“This is a clear message that the people want change,” said Rafael Correa, after his election to the presidency to Ecuador this past Sunday.

That’s nothing new. They’ve been wanting change all along. My lover and I have been living in Ecuador for eight years, and we’ve seen the last two elected presidents overthrown. You do have to admire people who go out in the streets, yell, and keep yelling until the president is gone. I wish it was that easy in the States.

I’m getting a sense of déjà vu about this last election, but I hope I’m wrong. I’m thinking back to four years ago, when Lucio Gutiérrez was elected. He was hailed as a populist, a left-winger.

But Lucio sold the people out. He appointed indigenous people to his cabinet, and then quarreled with them and removed them. He started supporting trade agreements with the U.S. He sacked all the Supreme Court justices, and that’s when the people started using the word “dictator” to describe him. He brought back Abdalá Bucaram, the most crooked of the deposed ex-presidents. Bucaram was said to have stolen money by the bagful on the night he was thrown out of power, and now here he was, freely motorcading the streets again.

And so the people filled the streets with noise until Lucio was out of there.

And now we have Rafael Correa. Correa had the same banana millionaire opponent, the ever-persistent Alvaro Noboa. Noboa isn’t content with being the richest man in Ecuador and wants to run the country more directly. Clearly this is not the will of the voters, since Noboa has lost three elections, despite throwing money around like confetti. The people want change. That’s what they keep repeating, one way or another.

Correa has an Aries sun, the same sun-sign as Gutiérrez. This is a good sign for a revolutionary, for someone who initiates a new beginning. Both men have the moon in earth signs, an indication of pragmatism. In fact, there are a lot of similarities between their natal charts.

And so I am waiting to see. I am no longer captivated by rhetoric, the way I was when I was younger. Now I am more interested in seeing real change, even slow change.

When Gutiérrez was elected, Jupiter was in the passionate fire sign, Leo. Now it’s in the next fire sign, Sagittarius, and it entered this sign just before Correa was elected. Correa’s aspects are better than Gutiérrez’ were at the beginning of his term, and so he will be riding a stronger wave of momentum. But in March of 2007, about three months after he takes office, Neptune sits on Correa’s Saturn, and so he may find himself in some sort of quagmire.

I know it’s not easy, taking all this idealism and turning it into food and shelter and medical care and the actual things people need. Especially in Latin America, more and more populist leaders have been elected, but they are a mixed lot, with some more successful than others.

Today in our local paper, I see that the opposition is gearing up to go on strike, after Evo Morales managed to pass a land law in Bolivia. Land is the source of food and shelter and safety, things that everyone needs. But land is also the focus of conservative sentiment, the status quo that we all walk on.

However, November was a month of deep change, with that strong Scorpio influence, and things have definitely shifted. In the U.S., the Democrats finally control Congress, and all women are cheering for Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House. (She also has the sun in Aries!)

In December, the Sagittarius energy is conspicuous. At the full moon on December 4, there are four planets in this excitable, ardent, zealous sign. At the new moon on December 20, there are six. And throughout the month, the Sagittarius planets are all challenged by Uranus, the planet of change.

And so I think we’re going to see a lot of people acting in unique and outrageous ways during the coming month. This will be especially true of the people who are in charge of our communal myths – our holy people and saints, our poets and artists, our movie-makers. These are the people that we all look to for escape and redemption. They are the ones who will challenge us, confuse us, and show us new directions.

December is the gate to our coming year. This is Jupiter’s first month in Sagittarius, but it will be here until next December. And so we’re seeing the beginning of a year of movement, energy, passion, and commitment.

We’re familiar with Sagittarius energy, since Pluto has been in this sign since 1995. Religious wars are a definite Sagittarius thing, but so are philosophy, travel and adventure. It’s a loud, rambunctious sign, fond of celebrating, always waving a flag of some kind. And so it will be a year when people leave their usual haunts behind, and take off to see the world. Everyone will have the urge to learn, expand, and broaden their horizons - whether they do this by plane or car, or on the Internet, or just in their imaginations. We will all grow, and the world will shrink.

It isn’t a peaceful sign. All the fire signs are about asserting one’s individuality. And so people will feel passionate about all the things they’ve committed themselves to, including their world-views. Arguments will grow ever more heated, and fists will shake in faces.

I think Nancy Pelosi is tough enough to handle a raucous and noisy Congress, with her passionate-but-firm Aries/Taurus chart. Her sun is also square Bush’s sun, so when he starts whining, she can get tough with him.

For all the noisiness and independence of Sagittarius, it’s also a jovial sign. It’s a trademark of Sagittarius folks that they don’t hold a grudge. For me, that bodes well for the coming year. The energy will keep moving, no matter how much we all yell and argue and disagree. The universe keeps expanding, and sometimes we have to run to catch up with it. Jupiter in Sagittarius gives us the energy for an all-out dash.

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