Soul-Sick Nation: An Astrologer's View of America
Jessica Murray (2006)
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"The American identity shift chronicled in this book is taking place against the backdrop of a world growing out of one era and into another. A mass movement in the realest sense of the term, the human consciousness movement is so big that there are barely words to describe it." (p195)

Jessica Murray's depiction of the state of America, its obsession with money, power and oil, and its domination by multinational corporations and media moguls is intensive reading. You're not allowed to get away with being a peripheral observer, disapproving of Bush and Blair and the invasion of Iraq without engaging in the process of finding out how you, as a person of integrity can contribute to raising consciousness and making the world a better place.

This is a thorough investigation that leaves no stone unturned and shows just how Pluto's transit of the American Ascendant (Sibly Chart of the USA with AC 12 degrees Sagittarius) and its passage through the first house have let enough skeletons out of the cupboard for searching souls to become aware of how much destruction by invasion overseas, control of media at home, and general power-mongering is going on. And yet many people remain in dreadful ignorance, imbibing what is fed out on TV channels owned by corporations affiliated to political parties and unaware of the wider perspective.

Pluto is in Capricorn in the second house opposite Mercury in the 8th in the USA's chart, so can we be amazed by the American obsession with money and power? Murray's book gives us plenty to think about there. Neptune is elevated in Virgo in the 9th house close to the MC in Libra and there's a fascinating chapter on the dark side of glamour and American collective fantasies.

Uranus is in Gemini in the 6th house and "democracy, like all Uranian constructs, depends upon a high level use of the mind" (p84). In the Placidus chart used by Murray, Uranus is linked by a trine to Saturn and the notion of governance, whereas in the Huber chart Uranus is unaspected, contrasting even more clearly the high minded rhetoric of the US Constitution and the abysmal performance of its political machine.

You don't need to know very much astrology to appreciate the points being made, as Murray introduces each planet by explaining its role, and she sticks to the natal chart, some key planetary aspects and a few important transits. If you are an astrologer you will appreciate how thoroughly she understands both politics and astrology and her passionate desire to wake people up, make them aware, goading them out of apathy and into active participation in the new era. Let's hope her message travels on the net and wins some converts.

Sue Lewis