A short spell of rain has broken, and I go out on the balcony to feel the sun. It feels so good. I breathe in the cool air of spring, while a furry bee darts between the iron railings. I look down on quiet Lesum: sharply peaked red tile roofs, a glimpse of an old lady on her bicycle.

The air smells like fish. This makes me want to walk to the river, although I know the smell is coming from the fish store on the corner.

A week ago, we were in Amsterdam, taking a vacation and enjoying our continuing great luck with sunshine. Every city has its network, like the veins in a hand, but Amsterdam has two: one of concrete, one of water. There’s always more than one way to get from one place to another. It’s a city of bridges, both physically and socially. People-watching is an absorbing pastime there, because it seems that everyone, from everywhere, has come to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam has a long history of tolerance. The city was once ruled by sternly religious Spain, but on achieving independence in the 16th century, it established freedom of belief. Through the following centuries, religious refugees came running, and, as we all know, a city of immigrants is a vital and exciting place. Along with a skein of colorful beliefs came a network of trade. Everybody knew somebody in Amsterdam, and it was a good place to buy or sell. The canals connect to the river, to the sea, to everywhere.

There are risks in being so open, and Amsterdam was devastated by the plague in 1664. I had a sore throat a little while after leaving Amsterdam, and I started wondering about it, especially when I began reading about swine flu. My lover noted that my symptoms didn’t quite fit. And I’m recovering just fine, thanks. Amsterdam too recovered from the plague, and returned to being a hub of commerce and free thought.

So is this swine flu epidemic something to worry about? This is an era in which people breathe in on one continent, and breathe out on a different one. We all carry our microbes everywhere we go. Maybe we should retreat into our little villages and stop being so social?

Well, no. Looking at the current astrological picture, the main thing that sticks out is the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius. I think the main player here is Neptune, the planet which deals with confusion, illusions, fantasies, myths and symbols. Plague is real, but it’s also an archetypal human fear. At its root is the fear of knowing each other and being changed by each other.

So Neptune takes this old wraith, and with Jupiter (the planet of expansion) close by, it becomes inflated. The third figure in this conjunction is Chiron, the asteroid which symbolizes the healing process. How are reports of this epidemic moving us, as a world, towards healing? Epidemologists take center stage, and everyone starts to become aware of the larger networks of health and illness. We become clear that our health is interconnected, whether we like it or not, and that the only answer is to share information and resources.

Misinformation could be a recurring theme this month, however, since Mercury goes retrograde on May 7. The dangers will be overstated, and the conservatives (exhibiting their stranger anxiety) will blame the immigrants. But by the full moon (May 9), this particular flurry will be over. In the full moon chart of Washington DC (with Pluto conjuncting the ascendent), the focus is more on naked power issues: nuclear weapons, climate change, food shortages. There could also be scandals involving the press, since Mercury and Gemini elements show up everywhere.

There could be a storm of controversy over something Obama says, since Mercury exactly squared his Uranus at the April 24 new moon chart. He might even impugn mom and apple pie in some way, with Pluto now exactly opposing Venus in the US chart.

At this point in the U.S., there are a lot of uneasy right-wingers, looking for something to pounce on, and I almost sympathize, remembering what I went through in the Bush years. Just today, moseying around the internet, I happened across a clip from a Rush Limbaugh show in which he was postulating immense sinister powers manipulating Obama like a puppet on a string. I remember having these very same thoughts about the last president, so I am somewhat humbled by this similarity.

But with Mercury retrograde most of the month, most of what we hear will have been said before. And this can be a good thing. There are some issues that need to be raised again. Health care is one unresolved matter that won’t lie quiet in May, since Mercury will be going through the 6th house in the U.S. chart.

And so this might be the great gift of this swine flu epidemic. On a physical level, I’d like it to quietly spend itself. But on a mental level, maybe it could have a more lasting and beneficial influence. There will always be moments when our enemies are microscopic and yet still very powerful, and now we’re all hyperaware of them. This is the place where we build bridges, or refuse to build them. If we work together as a world, with global health as our goal, then we gain more than just physical health. We discover a new way of being together.

When you feel accepted, you relax and look at the people around you. You see the teenager with the spiky hair, the woman with the head scarf, the old bald white guy, the guy with the curly sideburns, and they all look interesting to you. You wonder about their stories. This is the way it’s supposed to be. Everywhere, it should be like it is in Amsterdam.

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