The Bibliophile

Erin Sullivan

IA Journal, ISAR

April, 2007 edition

Soul Sick Nation: An Astrologer’s View of America

By Jessica Murray

ISBN: 0981487505
ISBN13: 9780981487502
Publisher: Jessica Murray MotherSky Press, 2008 www.mothersky.com

Paperback; 220 pages. Appendix. No Index. Sibly Chart of USA on page 220

The erudition, political savvy and depth of consideration in this book is stunning, it is what I call a real page-turner. A thumping good read, and brilliantly prophetic.

I was relieved – astonished – to read a book by an astrologer that contributes to what I call the new literary genre, Truth Telling. Truth is selling well now that Pluto is leaving Sagittarius! All the truth that can be told and sold will be, and will fetch a high premium. Any of the current (hundreds) of books that make the actions of all American business, finances, international deals, involvement in any aspect of power transparent are top sellers in good bookstores!

For an astrologer to delve so lucidly into the USA as an organic entity, an independent spirit, if you will, and its people – clearly distinguishing the individual “American” from the collective “America”, I think you will be very well educated on depth and detailed astrology, transpersonal and archetypal psychology and the powerful world of politics. Soul Sick Nation is a profound look at the psyche of a country, deep in its own complex riddled life, living out its shadows and neuroses on both individual and collective levels . . . we see illuminated conscious actions and unconscious motivations and intent, with the astrology demonstrating this brilliantly.

And, now astrology has one to add to the “knowledge is power” pile.

Using the Sibly horoscope for the United States of America, Jessica Murray has written a clear and honest analysis of the state of the union, while America not only threatens well over two-thirds the world with its power, but also faces a serious threat to that selfsame power through the erosion of its own values.

The Sibly horoscope is the signing of the Declaration of Independence with its ideals, values, vision and civilian rights; from that moment in time we can watch the evolution of the country and its people via transits and progressions. Thus, to treat America as the entity that it is, and the collective agency that it is as a country, is appropriate.

The title itself is revealing in that it is not a criticism per se of the USA, but is a transparency of the psyche of the global power nation in all its natural glory and unholy shadow.

The sickness of the soul of America is permeated into the souls of each individual American person, and each individual person reflects that back and so on in a feedback loop – it is a mobeus of transference. As we know, fear creates both anger and depression, and there is a rage in the air and a whole lot of anti-depressants sold daily. The statistics on USA anti-depressant sales and usage is, in itself, both fear inducing and depressing.

I am not going to explore the specifics of what Jessica writes on, because it is so well written, so well laid out, with very small sections – pithy, meaty, meaningful paragraphs, easy to absorb, full of information – with headings in each chapter that address specific issues and the conditions in which all of us now live. All this played out in the heavens . . . but writ small and deadly.

Ms Murray delineates in astrological, psychological, political and global terms what the world is experiencing with the American situation, and how this situation plays out in the astrology of its own birth. She also demonstrates how that astrology plays out in the world itself, so it is a book about one of the major junctures that occur in metahistory and the players who always rise to the deadly occasion as if called by roster.

Jessica introduces her topic slowly and instructively in the first four chapters, using her comfortable understanding of collective/individual psycho synthesis and speaking of and distinguishing “Americans” within “America”. Many of us in astrology are super conscious of how our Self not only is informed by, but also contributes to the collective ethos of our culture, of any group.

With this in mind, always, the book strikes deep chords of truth without actually becoming condemnatory nor polemical – something I think writers find is hard to do. Not only is there good analysis, but also treatment options in the final chapters which presents some therapeutic information that is embedded in the symbols of all sign, planets and houses.

Astrology is unique in that it both can analyse and prescribe.

As I said before, it isn’t about blame . . . the USA and its leader/s are part of an even greater whole, the epoch itself, and then the subsequent smaller ‘eras’ and zeitgeists and historical epochs and episodes. The book is about accountability and consciousness, all of which is potentially just fine in the US chart! The US horoscope is territorial, yes, Sun/Jupiter/Venus/Mercury in Cancer likes its realm and domain, and its “stuff”, and in the Seventh house, it would also like everyone else’s domain and realm, and stuff too . . . the entire world’s stuff if possible (Sagittarius Ascending).

However, there are those who differ with this thought, and this is why this book is so good – it talks about why the soul of America is sick, how it got that way, when it seriously began to get that way.

The decumbiture of soul sickness, I fear, is a difficult thing to establish, hence it is a difficult illness to cure and the prognosis is generally not good.

We are looking at a serious Zeus complex, in which the only possible outcome is ate – in the ancient times of the Heroic era, Greeks knew that to overstep one’s bounds, one’s “lot” or “mora” resulted in the state of “hubris”, and the results of hubris is “ate” (ah’ tay). Ate translates pretty clearly into a condition called: “having Zeus take one’s wits away”.

And, it appears to be happening, which is a very bad thing in myth. And, it is a very bad thing in contemporary times.

The beauty of the book is its obviousness – everything touched on is already known by most of us, through the collective media choices, but that it is so relevant and connected and possibly terminal, is why we astrologers all need to read this book.

It is the first book on political astrology in which I have seen anything new presented and in a format in which I learned some approaches to the standard measure of “political astrology”. In fact, political astrology here is simply astrology applied to our global consciousness – our world – and how a part of that whole is “contributing” (or not) to the health and wellbeing of an entire planet.

The only problem I had was the horoscope for USA is on the back page. P.220! I kept turning to the front of the book to refer to it – and then, back!

Recommended highly – for everyone – including people who do not know astrology. It is a thumping good read, and is a very intelligent and useful book to have to hand when the international news is on (Along with The Book of World Horoscopes, by Nick Campion).

For news try streaming online or BBC World for those of you in the USA, and there is always NPR’s Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, for the eager and strong of heart.