[Closed] Random predictions

Melania kind of fascinates me. I can't tell if she's a victim, perpetrator, or just lost. My guess is all of that and more. I would think it would be worse without her. She seems to settle him somewhat. I hope she can grow and find happiness after all this. I hope it's not on the arm of an Oligarch. That's just a weird feeling I get with her.

@baba

Thank you for sharing this, Baba!  ?

I find it interesting that Ring Around the Rosie is purported by some medieval history scholars to have origins from the time of the Black Death in Europe. Dr. Dorsey Armstrong, Professor of English and Medieval Literature at Purdue University, teaches extensively on that pandemic and explains the lyrics this way:

• "Ring around the rosie" referred to a circular rash that appeared around the swollen lymph nodes (or buboes) which were a symptom of the disease in the bubonic form (~18 - 20% survival rate), or on its own in the pneumonic form (~0% survival rate)
• "Pocket full of posies" referred to the practice of carrying sweet smelling flowers and herbs to hold under the nose, or stuffed into the beaks of plague masks, as it was widely believed then that disease was spread by foul smelling air, or miasma
• "We all fall down" is self-explanatory; the plague was lethal within days, and sometimes only hours, and is estimated to have wiped out half the population in parts of Europe

We're currently in another pandemic and at least Trump and Bolsonaro are responsible for many times more deaths than there otherwise would have been. Bibi is similarly embroiled in scandal and death (West Bank lives matter). 

But another interesting point Armstrong makes in her lectures (I listened to a series of 50 that she made on the subject in 2016), is that the colossal failures by leaders during the Black Death, and its terrible mortality rate, created a civilizational moment in which those at the bottom of society—90% of the people were peasant laborers with no power—were able to rise up, revolt, and demand structural changes in European life. And they got it. In many places, after the plague swept through, laborers attained the right to representation by guilds or other privileges theretofore unheard of in the previously feudal society.  

I'm not making the point that our present pandemic is a good thing; only that history repeats. And necessary change often comes on the heels of tragedy and chaos. 

@teriz  We did a whole read on her a few years ago which you will find if you put her name in the search bar.  She's about the money.    

@vestralux

I teach medieval history to middle schoolers (so not on the level of the scholar you quoted). I’ve always taught that it was the plague that hobbled feudalism. I don’t recall where I learned that specifically. When your lord dies, and his sons all die then who’s going to have the power to maintain that hierarchy in a patriarchal society? The pyramid had to flatten out. I think the time span of the plague was contributory, too. It’ll be interesting to see what discussions emerge in my classes next school year around this topic and in the context of CV19. 

I need to also say say that I’ve been lurking for a while until recently,  and I always enjoy your insights. I look forward to your posts. Thank you! 

@parizienne @vestralux

You might be interested in this essay posted by John Feffer at Resilience.org

The Black Death Killed Feudalism. What Does COVID-19 Mean for Capitalism?

Also, Tim Morgan at the blog Surplus Energy Economics has been producing some very detailed analysis (with an emphasis on the biophysics of fossil fuels) about how COVID is already pushing us into a new economic paradigm.

Posted by: @parizienne

When your lord dies, and his sons all die then who’s going to have the power to maintain that hierarchy in a patriarchal society? The pyramid had to flatten out. I think the time span of the plague was contributory, too. It’ll be interesting to see what discussions emerge in my classes next school year around this topic and in the context of CV19. 

Indeed. So fascinating, @parizienne.

Also fascinating that you teach medieval history to middle schoolers! And I love that you're already anticipating class discussions around Covid-19 in the fall. I keep thinking about how this period in our history is shaping the minds (and lives) of young people.

Btw, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are probably my favorite humans. They're finally emerging—however awkwardly—into their own minds, right about the time their bodies are also (awkwardly) waking up. They're curious and quarrelsome and moody but still just enough ridiculously silly. In those ways, they're perfect expressions of everything it is to be human. Plus, they're still so wide open to everything ...in a way they never quite will be again. So, how lovely for you that you get to teach them. Thank you for doing that work.

And thank you so much for your kinds words.?

Posted by: @coyote

You might be interested in this essay posted by John Feffer at Resilience.org

I'll definitely check both of these mentions out. Thanks, @coyote. 

I've been thinking a lot about the ways that extractive institutions (which epitomize capitalism as we know it) are already beginning to burst. Even in the most literal sense of the fossil fuel industry, which isn't looking great in the current economic climate. And which cannot survive the ecological crisis we face. 

In the face of resistance to change, the universe will always deliver an appropriate crisis. 

@coyote 

Very interesting article. Thank you for linking to it. 

@Vestralux Thanks for your take on the “All fall down” prediction. It does seem like there could be a link there. @Coyote Thanks for the interesting link! I saw an article in the NYT which questions whether the pandemic could fix some of the problems for workers in America and also refers to the Black Death and the effects that it had on labor at the time: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/upshot/coronavirus-future-work-america.html

Since I had a Melania prediction the other day, the following article about her in today’s WaPo caught my eye: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/melania-book-art-of-her-deal-prenup-white-house/2020/06/11/ce63ec02-abec-11ea-94d2-d7bc43b26bf9_story.html

Apparently, she used her extra time in NY at the beginning of T’s presidency to renegotiate her prenup. 

I did not think that I got much today when I meditated, but when I looked back at it decided it might be worth posting:

All during the summer timeframe:

We learn something shocking about Bill Barr.

I got again that L. Graham quits politics. Something embarrassing comes out about him and he can’t deal with it.

R. Mueller gives us some important information and briefly appears in public again.

I saw the WH. The sky was dark with some red at the edges. There appears to be a trash fire on the lawn. I didn’t see any crowds around this time outside the gates.

My thoughts on Black Plague and the fall of feudalism:

Yes - Ring Around a Rosie - always amazes me that a children's song has survived i.ntact for 700 years (although kids today really don't know it).

Yes - it certainly contributed to the societal changes that got ushered in with the Renaissance. There are, however, a few historians who see that how far feudalism fell depended largely on where you were if you were in the "Medieval 99%".

For example, it is believed that the rift in Italy between north and south (which continues to this day), had a lot to do with what the feudal lords - i.e. oligarchs - of the time did. In the north of Italy, the oligarchs incentivized workers because they acknowledged that in a smaller population, they needed to change in order for work to happen. They allowed them free rein to go where they could get work and to negotiate their salaries as they saw fit. This led to the rise of the trade guilds (what we'd call unions in modern terms). They allowed them to seek higher education. They gave the workers power to make their own choices. In contrast, the oligarchs in the south of Italy made laws that made it impossible for serfs to change jobs, to seek new jobs, to travel or move to another area (in particular they couldn't leave the south), forbade them from going to schools, and they retooled the old feudal systems of payments so that every serf was always indebted to someone in power.

Let's hope the changes that come are more like those of the Renaissance in northern Italy, and less like those of the south, or like what we see in modern Russia.

@laura-f

Excellent point and interesting to think about. No doubt that regressive strongholds will continue to exist in some places, just as they do in parts of the US today—or elsewhere in many places in the world.

Still, there's no disputing that the events of "The Great Mortality" (yikes) were a critical turning point and that feudalism had largely died out or been abolished in the Western world by the 17th and 18th centuries. That may seem like slow progress to our minds, but historically speaking, it's an eye-blink.

Beyond that, since the late Renaissance—and certainly since the Industrial Revolution—human progress has managed to speed up, exponentially so. Who knows what profound changes are possible now within a generation, or even a few short years, or how widespread they might grow. 

While walking my dog today, I was thinking about Mercury going retrograde on June 18th while also reflecting on T's cruelty and his tone deaf direction. I clear saw an anvil drop on his head.

I've been seeing his cruelty returning to him in the last few days. 

Posted by: @lawrence

While walking my dog today, I was thinking about Mercury going retrograde on June 18th while also reflecting on T's cruelty and his tone deaf direction. I clear saw an anvil drop on his head.

I've been seeing his cruelty returning to him in the last few days. 

Weird. I'd totally forgotten about my own anvil vision until reading yours, but back in January, I saw a golden anvil drop out of the sky in a similar fashion. Like a truth bomb. Found the post here. 

I had that vision in the week following the January 10th eclipse (not to mention the Pluto/Saturn conjunction of the 12th). And Lawrence, as you well know, Mercury stations retrograde this month only a few days before another powerful eclipse, which conjuncts the World Axis and coincides with the Summer Solstice (and half-a-dozen other celestial alignments). 

Bolton's supposed tell-all apparently hits shelves on the 23rd, and any minute now, SCOTUS should be handing down a ruling on the most elusive taxes since the first sheep was demanded of the first shepherd. All over the country, lifelong Republicans are announcing their full-throated departure from a party that's lost its mind, as well as their intentions to support Biden in November and—get this—every down ballot Democrat. And their posts are going viral.

T has dog whistled his unholy intentions to rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, one day post-retrograde. But wherever the man is standing, may the skies open up and rain down cast iron. 

Thanks @vestralux. 

That's an amazing vision alignment. He's about to receive a huge smack of karma. It will be very interesting to watch it unfold. 

Yesterday, while meditating, I saw Joe Biden climbing over a white fence and into a meadow of Goldenrod.  Beautiful sunshine, beautiful day, blue lightly clouded skies.  Goldenrod blooms in late summer and early fall.  He looked happy and satisfied as if he knew he had set the country on a course of healing and that it was time for him to go and allow the younger generation to continue the work.  (Amateur "visioner" here.)    

Hi @bluebelle Thanks for posting those predictions. Since about mid May, I have been seeing calm at the  White House in the summer. I have gotten that several times during meditations and even smelled freshly cut grass and heard quiet, peaceful noises at dawn or dusk there. I thought it might be because the current occupant was either out of commission or out of power. It seems that there will be a lull in the chaos or, if we are lucky, an end to it. 

HI @bluebelle, I'm really a novice at tarot but I decided to throw one card for each week in July (5 total weeks).  I threw the rider waite tarot:

1. King of Swords

2. Ten of Swords

3. The Hierophant

4. 7 of Pentacles

5. The Chariot

My own feelings on this tell me that Trump will be his usual self right up until July, but then he either gets sick or is stabbed in the back by someone who is part of his base. After a quiet period because of possible illness etc, he is busy then surveying all he has done for money, and money he still owes to those in the real power behind him, so he makes a re-appearance at the end of the month in the last week for one last stab at power.

I would love to know if you think you would interpret these cards similarly or what you feel about my interpretation. Thank you.

@baba @bluebelle 

Thanks for the delicious predictions and insights!  Very healing to read.

Ever since the last presidential election, I have seen (many times) that T would not finish out his term. Visually, I would look towards the end of the year and the WH was vacant. Everyone was gone.

Also indicates that the GOP will be hammered in the upcoming election. 

@triciact

"Sick or stabbed in the back"?

I immediately felt both. Karma has arrived. Tick tock.

@lawrence

I ? wish we had an "LOL" button not just a"like" button. Yep!