Overall it could have been worse. Although voting hours were extended in eight states due to equipment malfunctions (Mercury Rx) and one disgruntled voter in Allentown Pennsylvania smashed a voting machine with a paperweight, there were fewer problems than expected. As promised by the square of Mercury to Neptune, the fate of the Senate still hangs in the balance due to problems with a voting machine and a tight race in Virginia that will likely require a recount that could go on for days. Still, the sweep of the House of Representatives by the Democrats is the harbinger of a change in the United States political landscape.

Change is taking place elsewhere, and the results could create a challenge for the US. In Nicaragua the Sandanista leader Daniel Ortega retook the presidency after being ousted with help from the Reagan/Bush White House. Chavez has already offered an alliance to Ortega in his vision to create a socialist future for South America. This could make it more difficult for the US to influence other South American governments as well.

I also want to brag on my own little county of Chatham in North Carolina with just over 50,000 residents, where four years ago a national developer subsidiary of Hunt Oil bought a county commissioner in order to pass a development that will eventually be the largest town in the county. Other national developers followed, and now a local builder cannot afford to purchase land in this formerly rural county. During this process environmental regulations were decimated to make it easier for high density development to occur in watersheds and near streams that fed into the lake that provides drinking water. For four years the citizens have become a well-organized machine battling the out-of-town development interests and finally yesterday we won in a major sweep of the county offices.

When Pluto was reclassified along with Eris and Ceres, it occurred to me that the symbology of this could mean that the way we view power, one of Pluto’s keywords, would change forever. As we head into the Aquarian age issues of fairness and equality will become more important than power, and it does appear that the old notions of “world power” are dissolving with the threat of terrorism. This kind of insurgency cannot be fought with nuclear weapons or missile defense systems, it must be fought in the hearts and minds of individuals.

Hopefully we can begin now to take the necessary steps to accomplish this.