Neptune and Believing What You Want To Believe

The MJ hysteria hopefully has crested. The "greatest entertainer in the history of the world" is finally leaving the stage. I am not a Michael Jackson fan (though I own and have listened to "Thriller"), nor am I an MJ accuser. My interest lies more in the fascinating collective event I have just witnessed. What could possibly generate such an over-the-top reaction in the media and in millions of humans?

Astrologers are aware that we are experiencing a rare conjunction of Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron this summer. Where Neptune is involved, questions of credibility usually arise. Add Jupiter -- the planet of expansion, exaggeration and inflation -- to Neptune's predisposition to imagine, pretend, and fantasize, and it looks like a Hollywood extravaganza celebrating the benefits of delusion and denial.

I have nothing against Michael Jackson, but I abhor pretense and denial of what's real and true.

Why at this time -- summer of 2009 -- should this matter?

If people want to believe that MJ was the greatest entertainer of all time, the greatest humanitarian citizen of our times, and Father of the Year, in spite of a documented history of having been an abused child, and living as a drug addict and accused pedophile, then let them, but let's call it what it is: "escape from reality."

The greater concern is how this very public display of self-indulgence and fairy tale values accurately reflects our attitudes and beliefs about our current situation in the world. The economy is (not was) collapsing. In 1989, as Pluto approached the Soviet Union's birth Sun position, the Communist system that was the Soviet Union collapsed. Did the Soviets imagine such an outcome? Were they aware during the downfall of their ideology (not political system, but a religion) that their world was coming apart while it was happening?

Now, with Pluto approaching an opposition to the US birth Sun (exact in 2014), and our "religion" of Capitalism in deep trouble, why not lose a few days in an orgy of emotionalism because a pop entertainer is gone? Hasn't he already been gone a long time? Isn't it much less trying to mourn a fantasy pop figure than to face our growing scary problems?

What will be the next Great Crisis?

When this Jupiter-Neptune conjunction dissolves this fall, will that mean escape is harder to find? Probably not. There are still new iPods, iPhones, flat screens, mindless movies, and the drama of sports to pull up over our heads, helping to drown out the scary sounds and images of a collapsing world.

Yes, I know, you can call me a "pessimist," "sourpuss," "gloomy," and all those other terms we use to diminish any negative message that doesn't keep propping us up with more denial and self-deception.

The Hollywood funeral with all of its merchants of escapism, the obsession of the media with every detail of the death and burial of a former pop star, and the attempt to make this a life-altering event cannot stop the movement that is already under way, anymore than the collapse of the Soviet Union could have been stopped.

Rather than just ranting about how bad things are, I would rather ask you: how do you intend to live your life through the coming years? After October, the curtain will once again be drawn back, just as it was in late 2008, and we will once again discover that we are living at the very edge, and that our credit cards, SUV's and entertainment centers will take on a very different meaning as banks, stock markets, or whatever the latest hole in the dike may be, resume their downward spiral, unable to maintain the illusion of a prosperous life and unlimited growth as our roads and bridges continue to fall apart.

Will there be a Mystery at the center that you can turn to, hoping for answers and images of sustenance to get you through, or will you be carrying on over the latest celebrity to kick the bucket?