OVER/TURNING THE LAW, PART II
Without tending, dedication and regular reminders to sit with the values that underline the law, the people change. Society evolves and devolves, wanting for a guiding star around which to orbit. The intentions behind the law repose sleepily on the ground, buried under seasons of dying vegetation. They begin to ferment and decay, compost for something new. Many of us look around for those foregone values and find a few things:
The law was never perfect to begin with. It forgot things. Left others out.
It was never entirely equitable. It was designed for those who wrote it.
The law has been changed and adapted by many over a long time. Molded like a pile of clay. It is waiting for still eager hands.
Our law is a human creation. It is both real and illusion. It is man-made. Thus, it is neither inherent nor everlasting.
We are not subject to the law. The law is subject to us.
Depending on your cosmology, “we” might be subject to Venus and Saturn, who make the law. We might be subject to Jupiter, who furthers the principles which underline it. We might be subject to Mars, who is intent to both disobey and enforce it, so long as contention reigns. And so on and so forth.
Our law and existence is contingent upon larger natural laws in which our power is even more minute.
Law is neither intrinsically moral or immoral.
Law is a tool that tends to serve those with the most social and physical capital. But the law also has its own patrons.
Right now, the south node of the Moon, plods through the first degrees of Libra, unraveling, effacing and rubbing out many laws which have upheld recent societal pillars. The law is turning. The law, and society with it, is being over-turned by some lesser evils and other greater injustices. Law and society are overgrowing with distaste. And overshadowed by the gleaming hunch in our hearts. The scales are tipping, readying themselves for their go around the bends.
The law functions best when it is by and for the people. Disobedience abounds when it is not by and for the people. The law should realistically be fairly easy to obey. We run into disobedience (violence even), disagreement, dissent and dissatisfaction when the law controls rather than protects. These instances are inevitable and are also signals that the law is due for change and evolution.
In part I of over / turning the law, I wrote about Saturn and Venus; how they inform, relate, create and connect society with responsibility. Saturn and Venus are lawful. I also wrote about Jupiter, a wandering star for the principles which usher structural coherence upon society. And I may have lightly mentioned Mars, whose onus is both to disobey and enforce the law, so long as contention reigns.
When disobedience is apparent and tension is high as it is in this moment, Mars is signaling time for new laws.
Ares kneeling before Athena, National Archaeological Museum of Florence
Mars Retrograde: Dec 6, 2024-Feb 23, 2025
Currently, Mars is tracing a path through the last degrees of Cancer and into the early degrees of Leo that will be retraced during his retrograde this winter. In these early few days of November, Mars makes the first of three oppositions to Pluto, and the only opposition of the three which occurs in Cancer and Capricorn - at 29°45’. On November 19th, Pluto leaves Capricorn and enters Aquarius for the last time (at least for the next 245 years).
Mars and Pluto aspects are rarely easy and breezy. And yet, Mars is not particularly powerful in Cancer, generally finding the sign far too emotionally flooding to win a fight. Pluto, known as much for depth as for power, is at this point, well-versed in Capricorn’s terroir and lends a quality of profound carelessness to the matters at hand. While Mars throws a tantrum over what may or may not actually be a tragedy, Pluto’s stare is firm and cold, like a shrugging off a horror. This opposition gives the energy of disembodied yet hardworking hearts, trying but ultimately struggling to connect over deep wounds. Don’t fret as it’s more of a failed attempt at trauma-bonding than getting tied up and being unable to get free. Disassociation is favored over deep presence with a battle that is yet to actually befall. When Mars and Pluto meet up again on January 2nd and April 26 of 2025, the challenges at hand are more apparent, and more ripe for confrontation.
What to actually do about it?
The point right now, is not to let anxiety or fear lead you to doing nothing to influence the future you’d like to see. Accounting for the impending election the US, and considering one’s personal relationship to the overculture, it is easy to look at the past and feel jaded about a world that has never bestowed the promises marketed to us. But it is also easy to look at the past and the present and see that change is not only possible, but inevitable. And while I watch change favor tragedy, I have to trust that at some point, the balance will tip in favor of healing. The key piece of trust here is that it is active. I trust that when I lean, the scale will tip in that direction. I trust that when I lift heavier at the gym, my muscles are growing. I trust that when I cast my vote, it will be counted. I trust that when I write to my representative-elects, that my voice will have some sway in their choices. And so on.
When trust and faith are inactive, destruction prevails.
Headlines are served up on capitalism’s conveyor belt, the words “legal”, “law” and “illegal” gliding skyward in my little glowing box. The horror of the phrase “legally killed” stirs an energetically putrid stench inside my stomach. How can we possibly accept a world whose laws engender the death of innocents?
In the brief respite from freeze, I begin to wonder, who creates the law? And is our world actually, in this moment, lawless? For when a major few cease to abide the law in a visible way, we come to see the law is in fact, an illusion we created and evolved to strengthen values from which the seemingly powerful have purposely strayed.
What is the difference between power and law? If law is not power, but a vehicle of it, and if we are the creators and shapers of the law, then can power be redirected by reframing legality? The diviner might know.
The Ram and the Goat (source unknown)
This is not yet, by astrological terms, a lawless time. Lawlessness happens when Saturn, great constructor, time-master and primary enforcer of the law, grows ever more thin and tyrant through the sign of its fall, Aries. Aries is situated opposite Libra and is governed by Mars, the anti-law. Saturn’s passage through Aries indicates an extended power grab by many who have not the skills to hold it. Unfortunately, those who already have power, have an easier time getting more of it. We do well right now, not to surrender what power we hold.
Power is ability or capacity to do something.
Power implies resources which lead to action. Like it or not, power implies hierarchy. Even collective power alludes to the prioritization of something: the whole, the big big picture. You can choose to be a part of the whole or be without power.
Power is inherently connected to the distribution, growth, access or obstruction of access to resources.
The law is a system which channels power. The evolution of the law is evidenced by spinning and evolving spheres. And just like everything else, the law has a life/death/life cycle. It is not always so visible but to those tapped into its spirit, it is ripe for creation.
While Venus is deeply connected to the law, her movements and synodic cycle are more telling for personal events than larger collective shifts.
As Jupiter deals with societal values and Saturn makes manifest sytemic structures, Jupiter and Saturn together form law cycles. Their conjunctions, opening squares, oppositions and closing squares show us moments of challenge and tension between society and the structures which uphold it. As I mentioned in part I, Jupiter and Saturn are currently making an opening square, showing us the initial challenges of this law cycle. In addition to the aspects that Jupiter and Saturn make to each other, we look to the signs in which these aspects happen to give us information about the kind of power Jupiter and Saturn each carry at any given time.
Jupiter and Saturn in detriment and fall mark moments when the principles and structures are not well-resourced. This can look like guiding principles gone wrong and poorly written laws, leading to mounting collective tensions about how to make change for the better, or an altogether new world order. The connection between Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn’s later entrance into Aries shows us that this current moment is but a part of a much larger story. Jupiter in Gemini is in detriment, struggling to hold true to a coherent principles as collective values seems to self-contradict.
In June of 2025, Jupiter will enter Cancer and square Saturn in Aries, seeding the dream of a new law while the current one collapses in the undertow.
The moves we make right now are part of whatever comes to pass. We each have our part and power in our lives and in the whole. Even the planets show us this:
The law is a collective effort.
Saturn outlines and forms the structure of the system.
Jupiter creates the culture upon which the law is founded.
Mars disobeys and enforces.
The Sun guides the intention.
Venus infuses the system with social ties and abstract equity.
Mercury reinterprets the rules.
The Moon holds, feeds and consumes it all.
The law is a system of channels for power. As Mars opposes Pluto on November 3rd, the notion of power, who gets it, who gives it is on everyone’s mind. The web of power is fraying at the edges. We do well to remember that the people who have power either took it from people or were given it by the people.
The law is a channel for distributing, removing, sharing, taking and wielding power. And right now, the law is readying for a shift.
Power is the ability to inflict violence or bestow generosity. So consider, not just who you are voting for in high and mighty offices, but who that person will give power to and from whom they will take it. Upon whom will they inflict violence? To whom will they be generous? Who will be responsible to the power they are given. And if you don’t know, maybe give yourself the power of knowledge by doing some research, most especially in your local elections.
I might also add that the United States appears to have more power than any other country in the world. Our choices do not just impact the citizens of this country, but every country on this planet. We are responsible to making, changing and supporting laws which support the people to do good work in this world.
If you resonate with this piece and you want to talk about how elements therein connect to your personal natal chart, you can book a reading with me. My books for November are open to my newsletter list until November 8th at 9pm PST