THE SOOTHESAYER INTERNET NEWSLETTER

May 2012

Important Points of Reference (for astrologers):

Full Moon at 16 degrees 1 min. Scorpio May 5^th at 8:36 PM PDT and May 6^th at 3:36 AM GMT. Annular Solar Eclipse at 00 degrees 20 min. Gemini May 20^th, 4:48 PM PDT,  11:48 PM GMT square Neptune at 3 degrees Pisces.  This visible eclipse path starts in southern China, passes through Japan, and ends in the western U.S. May 25^th, Mercury is square this eclipse degree.  Venus goes retrograde May 15^th square the U.S. Neptune/Mars square.  Mars is inconjunct Uranus between May 4^th and 7^th and is trine Pluto between the 14^th and the 19^th.

War, lies, and videotape:

In previous newsletters, I pointed to the repeated activation of the U.S. Mars/Neptune square signifying a public push to get out of the war in Afghanistan, confusion about why we are even there at this point, and hidden, deceptive agendas in the military-industrial complex that is keeping us there.  Videos have been shown on television with regard to atrocities committed there in all directions.  The public wants us to get out.  The government releases occasional pieces of news that we are negotiating with the Taliban, and the Karzai  administration, etc. but nothing has emerged other than our vague intention to be out by 2014.   

The economy, or a semblance thereof: 

Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland are suffering with massive amounts of sovereign debt, huge unemployment statistics, and are more than ready to vote out their current leaders.  Even France has forced Sarkozy into an election run-off.  The “spin” is that the threat to the European Union and the euro-dollar is affecting our economy, while, in reality, the U.S. sovereign debt is spinning out of control.  We are watching our entire system being sucked into a black hole.  The “solutions” proposed by Congress would basically dismantle college loan programs,, Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, at a time when real unemployment here is estimated to be around 18-22% and 49% of U.S. households are at or below the poverty line .  The more austerity we implement with regard to government programs, the greater the poverty and unemployment.  Millions of government jobs have been lost which has the effect of less tax money coming in and more small businesses shutting down.  We are, in short, “damned if we do and damned if we don’t.” 

The world is “at sea” (solar eclipse square Neptune), as Venus (currency) goes retrograde.  In recent months, people have gone into the U.S. dollar to defend themselves against a collapsing European economy.  Others have taken positions in gold, the oldest form of money in history.  Some financial experts think gold is in a “bubble” and not a good place to be for the long term.  I have news.  There is no good place to be for the long term.  Every investment that moves upward steadily for years is, in a sense, in a bubble.  Any successful investor has to know when to get out.

Meanwhile, “back on the ranch” in Washington, Pres. Obama has been in discussions with the Chinese to strengthen the yuan against the dollar, which inflationary result would make it easier for our government to pay off its debt.  The downside to this will likely be a “replacement” of the dollar with the yuan as the global currency.   Brazil, So. Africa, India, and even France are agreeing to trade agreements with China replacing the dollar with the yuan.     Remember that China has a lot of money and no substantial debt. 

The other downside is dollar inflation that makes everything we buy outside the country more expensive in dollars.  Which brings me back to gold.  The government does not like us getting into gold and out of dollars, indicating no confidence in the economy (really?).  Neither do the gold bullion banks want this to happen because of their use of complex gold swaps in which activities they have been engaging for years.  Thus, they work hard to push gold down using derivatives.   Gold is still likely to have a “correction” this summer but when Saturn goes into Scorpio on Oct. 6^th, trine Neptune and is sextile Pluto by December. I think we will likely see substantial upward moves in gold.

I still maintain that real things, like commodities, are worth considering in these challenging times.  Some commodities have fallen in price this year, but others such as oil, have risen.  Water shortages throughout the world will eventually increase its price.  China is already buying millions of gallons of potable water from Lake Huron.    Valuable farm land, especially containing precious aquifers, real estate without a mortgage or with a small mortgage that you can rent for income, food, oil, natural gas are all areas where there will be real gains in value.  Why?  Because we have so cannibalized this planet, overpopulated and over- consumed that things necessary for our survival that we have taken for granted are now threatened.

Further into the Future:

Digging for oil and fracking for gas are seriously challenging our eco-systems and our use of fossil fuels is changing the earth’s climate.  We need to invest in sustainable energy and new discoveries in energy technology will change all this.  We need to shake up the very foundations of trans-national monopoly capitalism, the deregulated dominance of the giant banksters, and the eminence of the one to two percent of the human population that controls most of  the world’s wealth.  My take is that these transformations will likely take place in the 2020s.

Politics, the press, and Neptune:

In my opinion, there are some excellent truth-telling publications over the internet.  I recommend truthout.org, commondreams.org, The Huffington Post.  In print, Vanity Fair has comprehensive journalism that describes what is going on in depth, especially in the world of finance. New York Magazine reports on important events comprehensively.  The Nation has courageously exposed what is going on in the country.  Rolling Stone has printed real exposes on Wall Street when almost nobody else went there.  For television and radio coverage,   PBS and NPR are the best places in the U.S. to go for comprehensive news.  On Sunday, Bill Moyers is back on PBS and Fareed Sacaria is outstanding on CNN.  You all know that I am also partial to Coast to Coast Radio that gives a voice to people thinking “out of the box”.  The OWS movement is picking up again on May 1^st in its global music protest against inequality and in support of workers worldwide.  As I have said in past newsletters, the Occupy movement is on the upswing and its supporters will not abandon this effort.  Jupiter in Taurus (music) is trine their Sun in their natal chart.

However, I am deeply concerned that the corporate-owned media has sold out the “greater good” in journalistic reporting to absolute, unadulterated trivia.  It offers people the mindless entertainment they often want, pleasing the advertisers,  and has all but abandoned real reporting on anything of significance.  Neptune is the ultimate “weapon of mass deception” and is the planet behind escapism, addiction, and manipulation of the collective mind.  The recent reporting of presidential primaries illustrates this point.

Mitt Romney, (birth data: March 12, 1947, 9:51 AM, Detroit, MI) the soon-to-be Republican nominee for the presidency has been reduced, because of media spin, to commenting about his dog.  I have yet to hear anything intelligent or intelligible from him since he was forced into “clownship” while running in the primaries.  In reality, his fortune was made in Bain Capital by outsourcing jobs to countries abroad, breaking up companies and making them profitable for the 1%.  His 15% payment in income taxes was practically all capital gains since his very substantial income comes from investments.  I do not think he is a stupid person and I think his healthcare plan passed during his term as governor of Massachusetts was better than nothing.  His party has forced him to renounce most of what he did in government, leading the public to wonder what he stands for, if anything at all.   He has a Pisces Sun ( vague, but interested in service), Moon conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio (money and power), Gemini Rising with Uranus (groups) near the ascendant and Venus (good looks and a helpful wife) in Aquarius in his 10^th House of Career.  Saturn and Pluto are in Leo in his 4^th House of home and origins, pointing to his famous father and strong family connections as a Mormon.   The transits in his chart leading up to the election show positives and negatives, as do those in the chart of Pres. Obama.  I think this will be a close election.  Mercury will go retrograde on Election Day and will be square Neptune (deception).  Translation:  we will not know who won on Election Day.  There will be accusations of fraud and computer tampering.  Do you remember the 2000 election?  Stay tuned!          

Earthquakes and global tectonics,

The charts of Japan, Indonesia, China, Mexico and the U.S.A.  are being hit by the “definitive” earthquake transits of Pluto in Capricorn square Uranus in Aries.  This month’s solar eclipse square Neptune is also visible from some of these locations.  Last month, Mt Popo in Mexico erupted and caused much of Mexico City to be evacuated.  This period escalates into June when the square is exact and Mercury sets it off between June 11^th and 12^th.  Japan’s chart is especially hard-hit.  As estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection, about 134 million curies of long-lived radioactivity of spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi Site, nearly, all, which is in pools, (Cesium-137), roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident.  These reactors at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.  Total containment has not taken place here and earthquakes continue.   I am concerned about the San Francisco area being at risk for the next two months and again in the period of late September through December this year.

Final Thoughts:

In these most challenging times, it occurs to me than nothing of immense value has ever been accomplished throughout human history without the collapse of previous systems of power.  The old ways must pass in order for the new to take root.  I think the people who have taken over will likely fall on their own swords, as they have done so often in the past.  I am watching grass roots movements take hold in localized areas, forming templates for the future.  Communities are encouraging the formation of new small businesses, local organic farming is being developed, sustainable architecture is catching on.  I am seeing people meeting locally with each other to promote evolution in economics, self-governance, and spirituality.  Physicists are developing new forms of energy that may solve our crisis and transform human civilizations that have fought world wars over coal and oil deposits. 

Personally, I am experiencing a shift within myself that gives me a sense that the end of the Mayan Long Count may actually give birth to a new paradigm in consciousness and a new human presence on earth.  Rather than going down into the darkness of destruction, the lights may go on, our eyes may be opened, our hearts transformed.  The great prophecies of the sages may be fulfilled.  We have only to show up!

   Linda

Linda Schurman

Linda has been a guest, multiple times, on
 "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory".

Note: I welcome all your comments whether they are critical or complimentary.  This site represents astrology as a tool for a deeper understanding of the themes and issues of our times.  This period in which we all live may be the most critical time for human civilization ever!  It is my wish that we all do our best with whatever talent we have been given, to further the survival and evolution of life on planet earth!

our email is: soothesayer@usa.net

Notices

Linda has been a guest multiple times on "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory".

Linda on "YouTube"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXSHfbMRlco&feature=youtu.be

 To Book Individual or Business Consultations with Linda Schurman...
Email:  soothesayer@usa.net     Voicemail:  (607) 273-1312

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My book “What Next?  A Survival Guide to the 21^st Century” is in print.  It is on sale on through my publisher.....

Click here to buy

I have been working steadily on this publication for nearly four years.  The research I have done has been a “wake-up call” for me as I have tracked the historic trajectories that have led us to where we are now: at the critical point of choosing either extinction or illumination.

However, I am greatly encouraged at discovering that many people are developing new and innovative technologies that can solve the coming energy crises and are conceiving of new, more egalitarian economic systems and societal transformations.  These pioneers may help us to navigate this “age of transition” from cannibalizing our planet to living in concert with the earth and each other.

Our journey through the great constellations has taken us to this place in time, this powerful historic point, this great challenge to human survival and evolution.  It will take great courage on all our parts to open our hearts and minds to the level of truth needed to fulfill the great prophecies given to us through the ages.  I think we can do it!

Reviews

What Next? A Survival Guide to the 21st Century, by Linda Schurman, Lazer Lady Publishing, Inc., 2505 Anthem Village Dr., Ste. E-165, Henderson, NV 89052 USA, 2007. Softcover—164 pp.—$15.95 (ISBN 978-0-9796900-2-0). Available from: www.lazerladypublishing.com

Linda Schurman has maintained a private practice in astrology for more than 34 years. She is also a studious observer of the larger world stage, including domestic and global politics, climate change, financial markets, and social justice.

What Next? A Survival Guide to the 21st Century is a concise book that addresses the daunting issues of our time. This book is clearly written for non-astrologers. The specific astrology in the text is minimal; however, the author offers an educated view of the challenges we all face. The information, though directed to the general public, provides a timely and useful context for the concerns that clients bring to practicing astrologers every day.

The first chapter, “Pluto in Sagittarius (Nov. 1995 – Nov. 2008),” sets up the immediate background of where we are now by recapitulating the big themes of these years — Globalization, Financial Speculation, Religion, Law, Education, and the Media.

The next three chapters cover a similar range of themes and are organized around the outer planets’ transits: Uranus in Pisces (Mar. 2003 – Mar. 2011); Neptune in Aquarius (Jan. 1998 – Feb. 2012) (Septile Pluto 2001 – 2011); and Pluto in Capricorn (2008 – 2024), Uranus in Aries (2011 – 2018), Neptune in Pisces (2011 – 2026).Schurman also writes on the upcoming Jupiter–Saturn conjunction in Aquarius (Dec. 2020)and offers a chapter on “Sedna — A Planet of the 21st Century.” Although the book is organized by astrological motif, and there are key astrological charts in the Appendices, the body of the text is informed by the work of (non-mainstream) journalists and economists.

Given the subject matter, Linda Schurman’s book has a necessarily unflinching tone; she diligently refers to research on global warming, the energy crisis, corporate and political corruption, and other such matters. This author writes a large story in accessible language. She combines a view of the forces at work in the greater world with a positive and practical set of ideas for managing life in these often overwhelming times. For example, Schurman makes “prophecies” and suggestions throughout the book: Chapter 4 contains sections on the Worst-Case and Best-Case scenarios, as well as “The Quiet Revolution — Moving into the Solution” and “New Frameworks of Consciousness.” Chapter 3 includes some investment recommendations and has a special section on solar design.

Linda Schurman is facing reality and yet also holds an impressively hopeful vision for the future. If you feel confused by the complexity of the times, her book will help you to sort out what has happened, who is responsible — and what we can do now (as she writes in the Introduction) to help ourselves become “able to ‘invent’ our way out of even the most profound set of challenges.”

— reviewed by Mary Plumb

by K. Diaz

A Practical and Spiritual Survival Guide for the 21st Century, September 12, 2007

There are several doomsday books that have been written that question our ability as a species to survive the threat of global warming, the impending energy crisis and a world that is imploding with new super bugs and looming pandemics, all of which are eventually guaranteed to wipe out civilization as we know it. This book, written by a well-renowned and incisive astrologer, not only points out the harsh truth about what the future holds for our planet and its people should we decide to continue our xenophobic thinking and behavior; it also provides hope through concrete scientific information, backed up by several references from well-respected professionals in their specific fields. The author also shows, through previous astrological patterns, how we are destined to repeat our mistakes with much graver consequences unless we choose to raise our consciousness in a way that connects us with every thread that runs through the universe and to realize that we all individually and collectively play a part in the future of our Mother Earth. The message that she brings to the table is that we are all our brothers' keepers. The book is concise and easy to read without the usual technical vernacular used in most astrology books, although it provides charts of nations and events to prove her points to the astrology student or professional. A beautifully written book that provides hope for change and a different future for our children and grandchildren in a world currently devoid of compassion and understanding for one another.

Bonnie Neely

Important NOW Book, August 28, 2007

What Next? by Linda Schurman is an astute account of the world's affairs, political, ecological, and economic, as they are today. Linda, a well-known astrologer makes dire predictions about where we are headed as a world, but she emphasizes it is up to us...we have choices, because although the planets and heavens have patterns that are read as given proclivities to certain events, they are not absolute because mankind's will can change events or prevent some. The book is important reading for our time, because we are running out of time for changing our fate. For professionals, Shurman gives official astrological charts to back up all her predictions. For the general public, we need this book to wake us up to what will likely happen if we don't act now. A MUST READ! I highly recommend this book.

Click here to buy