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Och, now. So you've been busy this year, sir. Running for President, and all. And elections nearly upon us.

Well, let's see what the cards have to say.

Oh. Oh dear. Well, no, sir, I'm afraid not. Though it's grieved I am to have to tell you so.

No, no, no one else implicated here, sir: whatever's coming, it's all of your own doing. Coming back on your own head, it is, plain and simple. Nothing to do with anyone else, blame who you may.

Oh, my. Financial losses I see here too, sir: major ones. All a direct result of this year's doings, if I may say so. Irreversible, they are. That's money lost you'll never see again, oh no.

Well, sir, it doesn't look good. In short, sir, you've damaged your brand, and there'll be no coming back. At the top of the Wheel you were, but it's all down, down, down from here, and I don't see another coming-up for you, ever, at all, at all.

And the cards don't lie, now, sir. Indeed they don't.

Here, here, now, we'll not be having with that kind of talk around here. I'll say goodbye to you, sir. You'll leave now, you will.

Goodbye. Goodbye.

Yesterday Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party dropped the writ to announce the beginning of an eleven-week election campaign.  It will be one of the longest campaigns in Canadian history.  Without getting into a very long litany of what I believe to be the sins of the Canadian federal Conservative Party, I will say that for the first time in my life, I am working as a volunteer in a political campaign.  I have given my support to the party most likely to defeat the Conservative party in my riding.  I have volunteered to cold-call people on the phone; something I have to work up considerable courage to do.  I have volunteered to write press releases.  I have folded little paper fans as promotional materials.  I am doing this because I am angry and because I believe that supporting the party I've chosen to is our best chance for change.

In the meantime, I have also pleaded with Athena for the victory of my chosen party, and I am lending my magickal skills to the task.

I have rewritten parts of the original essay here to clarify and better focus its argument.

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November 6^th the right wing attempt to take over the country shattered against the sea wall of our constitution and a damaged but still viable electoral system. I think their defeat will be ranked by future historians as their high water mark. They can still do great damage to our country, but their chances to rule us have collapsed. And they know it.

This development frees us from having to play defense all the time, allowing us to ask what positive values would we like to see better achieved in modern America? 

You may have noticed that this week’s post is a little late, or maybe next week’s is a bit early, depending on how much writing I get done the rest of this week. :-) My personal Mercury retrograde incident happened as that planet entered its shadow, conjuncting my Mars, and I’ve been recovering from some first-world trauma in the form of an unexpected computer failure — and the backup drive failed at the same time. Yeah, I didn’t think that would ever happen, either. All is well now, and the new computer is a jewel, but I’m still catching up. And speaking of the new computer, I want to give a shout-out to the good folks at Matrix Software. I’ve been using their astrology programs since the pre-Windows days of DOS, and their customer support has always been exceptionally good. They were a big help this time when I ran into some questions about my new setup. I use their WinStar Pro software, but they have excellent, less expensive options as well. Find them here.

November's New Moon falls on Tuesday the 13th, at 22 degrees of Scorpio, and a solar eclipse happens a few minutes later. Like any New Moon, this one will indicate the planetary energies in play for the month ahead, but the influence of eclipses tends to last for several months, and this one will be particularly noticeable in the lives of people (or countries, or businesses, etc.) who have personal planets or angles in their natal chart at between 19 degrees and 25 degrees of any of the fixed signs (Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus, Leo).

As I do twice a month, I got together today with some magical women from Columbia's District and did some political magic.  What's political magic?  Well, I think that we all know what magic is, but a good working definition is <a href=http://hecatedemetersdatter.blogspot.com/2006/02/ability-to-change-consciousness-at.html>the ability to change consciousness at will</a>.  And politics?  Well, Oxford Dictionaries on line defines politics as: 

• 1 the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power

• 2activities aimed at improving someone’s status or increasing power within an organization.
   
  So political magic, for me, is magic that changes consciousness related to governance, that shifts the debate about power, and that influences activities aimed at improving status or increasing power.  As a woman, a Witch, and a Crone (as someone with little power) I'm interested in increasing my power, my ability to influence the conversation about governing.  And as a white, educated person who earns a good income and  moves within the corridors of power, (as someone with a lot of privilege) I'm interested in using my influence in ways that assist Mamma Gaia.
   
  I'm an old feminist, and I do believe that the personal is the political (and, vice versa).  So a working to find a home that my Sister can afford to buy is political magic.  A ritual to send healing to a woman going through breast cancer is political.  And, a ritual to influence the election is political.  A ritual to protect the Code Pink house is political magic.  
   
  What's political magic to you?

@BenjySarlin is right:  Although today Mitt Romney told a crowd in Las Vegas that, "I'm convinced that the path [Obama's] put us on is the path to Europe.  Or, I jokingly say...to California," it's difficult to imagine Obama telling a crowd, even jokingly, that, "I'm convinced that the path Romney would put us on is the path to Mississippi."  And if he did, the outrage would be unending.

Old Dr. Jung was onto something when he wrote about shadows and projection.  For decades, the political Right has loudly insisted that the political Left holds "regular Americans" in contempt.  (They've been admirably vague about precisely who is a "real" American; allows everyone to image that they must be insulting someone else.)  Spiro Agnew announced that Americans who opposed the war in Viet Nam were an "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."  The Moral Majority whipped up lower-income, white Christians by implying that an "immoral minority" of snobby liberals looked down on the "moral majority" as it eroded "American values."  George W. Bush, a child of generations of financial and educational privilege, ran as a brush-clearing Texas rancher with whom you'd love to have a beer, against John Kerry as a rich, "French," jet-skiing (apparently, only rich liberals jet ski) liberal.  (We'll just ignore the fact that Bush bought that ranch just before beginning his political campaign, cleared brush only in front of the media, and sold the ranch immediately upon leaving the White House.)  Despite decades of economic policies that hurt working-class Americans, the Right has been able to paint the Left as made up of arugula-eating, latte-drinking, snobs.