New Cycles, Sustainability, and Aiming High

Astrologer Dorene A. Carrel offers a wealth of cosmic wisdom for the latter part of November, which includes the major American holiday known as Thanksgiving:

"On November 26, Pluto enters Capricorn, beginning a new 16-year cycle of collective and personal transformation and rebirth, resulting in far-reaching changes in government, business, finances and communications. Capricorn rules our own authority, as well as all of the structures of government and society. The new term 'sustainability' is reflective of this cycle, as we collectively deal with growing climate change issues and limited natural resources.

"The New Moon occurs on November 27 at 6 degrees of Sagittarius, which is also the traditional American Thanksgiving holiday. Sagittarian themes include education, teaching, religion, philosophy, travel and expansion. This lunation aligns with both Mercury and Mars, bringing a fiery energy to our daily activities and communications. There will likely be livelier discussions (or perhaps disputes) at family gatherings. The symbol for Sagittarius is the archer, reminding us to aim higher in our lives, as well as to find and follow our own higher truths."

Adds Mary Jo Wevers, "In the coming years the energy of Pluto in Capricorn will penetrate old rigid and inflexible institutions, exposing arrogant and authoritarian leaders who are severe, aloof and insensitive to the needs of people. We can expect corruption to continue to be uncovered as we see institutions which are obsessed with holding onto power in order to consolidate wealth come under scrutiny.

"The public mood may seem pessimistic, overly cautious, even paranoid as it witnesses the decay and death of old structures that formerly provided some semblance of security. Yet, just as the power of Pluto is degenerative, it is also regenerative. As we eliminate the old structures that are no longer serving humankind, we are opening up new ground and opportunities for new, wiser, more responsible foundations to be laid for the future."

Peace Through Creativity

I've written about how we can create planetary peace by telling ourselves a new story about the world we've created. Celia Fenn takes this concept a step further by advocating creativity itself as the way through and beyond anger and despair.

In her current Earthlog, she writes, "Peace is not just the absence of conflict ... it is a profound state of consciousness that expresses compassion, love and unity through creativity. In order to move beyond conflict in our lives and globally, we need to enter into this state of creativity, harmony and peace."

What does creative peacemaking look like? Celia quotes Brazilian Jaime Lerner, who speaks about changing cities through stewardship: "When I was governor, we had to clean the bays. In our state we proposed to the fishermen the equation of co-responsibility. We said: 'If you catch the fish, the fish belong to you. If you catch the garbage we are going to pay you. The more you fish garbage, the more money you will have.' The more they cleaned the bay, they more fish they had. That's a win-win solution."

Lerner maintains that global issues such as climate change, food shortages, resource depletion and sustainability are not "terminal"; we must not give up in fear that there's nothing we can do to change what we have created.

The more creative we can be in shifting our perspective on cities themselves, and on the problems that need to be solved, the closer we'll be to a truly new world.