In A Gigantic Tent, Villagers Witness A Spectacular Performance. This is the Sabian Symbol at 18° Pisces, the keynote or which is the collective appeal of a well-staged and exciting display of skill and/or oratory. Visions of circuses dancing in your not-withstanding, I think the more accurate interpretation of this “spectacular” is that of some kind of a revival meeting of the Elmer Gantry kind. That said, there is a carnival element intrinsic in that in any case. My mind goes to that meandering ill-fated HBO series in the earlier days of new television, Carnivale, which actually had both themes going simultaneously, focusing on a traveling occult band of circus folk and also some demonically possessed preacher and his sister-wife staging said revivalist meetings. All set in the same era, it would seem, as Frank L. Baum’s Oz (not to be confused with that same-named other HBO show of the time).

Now it is no surprise to this wizard that this Pisces oracle is ruled by Pisces in a twelve-fold sequence. Pisces and the twelfth house is not only concerned with the spiritual but the non-material, that is to say both the energetic, mystical or indeed magical elements of life but also that which (now you see it now you don’t) is kept hidden from view—the discarded and dispossesed elements of life including people, those who live on the fringes, the freaks and pariahs and the lost souls who, aha!, can be found, you see. This is the link between the outcast freaks who must go from town to town eeking out a living as oddities and amusement, aborted by mainstream society like so many side-show attractions—the siamese twins, the bearded lady, the giant, the midget, the pinhead, the wolf boy (but enough about my family)—who, whilst following their own caravan of nightmares might happen upon a different kind of bigtop, a revivalist tent gigantic enough to welcome, yes, even them.

Jesus, a main archetype of Pisces, didn’t eat his school lunch at the popular table, despite the fact he was super hot; he hung out on the fringes with the lepers and the lame and the prostitutes and the destitute, all the discarded entites of society expressing, embodying the notion that his fathers heavenly house had many mansions, one for each and every freak, geek and groovy ghoulie. America is supposed to be likewise Christlike, no? Give us your poor and your downtrodden and your huddled masses yearning to be free? Or as Trump calls them: Housekeeping and Room Service. If only. Yeah don’t get me started on that Geminian bafoon. I’d laugh at him if he weren’t so ridiculously dangerous. But I digress and you get the idea: The notion that some have interpreted this image as a circus while I see it as a spirits-raising points to one of many perfect Pisces paradoxes on the theme of the meek being the true inheritors of the earth whilst the rich and powerful tend to be shit out of luck when it comes to spirituality and getting through that eye of a needle, being a camel, and not finding themselves on the losing end of the karmic stick once this particular life is over in a blink of an eye.

Meanwhile the religious fundementalist is the most vivid of clowns who, from antiquity, were sacred funerary priests themselves put into place to scare away the more evil spirits when the tribe was collectively courting the entrance of the divine. Really what would be more shocking or extreme to witness: a bunch of little people pouring out of a funnycar? or a gather of people shaking and frothing at the mouth and speaking in tongues because the holy spirit has entered their bodies? Tough call. In either case the preacher or some other ring leader is seeking to whip the audience or congregation into a heightened state of enthusiasm of not an ecstatic one. And whether we are trying to forget our daily troubles or wash away a lifetime full of sin, what goes on under the bigtop lifts, if not separates us. We can transcend the mundane via the magic or the mystical experience.

Just as yesterday’s Easter image pointed to our own sense of resurrection, now we might turn around and see if we can rebirth those around us. Or at least join together with others for some public self-dramatization, bringing together the capital I individual with some collective or congregation whereby strengthening communal spirit.

We have entertained the notion of attuning ourselves to the natural cycle of things, aligning our being with the nature-cosmos, now we want to do that same thing whilst connecting ourselves, spiritually, to others, bonding over wonders that are typically kept hidden from our eyes, paying no mind to the man behind the curtain who might be pulling the levers and the strings. We aren’t concerned with the mechanics, just the magic they create, for the end in this might very well justify the means. And then some. I’ll let you ponder that but be advised, I’m not sure I meant what it is you think I might have said. As I wrote that last sentence, I suddenly felt like Willy Wonka which is yet another ringleader with a top hat and a big-top and many attractions on offer all for the express purpose of offering the most humble soul the keys to the kingdom. We all have a golden ticket.

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