some of the questions that critiquing cancel culture often brings up is, “but what do we do about justice!? what do we do about accountability? what do we do about harm!?” there’s usually an energy of panic that accompanies these questions that I am very intimate with. it says, “but will I be safe? does it matter that I was hurt? will anyone care for me? will my needs be met?”
(I introduced and defined cancellation in this post.)
these are questions the two-legged have been answering through philosophy, social experiments, and sacred ritual for centuries. perhaps we are so accustomed to the structural cushion of the carceral system that since we have begun to culturally integrate the concept of abolition, we ask these questions as if we are the first to do so. but while the prison industrial complex has been seemingly answering our questions and responding to our demands for justice, the presence of harm has simultaneously become more acute over time.
our movements have agreed that this is no longer working and in fact, is a major contributing factor to the perpetuation of harm. we have recognized (another word for remembered) that accountability can only truly happen in relationship, when all parties are within their integrity. we have attempted to take justice into our own hands; but we have often missed a crucial step. before we can create new containers for radical love and freedom to flourish, we must rewire the carceral and punitive logics that are deeply embedded into our cultural frameworks.
this is especially true for those of us who have been shaped by puritanical binaries of right/wrong, good/bad, sin/sacrifice. cancel culture can only function by using the internet as a tool, but is not an inherent function of the internet. it is an extension of our pre-existing colonial conditioning.
THE MEDICINE OF THE NODES
the Nodes are the axis where the solar and lunar eclipses occur; life changing events, quantum shifts, and significant to extreme increase/decrease are part of their domain. the North and South nodes entered gemini and sagittarius in May 2020, respectively. they will be there until January 18, 2022.
Mercury rules the North Node (increase, consumption) in gemini, and has been retrograde in the air element (gemini, libra, aquarius) three times this year to teach us about the intricate undercurrents of connection and community. Jupiter rules the South Node (release, decrease) in sagittarius, and was in capricorn (ruled by Saturn) at the time until December 2020, when they entered aquarius (also ruled by Saturn). honorable mention: there was a short visit by Jupiter to pisces in the late spring-summer, a moment to refill our wine skins with water.
I asked The Internet (through the use of polls on my social media) if they had begun denouncing, questioning, or critiquing cancel culture sometime around May 2020-present. the majority response on every poll was: yes.
Poll question: did anyone else explicitly renounce/dismiss cancel culture during the nodes in gemini/sag (may 2020-present)? explicitly is not equal to publicly, privately counts too. this is not a discussion prompt on cancel culture, I am curious for writing reasons. Twitter: 74% yes out of 38 votes. Instagram: 59 votes for yes, 12 votes for I don’t know, but curious.
I had suspected that a significant cultural (dis)orientation away from cancel culture would follow this timeline. I, and others, had become more interested in the rigorous imagination necessary to create relational accountability on a foundation of abolitionary rather than punitive principles. this meant more education on the nervous system (north node in gemini) and less dissociative dogma (south node in sag). it also meant knowing when enough information has been consumed and needs to be integrated into a praxis or released (the nodes attempting alchemy).
when the Nodes ingressed into gemini/sagittarius, I knew that we were entering a realm wherein we would wrestle with the polarization of ideas vs. ideologies, facts vs. faith, duality vs. dogma, and other living questions. I wanted to understand more about why we were responding in this way (attempting to take punitive justice into our own hands so it could theoretically be more just). I began to take cancel culture more seriously, educate myself about its causes and functions, and understand why I had participated in it back in the day. I remember at some point, I could no longer pretend it aligned with the integrity of my own love ethic. as always, it was love that led me here.
the last time the Nodes were in an axis ruled by Mercury and Jupiter was with the North Node in virgo/South node in pisces from November 2015 to May 2017. some people responded to the poll saying that was actually the timeframe within which they moved away from cancel culture. I correlate that time frame with the period I was most engrossed in it myself.
Mercury and Jupiter share many interests, one of them being questions and answers. Mercury manages the thought processes, the nervous system, and conditioning concerning communication. Jupiter manages belief systems, wisdom bodies, and the ethical, cultural conditioning. it’s simple magic, the way these two planetary ancestors collaborate in weaving our communities together or detangling them entirely.
the North Node in gemini brought me into understanding the nervous system components of cancel culture, which I took it upon myself to learn through the Fucking Cancelled podcast. there are so many gentle and compassionate critical thinkers-out-loud (also known as writers) that have helped me to rewire my own thinking around processes of harm, accountability, and caring for connection. I include most of them in the resource list below.
the South Node in sagittarius brought me into releasing the political and kyriarchial dogma (oppressive binaries, perspective as authority) that creates the container for cancel culture to flourish. I realized how much puritanical, punitive ideologies have shaped me, and what beliefs and practices (abolition, radical acceptance, willingness to inquire) were necessary to divest from those world views.
THE MEDICINE OF EXALTATION
exaltation is a Hellenistic concept which basically states that certain planets tend to have the capacity to flourish exceptionally or function loudly in certain signs. as the Nodes have taken us deep into the medicines and challenges of Mercury and Jupiter, considering their planetary exaltations can give us a framework that extends beyond but includes what is available from where They are right now.
there is an idealism that exalted planets have, an embodied optimism (hope) of how things could be. exalted Mercury in virgo represents ideal processes, for example. exalted Saturn in libra represents ideal structures, and exalted Jupiter in cancer represents ideal philosophies. Mercury, which is currently in libra, and Jupiter/Saturn in aquarius have their own challenges and medicines to offer, while also being an access point for the wisdom their exalted positions can provide.
SATURN IN LIBRA
Saturn in aquarius (roughly March 2020-present) has been the final planetary ancestor consulted (by dispositership) for the majority of the South Node’s transit through sagittarius. this is because Jupiter has been in Saturn ruled signs (capricorn, aquarius) for the majority of this period.
Saturn exalts in libra, according to the hellenistic dignity schema. Saturn delivers consequences, and libra answers to Venus as the elegant purveyor of just conduct and relational alignment.
the Queen of Swords.
to be able to wrestle with harm and justice, one must be able to accept that failure exists, and that one is still lovable, important, valuable, and worthy of support when they fail. puritanical morality as a philosophical framework for resolving community tensions has failed us, and could not ever have had the capacity to address the realities of relational and socio-political structural fractures.
Saturn in libra conceptualizes that consequences function most beautifully when they are relationship based. consequences that emerge from within the highly contextual, deeply intimate process of relating, are most likely to bring the situation into equilibrium. as Pea the Feary says, conflict is intimate.
Saturn in libra is the medicine of designing boundaries with temperance, taking the time to respond rather than react, and knowing that peace is an awareness of what is and isn’t within your control.
Venus rules taurus and libra. I think of Venus in taurus as the medicine of what keeps relationships together, and Venus in libra as the medicine that brings them back together when they’ve been torn apart. Saturn in libra takes those Venusian skills and structures relationships as an art, a craft, a discipline. one size will not fit all, which is why attempting to apply one strategy (cancellation) to regular degular people who are not in enormous positions of power isn’t effective.
MERCURY IN VIRGO
this is where Mercury’s exaltation in virgo comes in. Mercury in virgo is grounded in facts, adaptable and precise all at the same time. Mercury in virgo can recognize the patterns and suggest alternative strategies towards the outcome. but to do so, there must be a clear, tangible outcome outlined.
Mercury in virgo is the medicine of tending to the regulation of the nervous system so as to move forward with clarity and accuracy.
I will let these brilliant words from Juniper Camryn speak more on the medicine of discernment I think Mercury in virgo can offer our movements (full post here):
“”Cancel culture is not and never will be a viable alternative to the criminal justice system. Building dual power means creating structures that work, systems that people will truly consider as a viable alternative over police, prisons, or other forms of violent intervention. I truly believe this is within our capacity. Mediation and facilitation services performed by people who are well versed in the complex realities of abuse- who understand that you cannot take a narrative at face value, that people and particularly those who abuse will skew facts to cast themselves in the best light, who have a solid knowledge of appropriate division of power and responsibility. Therapeutic services that know how to challenge people rather than coddle or enable dysfunctional and abusive tendencies.
The other piece which is possibly of the most importance, is emphasizing accessible education on abuse, manipulation, and healthy relationships. Cultivating relational literacy and confidence is the preventative measure that we need to be focusing way more of our energy on if stopping abuse is really important to us. I do believe that there will be situations where creating community boundaries to prevent a person from causing serious harm is inevitable. But the degree to which we have decided that is an appropriate solution and invested so much faith into cancel culture to fix the prevalence of abuse is evidence to me that we have not invested half as much into creating truly viable alternatives based in abolitionist principles as we should be.””
I spoke of Saturn first because they create clear containers, and because I wanted to leave you with Jupiter’s exaltation in cancer. Jupiter has been ruling the South Node in sagittarius, and has so much medicine to offer us as we tend to our healing and the healing of our communities.
JUPITER IN CANCER
Jupiter in cancer is the emotional maturity (embodied wisdom) we must cultivate to know when we are reacting out of an ancient, ancestral wound and/or one from our own experience. this knowledge offers context that can help us to scale our responses to the actions of others, whom we ultimately cannot control and whose pain externalized as harm is not about us.
Jupiter in cancer is the medicine of the ocean: non-judgemental and unconditional love for ourselves and others, supported by the fierce boundaries a crab shell and pincers provide.
Jupiter in cancer is the medicine of creating a safe place within yourself and your own life to begin deprogramming from the ways colonization continues to operate through us, thereby no longer needing to rely on its external machinations (though it obviously still does). Jupiter in cancer is the medicine of acknowledging our original wounds of severance from the land and our peoples. Jupiter in cancer is the medicine of creating the capacity for the righteous grief and rage that has been overflowing from each of us into our communities―or just onto the internet.
Jupiter in cancer transmutes collective rage rituals into collective grief rituals.
Jupiter in cancer is the medicine of understanding that our ethics, principles, and world views are a womb in which life can grow or be fertile ground for the future. Jupiter in cancer understands that safety is an experience you cultivate within your own body, as much as it is a collective collaboration.
Jupiter is a storyteller, cancer is ruled by the Moon. to end cancel culture, we must go deep within and back to the beginning. we must remember how we were when we came into this world, because that part of us is still in each of us, waiting to be recognized and cared for.
there are about three months left of the Nodes in gemini and sagittarius. I hope we can continue to become eternal students and embodied teachers of the sacred intellect and wisdom offered to us during this time. I hope we can continue to reject binaries (even cancel vs. anti-cancel), and tangle ourselves in liminality with discernment.
I call on the medicine of Saturn in libra, Mercury in virgo, and Jupiter in cancer because I believe that ending cancel culture is grief work, ending cancel culture is care work, and ending cancel culture is death to the old paradigm of pain and punishment.
ending cancel culture is new paradigm work.
RESOURCES
these communal medicinal offerings from the planetary ancestors are not meant to apply to delineating your natal chart; please consult a skilled astrologer for that. I referenced simple (rulership) and complex (exaltation) traditional astrological techniques, so if there’s anything you don’t understand feel free to google it if you’re an astro-nerd or let it go if you’re not.
I am a counseling astrologer fluent in movement trauma and grief literacy; if you want to work specifically with me on these topics I am now booking for January 2022 (a natal chart reading with me is therapeutic but not a substitute for professional psychological support).
below are some of the resources that have supported me in this nodal process:
How to Survive the End of the World podcast on The Practices we Need to really address harm and grow beyond it with abolitionist Mariame Kaba.
Clementine Morrigan’s zine Fuck the Police means we Don’t act like Cops to each Other and writing on Instagram.
Emergent Strategy and We Will Not Cancel Us by adrienne maree brown.
many, many offline conversations with people I’m actually in relationship with.
my afro-indigenous teachers, mentors, and ancestors.
thank you for being here with grace and curiosity. there are so many places to expound and disperse in the small surface I’ve covered; I am looking forward to continue writing (and hopefully read other astrologers writing) about the medicine the planetary ancestors have to offer our (dis)orientation from cancel culture into a more creative, responsive culture.
love,
Ari