2011 forewarned = forearmed

Old sayings have a lot of truth in them and none better than the notion that if you can anticipate upcoming events, you are in a better position to prepare for and deal with them


On the verge of a new and meaningful year, with many people wondering about global weather, climate change, economic conditions, terrorism and of course the anticipation of what 2012 might mean, 2011 is a year to prepare for


A little bit of information gathering: firstly knowing that 2011 = a number 4 year - with implications of hard work, frugality and restraints.
Alison Baughman has written a more detailed account confirming expectations that ring true for me.

Next, the website of a psychic called Lyn Philips
where you can find audio recordings from 2004 that forecast several years ahead including 2011, 2012.
Some excerpts for 2011: 
a record amount of movement within the earth, earthquakes, volcanoes, disruption.
Mexico blown away by incredibly strong winds
Cloud of despair over Europe
Exciting worldwide news of something discovered in sky
Trade in oil disrupted -severe effect on stock market


Some excerpts for 2012
A collision, huge explosion in sky -affects water
London protests over money, housing, everything
People leave cities for simpler life
Fear widespread but unfounded
Brazil affected by huge mass falling from sky - many hurt
Spain great floods cause loss of crops
Global water supply reported as being in decline




These excerpts reinforce patterns already in progress regarding climate/weather, economy and lifestyle readjustments - with the added factor of elements from space impacting upon earth. High probability is likely to apply to these aspects of our future world. Forewarned is forearmed. 


Updated Jan 4:


The Capricorn theme in 2011 affecting you, me, everyone


With the January 4 2011 solar eclipse in Capricorn being harshly affected by the sign's ruler, Saturn this is another indicator, confirmed by Pluto in Capricorn this year being at odds with both Jupiter and Uranus, Capricorn energy at its most controlling is set to be the dominant theme of the year.


In simple language:


Capricorn is the universal energy force related to strong management, guidance, parenthood (particularly fatherhood). Positively used, the energy gives people skills in managing businesses and other high achievements of public office where high standards are required. Such people effectively "parent" their community by being firm, fair fathers in their regulation and controls - as we expect actual fathers to handle their children.
We are all capable of showing Capricorn qualities, as we all have this energy operating strongly in at least a couple of aspects of our life ( shown in your personal astrology birth-chart looking at Capricorn and Saturn on the chart wheel)


It all goes wrong when the fathers and father figures (and each us us in our relevant area of life), fail to act out their role: they haven't worked it out i.e. they lack the critical stage of growth to do it automatically (remember even kids can be biological parents) - they want the power and control but fail to see the responsibilities that go with the territory. High responsibility ( meaning any aspect of life where you have the ability to impact considerably on the lives of others) means high accountability. 
This year with Saturn in the sign of Libra ( scales, balance, justice) accountability will come up repeatedly as a colleague of responsibility.
Libra is about the responsibilities of marriage, partnership or other agreed relationship dynamics ( counsellor-client) Saturn means many bonds will be broken in 2011 and through to late 2012 as it may all seem too hard, one person won't contribute, wants to be carried, backs out, withdraws, relationships break down and without the committed responsibility to fix things, will end. Some must end rightfully if the mature path isn't chosen.


But the Capricorn energy this year doesn't stop there: it's about right conduct, acting properly - so this could mean doing your share of the work, paying your bills, honouring agreements, treating others as you wish for yourself, managing your business effectively, looking after your children instead of a no-boundaries style and so on. Whatever area of life is hardest for you may be an indicator of your Capricorn weak spot needing to be matured


The management of nations, society, communities, particularly through government is a Capricorn structure therefore politics and political relationships will be big in the news with governments wanting to continue cutbacks.  Expect  vigorous if not violent, protests. Conservative ( possibly old-fashioned) and austere ( harsh, limiting) policies have already been installed in nations like the UK  due to economic imbalances. The world's relationship with money plus financial organizations need further  restructuring - money in all respects certainly continuing to be big on the agenda so expect more cutbacks both imposed and self imposed - restrained, restricted, controlled - these are Capricorn descriptions likely to feature highly in 2011.


With New Zealand facing a general election in 2011 this will not be an easy year at all politically with all the energetic forces tensed up: political relationships will face the same strain as private ones if trust, responsibilities and accountability are not adhered to. This could signify the end of the alliance Maori have with National - after all the let downs they have sucked up and swallowed in the past 2 years a- if National fails to act as a commited partner. 


I've already written about David Cunliffe ( see the David post) - though with little data to go on, he still looks to have the credibility in Capricornian style energy to be a leader for Labour. Remember those who've got the right ( Capricorn-Saturn) vibe will rise to the top this year and those who haven't will sink.


A situation, like the current environmental chaos hitting many parts of the world, arises as a natural balancing act. Nature has a way of  altering imbalances and we are part of the whole cyclic system  - not apart from and not above the natural world - the more you see the rightness of new regimes or changes, you will accept them, even if a bit reluctantly, understanding that everything in the whole universe is in constant and continual readjustment: that's the essence of life.


The Capricorn theme will also bring adversity, difficulty in particular areas relevant for each individual and locality or nation. By connection to the opposing energy Cancer - homes, families, mothers, women - these aspects of life are under particular stress, cutbacks, restriction, loss


Water related environmental issues are strongly indicated in the extended future. This includes, rain, floods, snow in vulnerable areas - best indicated by historical patterns -but also in areas not typically prone - meaning coastal zones. Low lying communities - at sea level must prepare for water surges.


Overall there are many challenging conditions we face in 2011 and beyond. This is a time to pull together in the face of larger forces.




Update Jan 13: in response to the massive flooding in eastern Australia, plus sri Lanka, Brazil, South Africa:  extract from January 8  2011 blog discussing Methane

Astrologers use information based on connections made by the planets, sun and moon in our known solar system and taking a look at any likely candidates to explain a sequence of events like this you would have to consider Jupiter -the planet resonating with the keywords "mass" or "large"  and Uranus - "sudden", "unusual" - and the fact that these two planets are currently moving side by side in outer space  - basically sharing their magnetic fields and reinforcing their stand-out qualities - and the zodiac sector they are moving through - is Pisces. The sign of water and fish.  Jupiter connects to flocks, swarms as examples of masses. Uranus is the sky energy -connecting to all thing in that domain -hence, birds - so together there is already a signature on one level of species en masse that inhabit the air and the sea. Fish and birds.

The brilliance of astrology is that it describes energy in such a multi-dimensional way - so every combination of energy like Jupiter and Uranus conjunct in Pisces can be expressed in collection of statements, describing how that energy expresses in different contexts.

For example: Jupiter keyword big + Uranus electricity or electromagnetic force + water = electrocution
as noted in these recent news events. Remembering that the bodies of mammals such as humans are primarily composed of water means a hi voltage charge is usually lethal - and the risk is higher throughout January 2011

Recently, globally we have seen the pisces keyword "water" mixed with "sudden"(uranus) and "big" (jupiter) affecting our global weather - ranging from rain to flood to snow - extra big, unusual and unprecedented also apply here to the water, running or frigid as ice and snow, that have affected our world to a great degree in geographically disparate places - such is the power of large planetary effects impacting on planet Earth.

Pisces has another keyword - "gas" which is a term for silent often odourless, often lethal chemicals which we encounter in our daily lives - oxygen being the one vital for survival, carbon dioxide the one we exhale, carbon monoxide the one emitted by your car engine. Another gas we hear about sometimes is methane  - you may be interested to know more about this natural gas, a naturally forming product from the earth, which has numerous uses, but one which has a nasty and dangerous side. Though not toxic in itself it is highly flammable and therefore explosive, plus it displaces oxygen and therefore results in death if the level of methane is high.

One current condition applying, due to the mix we have in place, is that high (Jupiter) levels of gas (Pisces) are creating an explosive or sudden shock events (Uranus)  just as high (Jupiter) levels of water/snow/ice (Pisces) have been creating sudden/unusual/disruptive/dangerous (Uranus) conditions while this pattern has strengthened during December 2010 into New Year 2011
So it is truly a season of mis-adventure with extra care needed around water/snow/ice, electricity, gases.

Considering the high gas level indicator and sudden shock or explosive events an interesting link is the gas methane as a possible cause of recent seemingly unrelated events: mass bird deaths, mass fish/sea creature deaths as well as the number of methane gas explosions - notably in coal mines where the gas is a high level hazard due to natural emission.

Julian Assange -happily subversive

Julian Assange is currently the global talking point and not just in the English speaking world. Twitter has been deluged with commentary in many languages, mainly from supporters, though, like many other key links in the chain, the US government has chosen to take a heavy handed approach to try and crush wikileaks in response to potentially damaging leaks of information.

At this stage the drama is truly a cyberwar with online systems pressured to withdraw support for wikileaks, whether financially or concerning information distribution. In response, hacktivists supporting Assange are systematically disabling his opponents sites. One commentary likened it to the game Whack-a-Mole but this is a multidimensional game with the viral and exponential capacities of the internet meaning that constant reinvention and reincarnation are at wikileaks' disposal. The Bank of Iceland is happy to take supporter donations while PayPal buckles to decline.

The Mountain Astrologer website has obtained birth data for Assange and as he is a very uranian and scorpionic Leo ( go the fixed signs!)  he would be a happily subversive dealer in secrets.  The linked site has a chart & commentary posted

Here is Assange's Interpol page with birthdate

As we approach a powerful lunar eclipse before Christmas ( Sagittarius-Gemini) with Jupiter and Uranus locked in, this story may be set to gain avalanche proportions, mirroring the massive energies being unleashed within the environment ( particularly extreme weather at present -but more intensity is on the way and a mass exodus of people displaced by water conforms to the signature unfolding

Things NZ Gets Wrong

New Zealand has done pretty well in terms of creating a good society....until recently. The right for women to vote was socially significant in 1893 - New Zealand led the world in granting this. David Lange in the 1980's made us famous on the world stage for promoting an anti-nuclear New Zealand. We have long since maintained a social security system -the first elderly pensions being introduced in 1898; large scale state housing became available in the 1930's and in the following year of the depression era, unemployment benefits became available in exchange for labouring work stipulated by government agencies. From 1938, entitlement was available for any unemployed over the age of 16 years. More stringent rules now apply in the 21st century and the system is targeted for overhaul due to the global economic pinch -the Rebstock Report is likely to influence significant government changes under the National government's John Key.
The picture is terms of "a caring society" is indeed in decline.  The percentage of kiwi's who avoid seeking medical help due to the expense is way higher than in the UK, our source model for social support.
So after the 1930's global depression, social policy made NZ a more humane society. WW2 intervened with that way of bringing nations together in a mood of patriotism and a sense of working together for a common ( localised) good - so war is not totally detrimental - and the subsequent baby, building and consumerism booms created quite a land of milk and honey New Zealand through the fifties, sixties and seventies. The shite, of course, hit the fan in the eighties, with October 1987 providing New Zealand's day of reckoning -along with the rest of the global financial network.


Like the rest of the world we got it wrong in terms of money management, greed, speculation and this impacts on our risky ventures in real estate as confirmed in an international study. We overvalue our houses, rush into debt like it's hot chocolate and love the mountains of Chinese junk flogged off in our retail sector.


In 1999 the legal drinking age for alcohol was lowered in NZ from age 20 to age 18 with obvious and predictable socially harmful consequences. In 2010, 11 years later, with no policy reversal, the damage is chronic, endemic and generational.


Social Welfare policy, somewhere along the pathway since the 1930's, got skewed towards greater support for elderly than any other demographic. National Superannuation plus the SuperGold Card plus owning your own house for many years and any other personal wealth acquired or inherited places a sector of our aged community in a level of comfort not available to younger citizens who have health limitations, disability, or no place in the current work force. This inequality is a glaring, politically driven agenda.

Another NZ oddity is the extensive use of the DPB introduced in 1974 - the benefit system allowing scores of young mothers to chose single-parenthood as a lifestyle - rather than instituting social policy to promote other options  - like the advantages of not getting pregnant. Children having children - another social experiment gone wrong. Whilst the girls took off to the "burbs with their babies, the boys got seriously into showing off ( no sign of feminist effects on NZ society here). The global "boy racer" trend gained a strong foothold in NZ by the start of the new millennium - combining youthful arrogance, easy credit with overpowered machinery and the right to do so from the age of 15, mass gatherings are enabled, facilitated by the viral spread of text messaging, the result: a determined flouting the system and frustration for enforcement agencies, while affected neighbourhoods are completely disempowered.

NZ gets it right sometimes, but overall we are a nation of failed social experiments, with people's well-being paying the price for ill-informed social policy plus lack of judicial and political grunt. But it's more than that, something in the NZ psyche that is desperately immature and child-like, rebellious in all the wrong places and not radical where it really could make a difference. The booze mentality certainly mirrors many of these symptoms - selfish, irresponsible, no thought for others - and NZ has been pickled in alcohol since the first sealers and whalers brought their grog onshore and spawned their DNA amongst Maori wahine from the late 1790's: over 200 years of genetic damage from alcohol abuse permeates this land and the mind-set that prevails. Why else would successive governments do so little to minimise that risk - and in fact contribute to it by engaging even younger citizens in legalised intoxication? Our student binge drinking culture has become chronic.


Our capacity for social immaturity, unmitigated by sound public policy, appears to be worsening. What is it that our nation's leaders fear most? Being termed a "nanny state" appears to be political death in NZ - especially if you're leader is female ( Helen clark  managed 3 terms up till the 2008 elections as Labour leader) and this catch-cry is surely the voice of an immature sector - which in NZ is quite sizeable.


Parenting, management of money, alcohol, adherence to traffic laws are all things the NZ born kiwi struggles with - but those struggles don't confine themselves to adolescence - they have beome intrinsic to the NZ psyche and we need to find a way to grow up - or accept policies that promote this. Tough love works.


Footnote:
for those wanting an angle that pertains to planetary cycles and unfolding patterns: Pluto in Capricorn promises radical political restructuring and Uranus in Aries will be the child-like forces seeking to resist restraint. 2011, 2012, 2013 - in fact right up to 2016 will see major and sustained upheaval in society, globally, as we try to find the balance in every which way - the pendulum is definitely set to swing back into controls, austerity, restriction on a far greater scale than many have known. This is bigger than we could ever imagine & the process has clearly begun.

Famously Dead - Pike River 29

Fame is a curious thing, attaching itself  apparently randomly to the rich, the poor, the highly educated, the unschooled, but also, to the dead. Death, under certain circumstances, can raise the profile of a previously unknown to a level of profound fame - thanks now to global networking.

But curiously it is not all deaths so bestowed and not even all collective or mass deaths - hundreds died in a Cambodian stampede in November, thousands die in natural events in the developing world on a regular basis, but it is almost with resignation we pass these events over and move onto the next news.
Trapped miners appear to have a far different destiny - in Australia, in Chile and in New Zealand in recent times saturation news coverage followed by apparent celebrity status accorded in the first two events to the survivors.

In New Zealand, at the Pike River Mine it has been a different story: no survivors from the 29 trapped miners, but the degree of "fame" accorded to these men appears equivalent to fallen soldiers, with words like honour, respect and brave used in their memory. To reinforce the military association a Roll Call of Honour was read at the Remembrance Service on December 2 and Prime Minister John Key made an analogy to past military engagements..

How is it that 29 ordinary working men, the youngest just aged 17 years, who have died during a working day, come to be accorded the virtual status of a soldier laying his life on the line for freedom or belief?  Is it the collective aspect, the sheer pain of so many fallen as one? Is it our British heritage? Death in battle is noble.
But in fact there are no accidents or chance events if you are able to view the continuum of existence. This consciousness integrates the repeated recycling of life - that each of us has lived many, many times before, in endless circumstances. This continual lesson in living can be seen as a gradual path towards ultimate realisation:  the nature of existence. Along the path are many stumbling blocks, regrets and resolutions - far too many to address and resolve within the span of one lifetime. Hence we live on, again and again.

To die en masse, as part of a group, says a lot about the history binding those who share that point of transition: that they share a common, collective past. Were these Pike River 29 once part of another group, sharing simultaneous activities? Were they once warriors or soldiers? They went happily to work on that fateful day, unusually jovial, according to their bus driver. Did they look forward to what that day would bring? Was this a beautiful redemption?