I won’t attempt to dissect the cause of the loss yesterday of Ted Kennedy’s longtime Democratic senate seat to Republican challenger Scott Brown when Brilliant at Breakfast has done such a brilliant job. 

The timing of the loss of the seat that Kennedy held for 47 years coincides with the challenging square from Saturn (challenge, conservative values, repression) to Pluto (transformation, endings, and rebirth) in less than two weeks.  This is the second phase of a cycle that began last fall and represents an eruption into mass consciousness and the destruction (Pluto) of social structures that no longer serve their purpose (Saturn).  

The election of Barack Obama coincided nicely with another planetary cycle: the opposition between Saturn’s conservative values and Uranus with it’s brave new ideas and call for change.  That Saturn/Uranus opposition was with us throughout last year as the two major American political parties splintered into the conservative (Saturn) wings and the progressive  (Uranus) or moderate wings, and that inability of the Democratics to agree on a cohesive solution to the healthcare debate that did not result in putting more money into lobbyists’ pockets drew ire across the country, including in my own home.  And let’s not even talk about what’s happening with banks this week which will make my head explode.

The House passed the health care bill on the day that Mars turned retrograde, so there was not much chance that it would have gone smoothly in any case.  But yesterday’s election reminds us that even in a solidly Democratic state, a political process that doesn’t work will not survive. 

This is the message of Saturn and Pluto.  Under this cycle, the structures that Saturn creates will only survive if they are effective.  When Pluto first entered the sign of Capricorn (the sign ruled by Saturn which shares that emphasis on the solid structures of our world such as banks and corporations) we started to see a collapse in the economy where there was no solid foundation of support.  Banks that relied on fantasy exchanges of assets that had no value to make money should have been allowed to fail, and corporations who were incapable of sustaining themselves should likewise have been permitted a natural death.  This is the natural order; the “survival of the fittest.”  You can’t rebuild a home on a foundation that is mired in quicksand.

I didn’t support the Democrats healthcare bill because it wasn’t really about healthcare.  It was mostly about shifting payment for healthcare but did nothing for the abysmal care that Americans receive for their health.  A real healthcare bill, in my opinion, would address those difficult issues.  The other day I watched three episodes of the television program “Private Practice” and was reminded why our healthcare system is collapsing.  The money that is spent on unnecessary surgeries and designer babies is staggering and does little to truly improve our experience of our life and the natural order of things.

So I’m not really surprised that the tables have turned on the Democrats.  I doubt that this means a shoe-in for Republicans either.  But I am hopeful that a new political system may arise that is truly not rooted in corporate pockets but in the actual needs of the country and its economic and political stability.