Under Pressure

A pre-eclipse collection of this and that. Plus coming attractions: Astrologer Laurence Hillman on The Rage of Aquarius podcast and Jessica Murray and I do a deep dive on Joe Biden's horoscope.

Apr 07, 2024

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JESUS, I’M TIRED of hearing about tomorrow’s fucking eclipse. Its over-the-top coverage demonstrates how much astrology dominates popular culture today. This must drive the science bros bonkers.

The media is in hyperdrive over the fact that the eclipse’s shadow drags through a long swath of the US, although hype like this is standard nowadays for content that must be churned nonstop for screen-trapped souls. What I do love is how the Christers have imported the eclipse into their End of Days designs, a trend that started some years back with Blood Moon mania (which replaced the Satanic Panic from the 80s and 90s).

A good Tweet I saw yesterday:

“If the Rapture really does take place during the Eclipse on Monday, come Tuesday, we should see things begin to improve.”

So, more interesting to me than the eclipse is how almost the entire solar system is piled into one cramped segment of the Zodiac. Weirdly enough (not really), most of the clients I’ve worked with during the past month or so have natal charts with stelliums of planets in Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio, which puts them on the other end of the teeter-totter pile-up. So the sense that reality is forcing them open (or cracking them in two) marks the tenor of the time.

As I wrote last week, how the planets and lights are dispersed around the Zodiac corresponds to different degrees of pressure in the collective atmosphere. This would explain the concentration of tension in a particular spot in your body. Somatically we are processing a lot.

But more uncanny is the Mars-Saturn conjunction in Pisces, which occurs several days after the eclipse. In traditional astrology, the merger of the two is always disaster-tainted. But there are more creative ways to read the nexus. I think seeing it like a scene from a film (Pisces) is useful. Mars (a galvanizing force) comes along and taps Saturn on the shoulder and maybe whispers something in his ear, which strengthens the resolve (Saturn) to get to the bottom of a confusing issue or relationship that requires courage to confront or move beyond.

It’s a ‘sticky’ transit, where things feel coiled or jammed up in the imagination’s catalog of symbols. It's weird and wonky (like, in my dream last night, I was with Diane Keaton, and she was grading some paper I’d written. Huh?)

Most of the riffs I’ve read lately focus on Pisces’ Neptunian vibe when it’s also about Jupiter. And so, an increase (Mars) in wisdom (Saturn) might be part of the puzzle. But the sort of insights that teach us to relinquish control and allow a more unified vision to guide our lives. That’s another way of seeing it. What’s your take?

Kulture Klatch

YESTERDAY’S WALK:

WHAT I’M WATCHING THIS WEEK: Netflix’s resurrection of Patricia Highsmith’s most notorious character, the career criminal and serial killer Tom Ripley. Writer and director Steven Zaillian’s Ripley pulls off a fantastic feat in 2024, namely creating a super slow-burn narrative arc that takes the best of Hitchcockian suspense and stretches it like taffy into excruciating degrees of high anxiety (Very Mars/Saturn/Pisces). If you’re expecting something akin to the 1998 film with Matt Damon, well, forget it. This is a gorgeous black and white masterpiece (book your tickets for Italy now) that ventures where even Highsmith wouldn’t have tarried. Bonus beauty blowout: Caravaggio as subtext.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: Substacks that I think you should explore:

Susan Earlam

’s The Wild and Quiet. Susan is a self-published author focusing on the ‘uncanny and the weird.’ Over the last year or so, her posts have shored up my confidence in writing, publishing, and marketing my Jeffrey Dahmer novel. If you’re a writer, you’ll appreciate her efforts.

Also, there is

Eva Sylwester

’s new astrology Substack which does a weekly compendium of the ‘best of astrology’ online, which is saying a lot given the frightening amount of third-rate gruel circulating the ethers. Her ability to sleuth out quality content is praiseworthy.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO THIS WEEK: I’ve added about 35 new tracks to my 2024 Spotify playlist Titanica. Follow along here and set playback to ‘shuffle.’

COMING ATTRACTIONS ON WOODRUFF:

Next week, the new Rage of Astrology: Outsider Astrology Podcast debuts and features our interview with archetypal astrologer Laurence Hillman. This was a wonderfully enlightening exchange. As Laurence mentioned, growing up with James Hillman as his dad “marinated me in the archetypes.” Follow our YouTube channel for more.

And: In late April, astrologer Jessica Murray and I will do a close read of Joe Biden’s horoscope (after we tackled Trump’s last year). How does someone run for reelection when the country you are attempting to guide is in the middle of a psychotic break? We’ll talk about that and more.

Remember, drunk or not—don’t stare into the eclipse tomorrow. Please!

Love,

PS: After my post on brain science ‘influencer’ and faux-science lab researcher Andrew Huberman, I received this email from a reader who asked not to have their reflections published in the comments section. I found it intriguing, and I’m sharing here:

“I couldn't care less about Huberman’s personal life. They are all depressed materialists with zero spiritual evolution. Another Jay Shetty. But what l have a problem with is the complete misappropriation and copying/stealing of Vedic techniques: that Huberman then proceeded to rebrand and call something else. As if he invented them. This is very common among Western so-called ‘thought leaders.’ Sadly, it continues to happen, and no one calls them out. Zero integrity.”

Under Pressure

A pre-eclipse collection of this and that. Plus coming attractions: Astrologer Laurence Hillman on The Rage of Aquarius podcast and Jessica Murray and I do a deep dive on Joe Biden's horoscope.

Kulture Klatch

COMING ATTRACTIONS ON WOODRUFF:

Opening painting by Shane Drinkwater. Follow Shane on Instagram.

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