My cat asked me to explain fake news. An avid reader of news, she was concerned that some of it wasn’t true.
How to explain?
Astrology, of course, comes to the rescue.
The Third and Ninth Houses of the Horoscope
The third house of the horoscope is ruled by Gemini and opposes the ninth house ruled by Sagittarius (I told her). Gemini is meant to learn and explore. It receives all data and processes it into categories. Sagittarius in polarity is meant to make meaning from the data. It processes and creates ideologies and philosophies. Gemini analyzes and Sagittarius synthesizes. At one time in our history scientists and philosophers were found in single individuals.
Today’s third house data is often ninth house interpretation of data (I said to her). It is also, of course, manipulation of data for marketing purposes (from politicians and retailers). Third house data is a bit dry, what we call facts. There is fighting in a particular country. Who is fighting and what they are fighting for is often mixed with ninth house interpretation and ideology.
In the west we acknowledge five senses – hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. That is the third house and Gemini. Gemini is ruled by Mercury representing intellect and the mind. In Buddhism, there are six senses acknowledged – the five of the West and a sixth – the mind (or object of thought).
Buddhism joins third and ninth house activity. Possibly in consequence the Buddhists will tell you that what you perceive is an illusion (and at the same time is not). The planet Mercury, which rules Gemini, is, possibly the five senses and the very interpretation of those senses.
Mercury defines reality.
Feline Reality
“So you’re saying nothing is real?” asked the cat.
“Of course not,” I replied. “As a cat,” I told her “the five activities of your life are all real – eating, sleeping, eliminating, chasing toys and watching birds. Humans try to transform the five real activities of life into mind concepts such as work into ‘career’ or eating into ‘diet.’ We watch others compete then feel a personal sense of achievement. That’s purely of the mind.”
“So only animals experience reality?”
“Possibly,” I answered. Unless, I thought to myself, they read The New York Times and astrology blogs to pass away the hours.
My cat and I then discussed how the simplest “facts” can be disputed as we see often enough on episodes of Dateline where one person heard two gunshots, another heard three. She wanted to discuss, again, the Kennedy assassination and the “facts” but I wasn’t going there.
“Sorry, sister,” I responded. “Talking about the Kennedy assassination is one way to prove that no two individuals see the ‘facts’ in the same manner.”
Which, of course, leads us to question reality which we are convinced exists outside of our interpretation of it. Luckily the cat was ready for her mid-morning, post-breakfast nap and didn’t pursue the topic any further.
Neptune in Pisces
While the “fake news” of today is seen as concerning, I believe it’s nothing new. We simply have more channels with which to spread information, disinformation, marketing and opinion. In other words, I’m glad we’ve collectively noticed what has always existed (in reality?). I subscribe to the journalist Michael Kinsley’s idea that we all have bias (which I call personality) and it’s best to name it within one’s journalistic work.
If you saw a bottle of water sitting on a park bench, would you drink it?
Most of us wouldn’t eat or drink something where we didn’t know the source. Yet when we digest information, we rarely research who made it (Your grandma out of love? A friend out of consideration? Your enemy to mislead you? Marketing companies out to convince you Doritos are healthy?).
This awareness of the hall of mirrors that is information and perception on planet earth is represented to me by the ingress of Neptune into Pisces which occurred in February 2012. Neptune rules Pisces so we are experiencing the entire Pisces realm, like a double shot of hard liquor.
Neptune spiritualizes and idolizes. Neptune looks at four long-haired boys playing guitars and turns them into a movement, a longing, an object of yearning. Neptune isn’t romance, Neptune is beyond the personal; Neptune creates the halos around the people and situations that turns them into gods or movements.
After Neptune has passed, you may look at the four long-haired boys and see that they are not truly that handsome, not so talented in voice and instrumentation. The longing, the yearning to be near them or part of them has passed. How did I think they were so cool?
The mystic or guru is from Neptune. The true teacher is a gift but definitely difficult to recognize and many are the false prophets referenced in the Bible. That “prophets” sounds like “profits” in English seems a major clue in determining the difference.
Neptune and Pisces are in each of our horoscopes. We are all made of the same stardust and astrological symbolism. We all have the sacred within us and where it’s placed in the horoscope gives a sense of how we individually perceive it.
Neptune reminds us that when we digest reality in any form from interaction with others to reading the “news” that we are looking into the hall of mirrors that contains individual perception, reaction from others, deliberate roadblocks and cultural veil.
It’s the same reality it’s always been.
Related blogs:
Neptune in Pisces: Escape and Enablement
Marketing: An Astrological Perspective
Bedknobs and Broomsticks: Gemini and Sagittarius
Justin Bieber’s Changing Reality
Ohio Astrology 