Dear Subscribers,

For the last few years, I have been "light" on New Year's Eve, always searching for international dance music, usually putting the emphasis on countries that have been in the news during the outgoing year. On top of this challenge, I tried to find the perfect waltz, the perfect march, and the perfect polka, the latter being the hardest to find. This year, I thought I might cut myself some slack and do encores of my favorites from previous years, but I won't do this. Instead, I would like to put on my magic hat and talk a little about the planets for the coming year, then about the importance of resolutions, and then about personal preparedness so that one can actually accomplish what one sets out to do. Here is a marvelous instance of needing to concentrate on the message rather than the messenger as I bit off a bit more than I could chew in 2015 but will try much harder in 2016 to practice what I preach.

Like it or not, the Uranus-Pluto square will continue to dominate the coming year just as it has for several years already. Even though a little repetition is sometimes warranted, I have been writing about this tension and the pressure for change for several years so those who are interested can read the archives:

http://ingridnaiman.com/subscription_posts/posts_astrology.html

http://www.astroheal.com/articles/articles.html

A retrospective take would probably be warranted. Whenever we predict or foretell, we are putting our reputations on the line, but I think my expectations were pretty much in the ballpark. This tension obviously has much more impact on those with many placements in cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, but there will also be specific countries, cities, and even companies and documents that are triggered by the massive square between Uranus and Pluto. Keep in mind that every event has a horoscope so it is not merely one's own birth that has to be considered, but important events such as the time one said "I do" or when one signed a contract or applied for loan or visa or whatever one did that was actually an event. Unfortunately, we have to include here times of laboratory reports of tests run, surgeries, and other medical events that affect us profoundly.

When writing my psychoanalysis of Uranus and Pluto, I hope I hit a few homers, but the short version of what is happening is that Pluto is trying and always will try to hold onto power while Uranus is trying to manifest heaven on earth. Uranus has a unique style that is often jarring. I used to describe Uranus as a sort of party crasher. No one admits to having invited Uranus, but once entering the room, all eyes are on him. He says and does a lot of outrageous things that make at least some people extremely uncomfortable, and then He leaves but there is still a hum in the room as some people try to recover their dignity and others wrestle to regain their comfort with familiar modes of thinking. The problem is that Uranus speaks the Truth and we know this when we hear it so stuffing the Truth back in the bag is not going to work. We may procrastinate for a long time before adjusting our lives to what we recognize as Truth, but we can never recover our naïveté since we now "know" and this is pivotal.

Uranus is seldom tactful. He can be elegant or eccentric but He generally uses a strategy that gets attention so that even if there is a delayed response, the deeds of Uranus are catalytic. In this, we have hope. It is the real basis for believing that good will prevail over evil. We can cite events in history in which great social change occurred after an idea gained momentum. Unfortunately, we can also find times in our past in which tremendous power was seized by those with evil intent, and they held sway for what seemed like an eternity for the victims. If we were to take the events of recent years, we can ask if Ukrainians and Syrians feel the turmoil and peril will ever end, if their pain has actually been heard by anyone in a position to alleviate the suffering, and if the humanity of the international conscience is sufficient to overthrow the forces of evil. That is actually the dilemma many have been facing head on and one that others are dealing with in more tangential ways.

Obviously, not everyone has a front row seat, but there are ripple effects. For instance, there are places in Europe where refugees outnumber the local population so dislocation is an international issue. There are also other arenas where the energies are playing out such as in my own small world where I started with some innocent enough questions, only to find that it is probable that everything from geography to celestial mechanics has been taught incorrectly and perhaps intentionally rather than accidentally. This is a game changer for anyone but the ramifications are hard to calculate in the early stages of intellectual upheaval. Suffice it to say that there is a ripple effect, maybe even a tsunami.

Uranus and Pluto are not the only stressors for 2016. You could say that there is usually a three-ring circus where stress is concerned. There is another fairly big drama going on in mutable signs. Saturn and Neptune will be square on and off in 2016, enough that the year will be colored by this influence as well. Saturn is in Sagittarius, the sign of religion, foreign countries, and higher education as well as publishing. It seems likely that some restrictions can be expected in the realm of travel and freedom of expression. However, there will be criticism and deep divides as well. It is impossible to stay on top of everything, but I believe that Anatoly Fomenko has thrown the world a curved ball that is going to require some intense study. If you think of the need for a second opinion when medical advice is offered, then, with Fomenko, you truly have a double dose with academia. It is impossible to write him off as a crack pot, but what if he is right? What are the ramifications?

This is but one example of the type of intellectual tyranny that will be scrutinized in 2016. Neptune is the mystic and it is very hard for a mystic and a skeptic to dialogue. However, this is the issue for 2016. There are those who believe because they feel or sense or intuit and those who need very concrete evidence before accepting anything that is not already carved in stone in their minds. Deception, propaganda, mind control, and all sorts of surreptitious schemes to avoid discovery of our true natures ought to be expected. There are countless examples one could use to illustrate how deep the schism is between spirit and matter. When I was indoctrinated by religion, I believed in both the need to manifest heaven on earth as well as the conflict between spirit and matter. It took until I was nearly 40 to realize that I had accepted a separation that was completely unnecessary. Unfortunately, freeing as such revelations can be, there was a lot of pain and regret spanning countless incarnations in which I accepted the schism and allowed it to dominate my behavior.

These are obviously deep issues but few of us could successfully argue that religion does not affect our understanding and therefore our actions. What is going on now that will gain momentum in 2016 is an undermining of credibility by those who embrace mystic insights and an enormous effort to prevent this from happening by those who benefit by the status quo. Allegiances are therefore also at stake. If this seems a bit nebulous, then think about the people who have discussed the shifts that took place when they participated in an ayahuasca ritual. If one has a powerful psychospiritual experience, whether in meditation or through use of entheogens, one's belief system is rocked. Then, one has to decide whether to conform, Saturn, or disconnect, Neptune. In my case, the insights came through music therapy, which I believe to be the safest method of exploration of the unknown, but after an entire Saturn cycle plus some, I am of the opinion that the schism is deliberately imposed by those who want control over matter . . . and spiritual truths have been hidden by the clutter the materialists have put in front of us.

If we flow, we will navigate 2016 the way a good traveler organizes his or her photographs and mental-emotional souvenirs of new experiences. You taste the food, listen to the music, and expose yourself to new ideas and decide what you allow to influence you and what is just a picture, but not one you particularly want to enlarge and frame. This is an important year and I would like to wish everyone an interesting and safe journey through 2016.

If I have an advice, it would simply be to expand your elasticity as well as resilience because it takes flexibility to adjust and resilience to survive.

I said this post would be in parts, but it is already long so the next parts will be short. As you know, we are building our base now in Ecuador. Our next step will be to roll out a very serious series of detoxification programs that will of course help people to be healthier but also clearer. There is much, much more to come, but this is first announcement.

Now the music videos.

As I said, good polkas have been hard to find, but here is one that is a bit fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ydW7Gxw_A

Call the next one Mexican River Dancing à la Russe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-WNp-wXagQ

Then, an all time favorite with a conductor who deserved to be much better known:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlEz8Wi0QVc

Finally, the encore but not quite as this is a different performance with a different ballet company (and the boots are not red!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sb7gp98wAc

Happy New Year!

Ingrid

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2015

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