“Who put this
thing together? Me! Me! That’s who!
Who I trust? Who
I trust? Me! That’s who! Who you trust, man?”
-Flavor Flav,
Welcome to the Terrordome
On January 18th, 2015 we
will be entering a New Moon in Pisces. Pisces is a mutable water sign,
signified by the two fish. Pisces has associations that vary from Jesus the Matyr,
to Yin and Yang. Dreamspace, sensitivity, addiction and escapism are just some of
its characteristics. Chani Nicholas points out that Pisces harkens the primordial,the ocean, the source of all life.
I prefer to think of the two fish as
representing human consciousness, internal and external. Thich Nhat Hanh in Peace
is Every Step speaks of interbeing and non-self. Every individual is
composed of the communities and environments that surround them. The internal
is constituted by the external.
Which leads me to my New Moon Mantra:
Return to Self, Return to Source. My personal aim is to return to myself, to my
center, while at the same time realizing that my self is the source of my
community, the people and places I cherish and wish to cultivate.
But
it is easier said than done. Pisces is the matyr, and we have had a great deal
of martyrdom and violence in the news. From the deaths of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, Razan Mohammad
Abu-Salha and Deah Shaddy Barakat to the beating of Sureshbai Patel. In
response to Chapel Hill authorities trying to caste his daughters’ and
son-in-law’s deaths as the result of a parking dispute, Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha
had this to say: “So let’s stand up – real and honest – and see what these
three children were martyred about. It was not about a parking spot”.
Craig Stephen Hicks, the perpetrator
in the Chapel Hill case is currently in jail, admittedly of his own accord. The cop that beat up Sureshbai Patel, Eric Parker, has been fired and arrested. All this happening days after the incidents
occurred. In cases of anti-Black violence, such as the shootings of Michael
Brown and Tamir Rice, the policemen in question were not arrested, they were
put on administrative leave. If Patel had actually been Black, as opposed to an Indian National with the weight of another nation state behind him, would it have taken only a mere two days to get the FBI involved?
How does one return to source, return to (non-) self
when our experiences, identities, allegiances are so heavily sculpted by the
power structures we interact with daily? Especially when those power structures
afford differential treatment to the suffering and death of different bodies?
Even in the face of such differential treatment, justice, that all encompassing
protector of the oppressed, is startlingly absent. The voices of the deceased
remain ignored. Yusor Abu-Salha defined her antagonistic relationship to Hicks as one inflected by simple Islamophonbia. Why fathom any other interpretation?
---
The primordial is
terrifying. The dual nature of Pisces reminds us that creation and
destruction are two sides of the same coin. As Chuck D puts it, it’s hard to
live your values because jokers on the inside will wear wires, drop dimes, take
lives. We live in an era where neighbors shooting neighbors over parking is
seen as an acceptable narrative. And real talk, astrology ain’t gon’ save you
if a fool wants to put a nine to your face. But still, Mr. Dangerous advises
listeners to work in unison with others. But that requires that we each begin
to cultivate self-trust, get clear on where we stand in relation to the powers
that be and know the risks. Know who’s really going to have your back and under
what conditions. Know who will mourn your death, god forbid it should come at the hands of another. As the song goes, “Move as a team, never move alone. Or welcome to the Terrordome.”
Also check out:
http://muslimgirl.net/10302/solidarity-mean-appropriation/
Additional Note: I know there is this whole harangue about this
New Moon technically being in Aquarius, but I’m more of an archetypal than an
astro-techincal kinda boi.
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