A Military Band Marches Noisily On Through The City Streets is the Sabian symbol at 27° Scorpio. Just as we can’t explain to a client why it is that life events which have yet to unfold are encoded in their astrological birth chart, so too is the application of these Sabian sybmols rather inexplicable. Their random assignation to signs and days of the year is one thing, but there seems to be a synchronic link to events unfolding. I’m sure that this is in large part connection I am mentally making—the mind is designed to make connections between things, linking dualities with a line of reason—but it does smack of a certain brand of coincidence we find in all our astrological dealings.

Today’s image is about the aggressive glorification of cultural values. And just as in the previous image where we were able to glean the difference between peoples who live peacefully within nature and those who seek to subdue it (and others)—hawks and doves, conquerers or guardians—we see here a display of nationalism and hawkish military power. This kind of display will stem from some vicitimization from an outside entity or agency. The immediate bombing of Syrian targets by the French and Russian for terrorist acts against them would fall under this heading. It as much about taking out targets as it is sending a message to foreign, hostile onlookers.

As we are all culturally rooted, such a display might inspire a brand of patriotism that even some of us didn’t know we possessed. The fact that the French are mostly in favor of having their civil liberties curtailed in order to give their police and military forces more sway is a perfect example, even though Liberté is one of the key elements of their founding triptique of principles. But collective pride perhaps trumps all principles; and nothing mobilizes those feelings inside us more readily than an assault on it; however we mustn’t discount the sadness and vulnerability that comes from suffering any kind of abuse. Hurt people hurt people, whether we are looking at a chain of abuse within families, on a one-to-one scale, or what atrocities an oppressed people is capapble of launching. The lesson is that people who are put down will ultimately lash out. This is a very Scorpio thing. Feelings go underground, the are repressed, lodged in our individual or collective subconscious until they surface, violently, like Pluto exiting his underground lair, and they make an assault on the innocent nature they see around them. Social unity and solidarity is one thing, but threatening displays might are meant for that dual purpose of morale-boosting and intimidation. As westerners we are wont to institutionalize our own repressed feelings into pomp-ous exhibitions. Part necessity part shameful posturing, this is the way our collective works. What is the upshot now in experience with terrorism? Reason is treason.

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