This morning I went into the fish store to buy salmon for the high tea that my mother-in-law is going to fix tomorrow, to celebrate the New Year.  Outside, there was a bike leaning against the brick wall, with a bottle of champagne in the rear basket.  My first thought was to marvel at the safety of Lesum.  In several of my old neighborhoods, that bottle would have been lifted long before I saw it. 

It was a unique statement of both the time and the place.  Yes, people here in this suburb of Bremen are still riding their bikes to the store, even though it’s minus eight outside.  (Now that I’m in the northern climes, I am finally beginning to think in Celsius.  It just feels a whole lot more like minus 8 than it does like 18 degrees!)  

On this last December morning in 2008, every store I went into was full of people.  But all the stores here in Lesum are small, and today they’re only open till one p.m.  So it’s not a horde of shoppers, but rather a bustle of them.   One thing I love about Lesum is that there are always more people on the sidewalk than there are cars in the street.   

There’s an economic crisis here in Germany as well.  The economy is said to be shrinking, and some small businesses are having trouble getting loans.  But for the most part, people here don’t buy a lot, don’t waste very much, don’t hoard, and don’t live on credit.  Here in these cold northern climes, people know how to conserve, in order to keep a slow banked fire burning for a long time.       

I would like to see this patient conservatism in the U.S.  There, people need to study up on a whole different set of life skills, and these are skills that are still widely practiced in many other parts of the world.  In the US, we need to stop telling that old story about how we’re the greatest, and start listening and learning.   

Will this happen in 2009, this year of economic crisis and dramatic political change?   We are already starting to see the beginning of a new sobriety and pragmatism in the US.  Will it end up as a lot of empty buzzwords, in a country that loves to buzz, or will it take root and grow strong?    

2008 was earthy, and we all came down to earth in a hurry, as our economic bubbles popped and ended up as sad smears on the landscape.  Even the selection of Obama was a pragmatic choice.  In spite of his multicultural background and his spicy African name, he’s not about glitz and glamour.  He embodies change, but was very careful not to startle anybody during the campaign.  If he had, he probably wouldn’t have gotten elected.   

2009 will be a balance of earth and air, but air will predominate as the year comes to a close.  The pragmatism of earth will gradually give way to the idealism of air.   As the year goes on, and Obama gains confidence in his role, he will be able to invest himself more fully in a new and more enlightened version of what the US is all about.  And luckily, it’s a year when the country (and the world) will be ready to believe.  

The aspect that will help him is the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction, exact three times in 2009.  Jupiter is the planet of social opportunities and community, and Neptune the planet of dreams and miracles, and they meet in the intellectual, scientific, experimental sign Aquarius.   

The last time that Jupiter and Neptune met in Aquarius was 1843.  That was the year when tens of thousands of people in the US believed that the world was about to come to an end, any day now, thanks to the preacher William Miller (who started the Adventist movement).  Miller was a true believer.  He was an Aquarian who wanted only to learn the truth, so he studied the Bible until he had it all figured out, and then he passed the word along.  He didn’t have a scrap of earth in his chart, so he didn’t look for practical applications.   

And so in 1843, everybody was just hanging out waiting to be saved.  Will it be like that this year?  There are plenty of religions that promise that all you have to do is be one of the chosen masses, and you’ll be wafted away into paradise.  And lots of Obama supporters may be hoping for the same.  Surely he can save us from having to deal with this stubborn, resistant earth plane!   

It’s true, though, that you can’t get anywhere unless you believe something.  The people who are assuming power now are the Pluto-in-Virgo generation, and they are a somewhat cynical lot.  They’ve seen wars and they’ve seen movements, and things have just gotten more polluted through the years.  They could definitely use a little hope.       

But we won’t be allowed to spend 2009 drifting from one beautiful illusion to another.  The year’s other aspects are all about Saturn, and as we all know, Saturn comes after you if you try to get away from your responsibilities.  Saturn is like the old lady who trips you with her cane and then demands to know what you thought you were running away from.   

We’ve already seen the Saturn/Uranus opposition, which was exact for the first time on Election Day.  This is about the conflict between stasis and change, and so the struggle for change is definitely not over yet.  The last time there was a Saturn/Uranus opposition in Virgo/Pisces was in 1920.  This was the period after the Russian Revolution when there was a lot of jostling between factions, with some folks trying to consolidate power and others trying to create a better world.   

Also in 2009, Saturn will make the exact inconjunct to Neptune.   This aspect is about the tension between Virgoan cynicism and Aquarian truth-seeking, and it throws a certain amount of cold water on the Neptunian urge for redemption.    

Saturn will spend most of 2009 in Virgo, where it will focus all our attention on the actual practical steps which must be taken.  The dreamers will have their moments, mostly in the spring and summer, and again at the end of the year.  But the cynics will also have the opportunity to pelt the dreamers with clods of earth and demand accountability.  

In late October, Saturn will move into the air sign Libra, and rules, protocol and manners will become more important than actually getting things done.  People will become more invested in defining and parsing and analyzing.  There will be more signs on everything.  “Open this end”, “Do not lick hot iron”, and so forth.  There will be more lawsuits.    

At the same time, this idealistic sign is strong for peace and justice.   I see this as a time when issues around war and negotiation will take center stage.  People will be tired of all the detail work, all the recurring survival issues, and will start looking at the overall picture.   How do we treat other people, other nations?  Maybe we need to make some changes there, before we can get anywhere?   What does it look like on the other side of the street?  

And it may be that the wheels of justice will begin to turn for some of our latest crop of warmongers.  The International Court of Justice will have a lot more influence, up until 2012 when Saturn leaves Libra.  

As I write this, the sun is going down on the last day of 2008.  I hear the boom of fireworks every once in a while, and I know little Lesum is getting ready to celebrate.  Somebody has already taken that champagne from the bicycle basket, and tonight they’ll be drinking it and making toasts.  My family and I will be toasting each other too.  

And so I toast all of you, gentle readers.  In 2009, may your dreams find form in the places you live, among the people you live with.  May the earth thrive, and bring forth whatever is needed.  May the simple life be a healthier one for everyone.  And may 2009 end with a declaration of peace. 

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