Who Loves the Future, Baby? California Agriculture

February 2 wasn't just Ground Hog's Day. In California it was "Wonderful World of Agriculture Day." On February 2, Governor Jerry Brown appointed an Organic Farmer to head, get this, the Department of Pesticide Regulation.

Brian Leahy was previously the Assistant Director of the California Department of Conservation. From 2000-2004 he was Executive Director of the California Certified Organic Farmers. Now he is Head of the Department of Pesticide Regulation. Brian Leahy is an organic farmer! And he can do politics!

Neptune has just moved into its own sign of Pisces and is just a few degrees away from having an exact Neptune Return in the natal chart for California. California's Sun is in Virgo (Sept. 9, 1850) and that opposes the sign of Pisces (not an opposition, though, because degrees are too far apart). If you're a control freak a Sun-Neptune opposition can be the transit from hell. Neptune just sort of makes sure you don't know what is going on for a few years. Then you wake up and look back and say, What the Hell just happened?

So, I thought we were all just going to have to succumb to the situations which are looking pretty dire. But, there you go. Wonders never cease (especially when you've got good leadership).

Neptune also rules hypersensitivity. The Neptunians will be the first to feel the poisons. They will also be more concerned for the welfare of others. And Neptune knows how to get what it wants, but through mellow means... and that does sound like California style.

I think that the Uranus-Pluto square is also an extremely strong influence here. Both of these planets create change, usually catastrophic change. Scary change that requires heroic adaptation. Pluto works from the underground and Uranus works from the Lightening Flash. They pull and zap at the same time and our knees get a little creaky. We can't really see them coming the way we can see Saturn crap coming. We don't necessarily feel like their experiences made us stronger.

Together Uranus and Pluto can be a PTSD diagnosis 20 years down the road. But, in this case, not only are we about to go through a Neptune Return, but we are going through a Ceres Return and Ceres has been in conjunction with Uranus! (It was a close one degree orb on February 2.) Ceres rules Farming! Ceres wants to make things grow. Ceres is a Goddess and she likes getting help from Uranus and Pluto when the tomatoes begin to taste like acid and the cantaloupe tastes like wax. On February 2, Ceres was at 5 Aries in conjunction with Uranus at 1 Aries. They were squared by Pluto at (oops didn't write it down) ___ Capricorn. Oh, wherever Pluto was.

Governor Brown is an Aries. Capricorn is Governance. Uranus shocks the shit out of everyone. Wonder what Leahy's sign is, of course, but couldn't find it. When we're relaxed we can see that Uranus represents Hopes and Wishes and the Future. And this so makes me love the future.

Virgo and Cancer also rule farming. Cancer, ruler of environment and home, has been at the empty leg of that long Cardinal Sign t-square totally needing to be represented.

Mars was at 21 Virgo was facing this extra long transit through that sign. It hadn't started moving Retrograde yet. So all things that Virgo rules, like jobs, service, public health, health habits, diet, hygiene, etc. will receive the benefits of extra attention.

Virgo's ruler, Mercury, was at 23 Sagittarius in a wide conjunction with The North Node at 15 Sagittarius. The Moon at Noon on February 2 was in Gemini. We got a new way of thinking (Gemini). We're getting new rules to play by (Sagittarius).

Like, Wow, Dudes!

Germany Has Worst E.Coli Outbreak in Modern History

An outbreak of a new strain of e.coli bacteria has so far killed 22 people in Europe and has infected 450 people, possibly as many as 1213 more. The Hospitals are said to be filled to capacity. How's that for Neptune's entrance in to its own sign of Pisces. I suppose we might look to blame the water supply somehow, but apparently it's the produce. At first Germany blamed the outbreak on some organic cucumbers from Spain which almost sent Europe into WWWIII. Now they say that they suspect the source was some bean sprouts which were served up at a restaurant in Lubeck, Germany. I've read that bean sprouts are really notorious carriers of these types of disease. Wonder why the hippies like them so much. At any rate, they are now the villains. I saw a photo of some being held in some tongs. They looked like vile worms. Never thought you could make a bean sprout look so creepy. Just read a story about 6 people who came down with the disease, 3 women and 3 men. They said they had only one bathroom for the women and one bathroom for the men and this severely affected their ability to queue properly. Can you imagine? I can. I had the Salmonella when I was a kid and was quarantined for a month.

I picked up some dates from Wikipedia. The deadliest outbreak of all time makes sense as Saturn-Pluto and Uranus sort of are in their final pass of the notorious t-square pattern. Neptune rules poisons along with Pluto and it is strong in its own sign. Pluto is in the sign of Capricorn which just expresses issues regarding being stuck and also in using force. It is squaring Saturn which is ruling Capricorn. Saturn in Libra shows a weakening of the kidneys which this food poisoning is said to be very good at. Something called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS).

Probably having the South Node in Gemini doesn't help the matter. I tend to think that diseases spread rapidly with this sign.

The first case was confirmed on May 2. That's a new Moon in Taurus. The Moon had just passed over a huge stellium in Aries: Uranus 3 Aries; Venus 14 Aries; Mercury 17 aries; Jupiter 23 Aries; Mars 23 Aries. These were all setting off the outer planet Cardinal Sign t-square. Interesting that Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and this is considered a new strain of e.coli, only confirmed one other time in Korea.

Of course, since Aries is the God of War I'm suspicious that this is some biowarfare thing, but I'm paranoid, of course. With New Moon in Taurus, the people at the catered event were probably just over-eating.

The first death came on May 21, 2011. The Sun changed signs to Gemini and was exactly squaring Neptune-Chiron 1-6 Pisces. The Moon was in Capricorn. There was a tight conjunction of Venus-Mars-Mercury at 7-8 Taurus. This is close to the placement of where the New Moon was when the first case was noticed which would have been about 12 Taurus.

Perhaps the guilty vegetable is some sort of Taurus thing.

Here's an article about what kinds of foods Taurus' like. Cucumbers are in there but I guess it's not the Cucumbers: http://www.ehow.com/how_2180348_cook-taurus.html

Here's an article about what kinds of foods Aries like. Cucumbers are in there as well. http://www.ehow.com/how_2180334_cook-aries.html

But, it's not the cucumbers. Of course, they blamed organic. And the Spaniards are p'o'd about being blamed. And then it turns out that the new strain probably was released from a creepy laboratory somewhere.

There were no planets in Virgo for this one, let me tell you. I'd suspect there could more problems with food that arise from this t-square. I guess there was a huge rise of suicides among farmers in India. I hate to think what the reason for that is, but it should certainly be of more concern to more people, imo.

A Spoonful of Sugar

When it comes to Pharmaceuticals Modern Medicine is really bummed out. Neptune has been in conjunction with Chiron, the planet which has to deal with things that it can't be fixed.

There isn't a fish in the sea at this point that's not gorked out on some psych or heart med that a human (probably American) has peed out. (source is from one of those graphs that's on the front of an old USATODAY)

"Medicines" are the 3d biggest killed in the United States after Heart Disease and Cancer. (source is from the lady who stood behind me in the taco shop) and this: http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm (Errors and Hospitals, both Neptune)

The Drug Companies are so leery of making more mistakes and getting into more lawsuits that the Government is making bigger and bigger labs in order to try to keep up with the hopes and wishes of the Science community. (read that about 2 weeks ago in the newspaper somewhere)

And it turns out that pills that are meant for humans are the biggest toxin ingested by household pets. (Got this one: "Human meds a threat to pets (San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 29, 2011).

Whoa, Dude, gnarly session. On April 4, Neptune moves into Pisces its own sign. What that brings is anybody's guess. Artists and Orphans? Most of the fish have died off, there are islands of plastic bags floating where they used to live, but it seems that new species are showing up.

Neptune rules Drugs as they work for recreational purposes. I assume Neptune also rules Medications for health as well, but maybe that's actually more of a Virgo thing. Neptune rules big institutions, like big government labs and hospitals with long corridors that people lock up and throw away the keys to. This is probably great news for the pot farmers, though, except that Neptune also rules pesticides and fumigants and all things toxic.

Maybe it will be important to start paying more attention to where Ceres is during this transit. You sort of want to know what people really care about in order to deal in a constructive way with "Old Blue."

It's pretty interesting that the AMA was formed just as Neptune passed in to Pisces last time (19th century some time), so it's having a Neptune Return. And even more interesting is that the first Vegetarian Society formed in England the same month in May. This was just as Neptune made its first square to the Sun after its ingress. Both transits challenge the Sun first off from the same sign. Gemini the Fix It Guy. Interesting how that one month (gotta go look it up again, June 18--) kind of took the direction of cure in polar opposite directions.

For some reason I think this last transit mentioned is important. The Sun-Neptune square, that is. The leaders of the two biggest economies in the world at this point, China and the U.S. both have natal Sun-Neptune squares. Obama is a Leo Sun square Neptune in Scorpio. Hu Jintao is a Sagittarius Sun square Neptune in Libra.

Man, hate to say it, first thing that comes to mind when I see Sun in Gemini square Neptune in Pisces is corruption. And, then, very quickly after that I see a great tendency to create compassion and beauty in the world. And that's pretty awesome. The French developed the idea of Impressionism during the last Neptune in Pisces phase. Scattered points of light and color.

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/10/29/medical_system_is_leading_cause_of_death_and_injury_in_us.htm