You’ve probably heard of Carol Quigley’s perspective on history, one of many to agree that civilizations begin, grow, mature, and collapse, just like people do, just like plants and stars do.

Quigley offered, in The Evolution of Civilizations (1961), seven stages of a civilization’s continuous transformation: mixture (emergence), gestation, expansion, age of conflict, universal empire, decay, and invasion (collapse).

Hmmm . . . invasion.

Of “aliens” (i.e. unwanted humans)?

or . . . aliens from beyond?

3I Atlas?

(Twice the size of Mt. Kilmanjaro . . .)  

Notice:

Pluto cycle 248 years. The Pluto Return for the U.S. occurred a few years ago, when Pluto was in late Capricorn. Now it’s in early Aquarius, and due to dip one more time into Capricorn before taking off at a dead run, or maybe I should say, fissioning into a total Aquarian chaotic evanescence of old traditions, ways of being, views of and ways of interacting with people, with Space, and especially, Time.

(BTW: I hear that today’s Gen Z doesn’t settle down to marriage and family because the sexual (emotional?) choices, as displayed on tic toc etc., are seemingly infinite. Instead, they go from one to another to another . . .)

Time is no longer linear. Actually, it never was. It loops, in various nested, repeating cycles. One can view this looping astrologically or otherwise; the point is the looping. Which is where “karma” comes in. And which is where, over time, in a long life well lived, one can discover/assign more and more meaning to various cycles, patterns that can only be detected in hindsight. Because, meaning, for us, has to do with point where the entire cycle snaps into place, i.e., where the beginning and ending coincide. That’s the aha moment, when suddenly everything begins to make sense. And, if one is familiar with, and actually in love with, the constantly changing landscape of enlarging perspective, sooner or later one begins to recognize that all cycles actually morph into spirals.

We can view our own lives the same way, especially as we age.

Are we spiraling, or are we simply shutting down,

over time,

to the increasingly spacious present moment?

Are you getting older, or are you growing older?

The distinction is important.

In my own natal chart, I cannot help but spiral, due, I surmise, to the presence of a very exacting (52°+) septile/tri-septile triangle involving Sun/Jupiter/Uranus which I assume, breaks the circle, since 360° divided by 7 doesn’t yield a whole number.

Notice that URANUS (newly in Gemini, and newly returning for the first and only time to where it was at my birth) is present within this triangle; Notice that the triangle also involves my essence (Sun in Sag) and expansive Jupiter in Cancer (ruler of my Sun). In fact, this mysterious triangle may prove to be the dominant factor in my long life, as I spiral out and out , beyond the beyond . .

Okay, back to earth, Ann.

I forced myself to read through a post today that demonstrates in an incredible fashion, just how stupid and vile is woke, DEI, SEL, “identity politics,” and how, for example, it has infiltrated academia to the point where, just as in my own life, or the life of our civilization, this fractal too may be announcing its final collapse. Kudos to both the whistleblower (who remains on the faculty!) and to the meticulous storytelling journalist who, blow by tiny blow, placed the whistleblower’s experience of himself, his faculty, and administration in a psychological/sociological/cultural context. The entire piece very unusual and well worth my usually skittish time.

https://x.com/emmajanepettit/status/1826622852633952340?s=61&t=aUBDiSUrvn0aSlRBtZx0wQ