricorn) standing at attention up on top of the chart -- about to be conjoined by the Sun. So we have a Sun-Saturn conjunction straight up at the top. This could be the image of the servants of justice and government doing their job -- which is precisely what it seems like: an image. In Libra, this image has come out of Central Casting and been attended to by $400 an hour stylists. It's so realistic, it makes me want to stand up, put my hand over my heart and wipe a little tear from my eye.

Chart for Eric Holder announcing that the U.S. government had foiled a terrorism plot by Iran. Click for larger image.

The Aries Moon for its part is down in the 3rd house (of media) and it's precisely -- to the exact degree -- square the ascendant. Very neat and tidy.

Here is something interesting as well. The Moon in this chart is also exactly on the horizon of the chart for the Sept. 11 incident -- the relationship angle, one of the most sensitive lines in the whole chart. If George Bush had made this announcement, he would have come out with a hunk of still-smoldering debris from the World Trade Center. The Obama administration is somewhat subtler in its sales approach, evoking the sensation of Sept. 11 rather than the gory details. But the theme is 'terrorism' and the effect is a distraction. I don't think the guys in the Obama administration want to rain havoc and death on anyone, but they do have their agenda.

No matter how long I've looked at this chart, I could not see the chart of a foiled terror plot. But I do see a chart about government, money and banking. The houses in this chart that have the most activity are that 9th/10th blend (the government going about its business, looking very handsome as it does so) with the Sun and Saturn blowing in the breeze. The money and finance houses have a lot going on, and the theme is that it's 1) extremely narrow and 2) deceptive and 3) aggressive. We see this among many other places as Mars in the 8th house of banking, combined with a variety of other planets (some not shown in this chart) that speak of a focused, closed-minded conspiracy to do something very specific -- involving money.

In any chart of a conspiracy, there is a way to check and see who the main conspirator is. That will be by studying the 12th house. If we check that house, which tells us about the 'secret enemy', we find Sagittarius on the cusp. Follow that to the ruler of Sagittarius, which is Jupiter, who is wealthy, fat and happy, retrograde in Taurus lurking right at the bottom of the chart. The secret enemy in this chart of a foiled terror plot is a banker, at home, sipping Romanée Conti from a good year.

Still standing -- the occupation of Zuccotti Park was alive and well Friday morning, apparently too large for Mayor Bloomberg to evict for cleaning of the privately owned plaza. Cellphone photo by Beth Bagner, who will have lots more photos on our website later Friday.

So, the plot to end all protests didn't work. Thursday's lead story on CNN.com was about Republicans being friendlier to the protesters. Heck, Mitt Romney said he's worried about the 99%, and "I understand how those people feel" despite his being one of the 1%.

Even Eric Cantor, whose chart could work as drain cleaner and who was just last week referring to 'mobs', on Wednesday said, "People are upset, and they're justifiably frustrated. They're out of work. The economy is not moving. Their sense of security for the future is not clear at all. People are afraid, and I get it. When we have elected leaders stirring the pot, if you will, that's not good."

Speaking of stirring the pot, we're aware that as of press time Friday morning, the presence of protesters at Zuccotti Park was too strong for the city to move in on them. The last time Mayor Bloomberg took action against the protesters was on Oct. 1, which helped send #Occupy international. A new phase of this is planned for this Saturday with the 15 October day of action. Perhaps Bloomberg has figured out that this movement is bigger than he and his billions -- something the protesters apparently figured out long ago. Good thing, too.

Lovingly,




Saturn and Libra Sun are currently opposite Eris in Aries. Eris, a relatively new discovery, is a longterm visitor to Aries, taking more than a century to cross this one sign -- and redefining it as it goes. Sun and Saturn opposing Eris present an image of the rigid human ego gazing into the chaotic mirror of human nature as it plays out in the world. It's also a comment about how we seek and use relationships for stability of our own personality. Venus opposes Jupiter at 7:53 pm EDT Friday. The Moon ingresses Gemini at 10:15 am EDT on Saturday. Venus squares Vesta at 9:07 am EDT Sunday. Mercury opposes Jupiter Monday at 2:55 pm EDT, though both of these personal planets opposing Jupiter will be in effect all weekend. Beware of an emotional exaggeration effect as that happens; things are unlikely to be as big as your emotional filters make them seem, so be careful not to overreact. The Moon enters Cancer Monday evening, doing its weekly thing of ringing the bell of the 2012 aspect, Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn. If events, discussions or emotions seem tense, Monday is a possible release point, as the Moon makes a trine from Cancer to Chiron in Pisces, and also trines Mercury and Venus in Scorpio. One last: though Mercury and Venus appear close together, they don't actually form a conjunction until June 2012, the same month that everything else happens all at once.



This weekend's emotional tides are being driven by Venus and Mercury in Scorpio opposing Jupiter. Yes, that's a bit more emotional than it is erotic, but anything with Scorpio so prominent is going to have a sexual flavor. But first we need to sort out the power struggle or negotiation indicated by the opposition aspects. Venus in Scorpio wants what she wants, and Jupiter retrograde in Taurus may not be in the mood to give it up. So if an opposition carries tension, this one especially does, with extra emphasis considering that Venus (in Scorpio) rules Taurus -- the sign that Jupiter now occupies. Venus is opposite a planet in her own sign, and feels kicked out. There is an intervening or mediating factor in this push and pull experience: Both planets are square Vesta. With Vesta in the picture, nothing can ever be a quest for self-interest, no matter how interested anyone is in pushing that agenda. In Aquarius, her role will be to raise the discussion to the level of 'the greatest good for all concerned'. This may call for what seems like a sacrifice of some kind, but that's a loaded word; you can think of it more as making a contribution to the common good. Mercury has entered Scorpio as of Thursday, and this may represent the interests of another party -- such as a child or young person -- as part of the picture. The Moon will be in Gemini most of the weekend, at least providing an intuitive pull toward putting feelings into words.



Translating this aspect directly into sex, it looks like two available people rejected by a third person get together and have some fun. Or, it could represent a threesome, though this is becoming a lost art. Or one last potential - a situation wherein someone is apparently withholding. I would suggest that in any form of sex, the space be honored -- that's a Vesta thing, creating the appropriate setting. This is more important than most people recognize, especially if the sex isn't the 'taken for granted' kind that can occur in a 'committed' partnership but rather something happening under other circumstances. Many object to the notion that sex can be planned; it's supposed to be spontaneous and therefore romantic. Sex can definitely be planned, and is often better for being so. Yet this starts with making the space available, guiding social situations gently, and then seeing if the energy catches on. What may develop is more like a safe, steamy, very unusual conversation (a factor of both Vesta and the Gemini Moon). All this Vesta suggests that the sex that may happen is the 'non sex' kind, which might be erotic writing, hot talk, masturbation or sharing masturbation with a friend or lover. Once the definition of sex is expanded, the possibilities are endless.



Note, this was written Thursday night, prior to Mayor Bloomberg making the decision not to raid the occupation at Zuccotti Park. I'm leaving the original text: As mentioned, Mayor Bloomberg was planning to clear out Zuccotti Park Monday morning at 7 am. This is a loaded chart. Sunrise happens at a few minutes past 7, so both the Sun and Saturn are exactly in the ascendant of this chart. Venus, the ascendant ruler, is opposite Jupiter. On the 7th house cusp we have Eris, who can be a chaotic influence. The upshot of this chart is, everyone better keep their cool or it will be a bad scene for both sides. It will help that there are going to be a thousand or so video cameras trained on the situation, and city officials know that the non-Fox News-watching public supports this protest movement. It appears that the protesters are the ones who are practicing discipline and restraint while the city has a harder time keeping its forces in line. Check the Planet Waves blog later today for photos and updates. And check the 15 October website for information about demonstrations in your city.




A Conversation with Elisa Novick

Greetings. We're ready with a new edition of Planet Waves FM, this week featuring an interview with Elisa Novick. I would describe Elisa as a master healer -- words I don't use very often or speak lightly. The longer I know Elisa, and the more I work with her and learn from her, the better I understand what that means.

Elisa Novick, photo by Eric.

I spent an evening with her Monday at her home in Great Barrington, MA, speaking with her about what she does and how she does it. You will hear things in this discussion that are definitely out of the ordinary, but -- as I prefer to keep all matters of a spiritual nature -- eminently practical. She is someone who works on a planetary level but also serves groups and individuals.

Anyone who aspires to this kind of work would benefit from hearing from her. I'm curious to hear your responses to both the material she presents and how you feel listening to her speak.

I give a brief overview of the week's astrology at the top of the program, then I quickly move on to the conversation. The whole program is about one hour and 15 minutes, without a music break. If you would like to contact Elisa, you can reach her through her website, ThrivingPlanet.org. She mentions a Tree Play workshop, which will be held near Rhinebeck, NY (right near the Omega Institute) on Saturday, Oct. 29, and this is open to anyone who is interested. Check her website for more information.

Here is your recording in the old player, as well as the zip file, with the complete archive of all of my podcasts. The old player will open in a new window.