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wenellyb · 3 years

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hey! every now and then i've seen random posts about sebastian's comment/s on colin kap kneeling among other things, but i've never seen any source material or hard facts. do you have any posts about this or deconstruction of your own? i'd be very interested, ty!

Hey yourself😉!

So I've found the screenshot of the post (at the bottom) and just so you know he also posted an apolology but that one I couldn't find a screenshot of.

There are plenty of posts talking about this but I think most of them are old so it would take some time for me to find them.

If you want my opinion. The whole thing was f*cked up and I remember being extremely surprised and unfollowing him after that post.

And he did apologize, which is good and I do think he understands that that post was not great, but it wasn't my main issue.

When the whole story with Kaepernick happened it was a real eye opener and exposed a lot of racists even among celebrities. I'm looking at you Christopher Meloni. But not only him.

So Colin Kaepernick was to kneeling to protest against police violence and racism.

And a lot of people reacted like a lot of White people react when the topic of racism arise: deny everything and get defensive "How dare he protest blablabala" "He's so rich and he's saying White people are priviledged..." "How dare he say there is racism in this country". You know the usual.

But the thing is to me, the way he protested was the most respectful, and most peaceful way to protest and also so impactful. And some people had still a problem with it...I don't understand how ANYBODY could have a problem with it ... unless they were racist in one way or the other. That was the bar for me... I could not have respect ANYBODY who had a problem with him kneeling, because their message was clear “just sh*t up and play football”.

To me, anybody who had a problem with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee... was automatically problematic and the worst.

For other forms of protests there can always be arguments against it, lousy arguments, but arguements nevertheless: "They're blocking the streets" "There was violence during the protest",... etc... But what is your argument with having a man kneel during the National Anthem, to call out something as serious as police brutality.

To me it was clear that they just wanted Black Americans to shut up, and stay in their lane. "Sports have nothing to do with politics blablabla"

And unfortunately history proved Colin Kaepernick right, and I don't think anybody could voice bad opinions about him today, but at the time, a lot of people were criticizing him, calling him names, insulting him, and even some celebrities were talking about how disrespectful he was.

They cared more about the way he was voicing his protest, than the fact that racism was a real issue.

And because of the protests last year, I think a lot of people tend to forget about that time, but Kaepernick faced A LOT of backlash, A LOT and for what....??? Absolutely no justification. With the way some people reacted you would have thought he burned the American flag on a daily basis, or used it as toilet paper.

So having that in mind, it was really disheartening to see an actor you respect take part in that...

And just to be clear, this is my personal opinion, but I don't think Sebastian had any bad intention with that post (not like other celebrities who were outright criticizing Kaepernick, for some reason I only remember Chris Meloni lol). But the timing, and the content, even as a joke, even as a promotion tool for his movie was extremely bad. You also have to understand the context, and how there were a lot of people rooting against Kap.

Worst case scenerio Seb’s post was racist and best case scenario it was tone deaf.

I can only assume Sebastian watches the news in the US, so he must have known what the caption "take a knee" meant and still decided to post it... So maybe he wasn't ill-intentioned, but to him the topic was light enough that he could post it on his social media...

My main problem isn't even with Seb's post, it was a weird way to promote his movie, or a joke I don’t know. Artists do problematic stuff all the time, and it's up to the fans who support them to decide if they keep doing supporting him or not.

My main problem was and still is the reaction of the fandom, where White Seb stans think they know and understand racism better than anyone else. And honestly this is not me saying that Seb is racist, this is me saying that we should be allowed to voiced our opinions without being silenced or accused of trying to villainize him or cancel him blablabla .

But the Seb stans don't understand that and prefer to turn a blind eye.

I make difference between stans and fans. The Seb fans are the ones who are willing to listen, understand why some people might be offended and admit that their fav f*cked up. The stans are the annoying ones who yould rather keep their head in the sand.

And nobody is even asking to stop supporting Seb... If I cancel an actor, I will stop consuming his content, supporting him, paying to see his movies etc... But I'm not forcing anybody else to do it... But I would like to be free to voice my dislikes especially if that actor was being problematic... without the stans complaining about how "I don't know their fave"

I haven't cancelled Seb btw, I just don't feel like finding him excuses and glossing over the words and if I think that something he did was racist, I will say that it was racist, not "problematic" or "tactless" or "clumsy"...

I think that a lot of people are confused about what racism is, and think it is only White Supremacists who want to harm all non White people.

But it's not only that and in my opinion, there are many layers to racism. If you have "nothing against Blacl people" but there is a part of you that believes you or White people are better than Black people, well you are racist... If not hiw would you describe it? I have already told this story, but I have a friend who swore she wasn't racist and we even had a big debate about racism, and a few weeks later, her boyfriend told me that during a family dinner, she had talked about a common Black friend of theirs saying "She is pretty for a Black girl"... But if you ask my friend, she will say she isn't racist.

If you try to silence people calling out racism, you are contributing to it instead of fighting it.

Another example, I received a lot of "problematic" comments at work from coworkers on my hair, my origins etc, but when I talked about it to my friends and said those comments were racists.. they said that I was "overeacting" that those comments were harmless or just my colleagues being "ignorant". But one time, I was done with it and I wrote to HR about it losting all the comments I had received and the HR director called me and told me that those comments were racist full stop, he didn't try to minimize it or act like I was exagerrating.

And that's how I see the reactions of Seb stans whenever something from him re-sufaces, like my friends who just act like it is nothing.

Just so you know you are not helping when you do that.

They act as if we're suppoosed to accept that because "it's not that big of a deal". Who told you that? How do you determine what is a big deal or not? Especially when you have never dealt with racism?

Fandom behaves as if people who were hurt or offended by that post were overracting. "It was a joke" "It was a long time ago" "He would never do somthing racist"

How hard is it to say " I can see that my fave did something problematic, or that what he did was racist, and I would still like to support him but I understand that people were hirt"??? How hard is it to continue to stan your fave WITHOUT trying to silence people who call out the behavior.

And also the way they refuse to use the words is annoying... it's always "I'm sorry if anybody was offended", never "What I did/wrote was racist and I know better now". If no one wants to admit it when they do racist stuff... nobody will never get anywhere... Like my friend who is convinced that she isn't racist but goes around thinking that White Women are more beautiful than Black Women, and even says it when surrounded by her family.

And people act like the people who were hurt have no reason to be hurt because he apologized, but I hope those people realize that it doesn’t work that way. An apology is great of course, but it doesn’t take out the hurt, or the feeling that if he was comfortable enough sharing this on social media, what is he comfortable doing in the safety of his close circle?, or remove the idea that maybe an actor you adored, and respected doesn’t view Black people struggles as a serious matter.

I personally don't hate Seb, far from it. And the reason why I have so many posts about him, calling him out or not, is that he is one of the very few White actors I'm interested in. I don't know him personally, but I enjoy his interviews with Anthony and enjoy his movies. But I'm not about to act like he is perfect like some of his stan do and also I have absolutely no issue with people who have "cancelled" him because of his past behavior, because I understand them and it's their choice, it's what works best for them... I don't want to force them to root for someone who maybe wouldn't root for us.

Last point, that I won't elaborate because I have already written way to much. There's a difference between people actively trying to be racist, and people who are racist and maybe don't realize it, or people who have prejudice but are working on it...

I hate it when White people act like the worst thing in the world is being accused of racism when the actual worst thing in the world is being racist. Because it shifts the conversation from... "Oh how can I improve myself and stop this racist thing I'm doing, or how can I work on this prejudice I have?" to "How dare you call me racist!!! I would never" all the while they continue doing the racist thing they do.

TL:DR: His Instagram post was f*cked up, and he apologized. And it's up to each person to decide if they still want to support him or not, but it would be great if thise who still support him stopped pretending that those whose don't are overreacting or had no reason of being offended.

#sebastian stan #asks #anti christopher meloni #I wrote too much ... I'll finish later lol #long post #I need to stop making long posts #at some point #I just have to stop wrtining #Also a lot of people think that I hate Seb because I call him out a lot.... But he's actually one of the few White actors I consider....#All of the other ones mean literally nothing to me #.... They don't even exist outside of the movies they play in

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phroyd · 6 years

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Sean Sullivan, Seung Min Kim and John Wagner September 22 at 12:33 AM

President Trump cast doubt Friday on the credibility of the woman who has accused Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, escalating tensions over the Supreme Court nomination, as Senate negotiations over whether she will tell her story at a public hearing slipped into the weekend.

By attacking California professor Christine Blasey Ford, Trump abandoned the self-restraint he had showed for days and pushed Kavanaugh’s nomination deeper into turmoil. Democrats, key Republican senators and advocates for victims of sexual assault swiftly rebuked the president.

Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) gave Ford one more day to respond to his offer for her and Kavanaugh to testify before his panel on Wednesday, capping an extraordinary late-night back-and-forth.

“Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate,” Grassley tweeted. An aide confirmed that he was granting her request for more time.

Before that tweet, Debra Katz, an attorney for Ford, said committee Republicans’ arbitrary deadlines and ultimatums had created stress and anxiety for her client, who met with the FBI on Friday about the death threats she had received.

“Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate,” Katz wrote in an email to Grassley aides.

Earlier in the day, Grassley had warned that he would move ahead with plans for his committee to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Monday if his offer of a Wednesday hearing was rejected or ignored.

The developments added new turbulence to a nomination that Republicans have sought to steady in their public comments. “In the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told conservative activists Friday.

Plenty of uncertainty loomed over the nominee, who could shift the court further right for a generation — and whether Trump’s broadside would influence on-the-fence Republican senators with the power to torpedo Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents,” Trump said in a Friday tweet, his first to mention Kavanaugh’s accuser by name.

Ford said in an interview with The Washington Post published Sunday that she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband. By Friday afternoon, the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport was trending on Twitter, with thousands of people coming forward to explain their hesitation to contact authorities.

Are Republicans judging Kavanaugh’s accuser before she’s spoken?

Also on Friday, Trump tweeted: “Let her testify, or not, and TAKE THE VOTE!”

“He was born for the U.S Supreme Court. He was born for it. And it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen,” Trump said at a rally in Missouri on Friday night.

In a departure from his usual instincts to go on the attack, Trump had remained relatively restrained in his public remarks about Ford’s accusation. Until Friday, the president mostly defended Kavanaugh’s character while stressing that Ford should be allowed to be heard.

His latest comments triggered a widespread backlash from Democratic lawmakers and a few moderate Republican senators who have not declared whether they will support Kavanaugh. Republicans hold a slim 51-to-49 advantage in the Senate.

“I was appalled by the president’s tweet,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “First of all, we know that allegations of sexual assault — I’m not saying that’s what happened in this case — but we know allegations of sexual assault are one of the most unreported crimes that exist. So I thought that the president’s tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong.” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) sounded a similar note, saying, “I thought that was incredibly insensitive.”

Democrats were even more critical. Sen. Maggie Hassan (N.H.)tweeted: “The President’s comments are one of the reasons why it is so hard for survivors of sexual assault [to] come forward.”

Ford met with the FBI on Friday afternoon as part of its investigation of death threats she has received since agreeing to go public with her allegations, according to Katz. Accordingly, Katz told Grassley’s aides in her email, “we would need until tomorrow to confer with her and to be able to provide you with a well-considered response.”

Amid the firestorm over Trump’s tweet, McConnell predicted Kavanaugh would soon be confirmed, calling him a “stunningly successful individual.”

“You’ve watched the fight. You’ve watched the tactics,” McConnell said during remarks at the Values Voter Summit, an annual gathering of social conservatives, in Washington. “Here’s what I want to tell you: In the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court.”

Negotiations between Senate Republicans and Ford’s lawyers dragged into Friday evening and centered on whether Ford would testify and under what conditions.

In a note from Grassley’s staff to Ford’s lawyers, the Republicans said they were willing to accommodate several of the professor’s requests for testifying before the committee. Those included ensuring that she had proper security and breaks during her testimony, that all senators get equal time to speak, that press access be limited, and that just one camera be allowed in the room. She also asked that Kavanaugh not be present as she speaks.

But Republicans made clear they would not agree to some of her other requests. Among those were that Kavanaugh testify first and that the committee subpoena Mark Judge — a Kavanaugh friend who Ford says was present during the alleged incident — and call other potential witnesses to the hearing. The Republicans also offered a Wednesday hearing, rather than Thursday as Ford had asked for, and they wanted to reserve the option of having female staff attorneys on the committee do the questioning.

The Senate Judiciary Committee sent its counterproposal to Ford’s attorneys Friday afternoon.

“We want to hear Dr. Ford’s testimony and are prepared to accommodate many of your demands, including further delaying a hearing that is currently scheduled for Monday,” Grassley said. “We are unwilling to accommodate your unreasonable demands. Outside counsel may not dictate the terms under which committee business will be conducted.”

Democrats protested the deadlines imposed by Grassley, saying they were tantamount to bullying. And Katz said she emailed his aides about Ford’s FBI meeting at 4:01 p.m. and heard back at 5:47 p.m., “insisting that we accept your ‘invitation’ for a Wednesday hearing by 10:00 p.m. tonight.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that she was “shocked and appalled by the Republicans’ refusal to wait 24 hours for a hearing and instead rush forward with a vote.”

Some Republican senators also feel strongly that an outside counsel should handle the questioning, one GOP official said — although Ford does not want outside lawyers brought in because it would make her less comfortable, according to her attorneys.

Over the span of three hours Friday, Trump tweeted several times about Ford and Kavanaugh from Las Vegas, where he held a political rally Thursday night and did a couple of events Friday.

In one tweet, he contended that Kavanaugh is under assault by “radical left wing politicians” who are not interested in the truth about the allegation but instead “just want to destroy and delay.”

The president also took aim at “radical left lawyers” who he said are seeking to get the FBI to investigate Ford’s allegations, saying: “Why didn’t someone call the FBI 36 years ago?”

Katz and Democratic senators have called for the FBI to reopen its background-check investigation of Kavanaugh. The FBI has said it has no plans to do so unless the White House asks for such an investigation. A Justice Department spokesman said earlier this week that Ford’s allegation “does not involve any potential federal crime.”

Ford told The Post in the interview published Sunday that Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her to a bed, groped her and put his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams at a house party in the early 1980s. The alleged incident occurred while both were students at separate schools in Maryland. Kavanaugh has firmly denied the accusation.

Ford said she told no one at the time what had happened to her. She was terrified, she said, that she would be in trouble if her parents realized she had been at a party where teenagers were drinking, and she worried they might figure it out even if she did not tell them.

A 2015 Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey of current and recent college students found that 88 percent of women who experienced unwanted sexual contact did not tell police or university authorities about the incidents. The result was the same among women who reported sexual assault by force or threat, as well as those who were incapacitated and unable to give consent.

About six dozen women appeared at a news conference in Washington on Friday morning to show support for Kavanaugh. Standing under a banner with the hashtag #IStandWithBrett in pink lettering, several of them spoke about their interactions with him over the years and vouched for his character.

One of the women, Meghan McCaleb, said she was a close friend of Kavanaugh in high school and also knew Ford, but “not well. She was friends of friends.” McCaleb said that she never recalled being at a party with Ford and that she “hung with a different crew than we hung with.”

Ford also received some backup. Samantha Guerry, her friend and former classmate, expressed exasperation at Trump’s question about why she didn’t report the alleged incident to the FBI years ago, which he also posed a day earlier in an interview with Fox News.

“The idea that someone would have told the FBI 36 years ago is ludicrous,” she said in an interview with CNN, noting that many women who are assaulted “are extremely unlikely to tell anyone.”

Emma Brown, Scott Clement, Carol Leonnig and David Weigel and contributed to this report.

Phroyd

#kavanaugh #blasey ford #grassley

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destimonde · 7 years

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A [maybe not so] quick word on 13 Reasons Why

Okay. *takes deep breath, cracks knuckles* I generally don’t like drafting entire discourses about anything for the internet, particularly in this reigning era of online misinformation. However, I’ve been seeing a lot of strange backlash against the Netflix adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why, and it’s struck a nerve, so here I am. (Also, saying this stuff on tumblr feels safer somehow than replying directly to comments on Facebook. I’m not necessarily asking you to agree with me, I’m just asking you to hear me out.)

Before I get to the nitty-gritty, a disclaimer: I first read Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why my freshman year of high school and loved it. I thought it described the ethos and pathos of teenagers pretty accurately, and the idea was so original and thought-provoking to me at the time. I’ll admit I might view this story with rose-tinted glasses, but even so, I think the criticism against the show has been exceptionally harsh.

From what I’ve seen, 13 Reasons Why audiences have strong issues with Hannah - the girl who commits suicide before the start of the story, for those who don’t know. They argue that she is petty (for a myriad of reasons ranging from flirting too much/not telling protagonist Clay that she likes him, to making these tapes at all since they “blame” seemingly innocent kids), that she didn’t stand up for herself or take responsibility for her actions, and that she is utterly selfish in taking her own life without thinking about how that would affect her peers (I’ll let you chew on the irony of that for a moment). I’ve seen arguments that rail against Hannah for putting herself into difficult situations, for disobeying her parents, for never openly talking to anyone about how she was feeling... you get the idea. Of course, some of these accusations are true. There are many moments Hannah narrates in which she does not take responsibility when it would have been important for her to do so. She does break curfew rules and makes some questionable decisions. The issue here isn’t whether or not Hannah has done these things; it’s the rhetoric of “she did a bad thing/she flirted too much/she made a selfish decision, so she’s an inherently bad person and deserves what she gets” that terrifies me. Instead of opening dialogue about the issues raised in the episodes, instead of discussing what Hannah could or should have done as a learning opportunity, naysayers are focusing on minor character flaws and difficult situations as proof of the show’s ineptitude. In doing so, the criticism is proving, at least to me, that (just like nearly every other social issue) there is still so much bias and misinformation about mental health, particularly in young adults.

I may be alone in this, but watching the show put me right back in the head-space of my teenage self. There are plenty of things the Netflix series gets wrong: heightened drama, intense focus on the supporting characters rather than their tapes or Hannah’s story, and some unnecessary parental conflict, to name a few. But one thing I think the show succeeds at is relaying the emotional experience of being a teenager in high school, and particularly what it feels like to think that you are utterly, completely ostracized in an environment which forces you to face the same people day in and day out for several years.

At least, that was my experience in high school. Like Hannah, I felt inexplicably alone and unable to reach out to anyone. By my junior year, I had probably as many rumors and unwanted sexual attention circulating around me, even though I went straight home after school or rehearsals. (I never got invited to any parties, nor did I ever sneak out of my house, so I hope that at least shows you can be a “good kid” and still have these kinds of things happen to you). The heckling and whispers and rumors wore me down. I was already a melancholic kid, so it was all too easy for me to sink into a deep depression. Also like Hannah, I had a few close friends, but no one who was really willing to stick up for me - one of my best friends at the time openly chose to believe a rumor over what I was telling her. In fact, I tried in vain to tell as many people the truth as I could, and it didn’t help in the slightest. You can imagine that made it even harder for me to reach out. Before long, I genuinely believed that I didn’t matter, that if I suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth, no one would bat an eyelash. That made it easier for me to sink even deeper into myself, to avoid sharing how I truly felt. And for those who have not experienced this kind of intense depression during your teen years, you may not know that this way of thinking opens your psyche up to making all kinds of stupid decisions. What does it matter if you start to sneak away with boys in their cars, when you’re not worth anything anyway? How can math be that important when it pales in comparison to the sheer concentration it takes to ignore the people sneering behind your back?

Hannah’s story is definitely much harsher than mine, but the feelings still feel very similar. Luckily, I understood the consequences of suicide, and could never imagine myself actually going through with something like that. It has taken me several years and a lot of mental effort just to dig myself out from that trench, and still I’m haunted by that time of my life when I think back on it. I think I have Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why to thank, actually. The book ultimately demonstrates that even the little things can affect great change in a person’s life. Empathy is a skill most teenagers don’t have just yet, but the novel begins to open that dialogue. I also think that it opened discussion generally about mental health and suicide for young adults in a direct, creative way, ultimately showing adolescent readers the tragedy up-close by having Hannah co-narrate with Clay. If I had not read Hannah’s story and seen myself in her, and if I had not had Clay’s reactions to it (clearly she was not just a blip in people’s lives) immediately following it, it would have been hard for me to grapple with such a daunting topic at that age.

As for the show, I think it’s important to remember that it’s attempting to do the same work. It makes sense for the show, technically, to focus more on the cast of characters; but perhaps this is why I’ve seen so many arguments against Hannah and for the people on her tapes. The tapes, remember, are simply an engaging way to describe all of the “harmless” backstory leading up to Hannah’s final decision. This is where it’s important to recognize that the tapes are a device, not a “revenge fantasy”. And, by the way, Hannah never outwardly blames anyone on her tapes for her death. Her suicide is her decision. But she tells her side of the story in the only way she feels she can, and her story is just as valid as any of the other students’. What they do with that information, what decisions they make after receiving the tapes, are ultimately up to them. The guilt that they do or don’t feel doesn’t come from Hannah’s “petty” suicide note - it comes from the characters’ conscience. It serves as an example for viewers of how not to treat others, even if they think what they’re doing is harmless. In the case of the school counselor, it’s an example of how those in authoritative positions can sometimes also make mistakes, and proves that institutions need to change outdated or comfortable policies for people, particularly young girls, looking to them for help.

Am I saying that Hannah is completely free of blame for her misdeeds? Of course not. Is it out of the realm of possibility that she witness something like sexual assault or a car accident and yet do nothing about it? Of course not. That’s the point, I think, of these moments in the plot. In reality, most people make these kinds of mistakes every day. It’s a dangerous mindset to say that Hannah deserved to die young because she was a fallible teenage girl with a lot left to learn about the world and herself. To the argument that the show (and book) promotes and glorifies suicide, I disagree; the book focused on Hannah’s story leading up to her death, shining a light on how teenagers treat each other. The show instead chooses to depict some of the scenes in an incredibly visceral way. But it’s all in order to ultimately point to the incredibly tragic and terrifying realities of suicide. I won’t even get into the backlash against her flirting or putting herself into “dangerous positions” - there is so much anti-feminist rhetoric and rape culture that need to be sifted through on that one.

What I’m getting at is that although Hannah is a flawed character, that in no way makes her an evil person deserving of death. Criticizing her for keeping silent about her struggle and yet typing #goodriddance at the end of your rant has a real-life consequence. How can you expect people suffering from depression or suicidal thoughts to open up when the prevailing rhetoric tells them they are villains for feeling how they do, or because they are making mistakes, or because they can’t connect to the people around them? 13 Reasons Why is a highly dramatic form of visual storytelling for a real-life problem. If you can’t empathize with your adolescent self, at least recognize that your anger towards a fictional character won’t solve anything; it might actually hurt someone in a very real way, and perpetuate false stereotypes and ideologies of mental health.

#13 reasons why #Thirteen Reasons Why

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hereticaloracles · 7 years

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New Moon in Aries- Crossfire

“Nothing is given to man on earth – struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible – the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.” – Andrew Bernstein

Effective Date: March 27, 2017

Helios’ Astrological Angle on the New Moon in Aries– FINALLY! We are in Aries season and I couldn’t be more ready for it. Jesus, this is not easy astro though…. This Moon will be like we are walking on a bed of hot coals, and if we get burned we die. Of course, people firewalk all the time… the key to it is to focus on the destination, and ignore the pain you are feeling. You have to shut it out, and you have to step very quickly- not let your foot touch the coals too long. Step confidently and briskly, and you will feel no pain. Of course, the coals in this case is a plethora of underworld gods and goddesses, all waiting for you to miss your step so that they can drag you down into their depths. They will throw up all kinds of fear illusions to try and trip you up, but they cannot sweep your leg and do it themselves.

Artemis’ Tarot Take on the New Moon in Aries- Good lord, this is like an epic fantasy battle, Heretics, full of wands and swords, two kings and an Emperor with a Tower looming overhead. And those are just the tarot cards! A new Astrological year has begun, and with it we are receiving our next mission – right smack dab in the middle of a fire fight. Will you remain calm enough to fight your way through, or will you be sniped as you are fearfully taking cover?

The Sun, Moon and Venus– This Moon, and Aries season in general, is a challenge to you. You must focus your mind on the business at hand, ignoring all other illusory concerns. You cannot keep half-assing things like you have been since Sagittarius season. Just “trying your hardest” isn’t good enough anymore, regardless of the struggle going on within you- News flash, no one else cares about your internal turmoil, at least not until it affects them as well. View this past winter as a long training session: You have been training under critical condition, with the astro pushing you to what you perceived as your absolute limits, potentially putting you face to even your own death. Under those conditions, with the clarity of the knife’s edge, we are revealed; Both our strengths and our limitations. What you must come to terms with is that the reward you seek must be earned, and no- You have not already earned it yet. Your past works are not enough to earn you future rewards, so you have to stop resting on your laurels. You’re out of cosmic credit, as it were. Its time you bit the bullet and started caring about something with all of your heart and energy, but you can’t care about it fully if you’re always holding yourself back because you’re afraid of it not working out in the end. Concentrate on what is important to you and commit to it all the way; wear it like armor. Let it be the reason you take a breath or get out of bed in the morning. You have come so far, and it is not time to quit now.

This Aries season demands that you have a core of solid steel, but with Venus here the core needs to be wrapped in a soft and beautiful skin- you have to balance strength and softness. Fear is your enemy here, and that must be overcome. The best way to do that? Refuse to take it seriously! Laugh at your fears when they come up, even if it rings hollow- what your fear fears most of all is to be impotent and inconsequential to you. The fears you will be confronted with are phantoms, nothing more. These will be things that you have already faced, and whether you beat them last time or not, you know how to beat them now. What was once a level boss is now just a common monster, and you can take them in your sleep; because in keeping with video game logic, you have grown stronger- You leveled up, and they stayed the same. Swing your sword and conquer your fears for good. (Minor Planets used: Orcus, Makemake, Huya, Logos, Persephone, Hekate, Orius, Crantor, Hylonome, Eurydike, Hybris, Achilles, Panacea, Elatus, Black Moon Lilith, Nodes of the Moon)

The Sun (Emperor), Moon (4 of Wands), Venus (3 of Swords)- This is major severance right here, Heretics, and it is major severance for your own good. Venus, the moon, and the Sun will be conjunction after Venus has paid a visit to Uranus/Eris and moved backwards (meaning she will visit them again when she goes direct). She is about to retreat into Pisces again, meaning all of the worst parts of the Venus Rx are only about to begin. She goes Cazimi on the day of this New Moon, seated at the highest point of her power before she becomes the Morning Star (aka Lucifer Venus). We hope you listened to our warning and did what was necessary during the first few, easy weeks of this retrograde. The Venus in Aries energy at least let us be angry. It at least fueled us and made us make decisions that were necessary, and it gave us the bravery we needed to kill our darlings. Now that Venus is hovering only a handful of degrees from Pisces (3 degrees at the start of this new moon), you will feel the emotional backlash of the retrograde. She is dragging us back into the emotional state we were in back in Venus in Pisces season (meaning, finding the faith through the darkness), and she is going to be far more ruthless this time. This is the part of the Venus Rx that will offer us the temptations, and it is our job to choose truth no matter how painful it is (3 of Swords). Because, Heretics, what you are being offered are tests – illusions to see if you are capable of making instinctual decisions. Mirages to see if you truly realize what your life mission is. The light gods will not offer you power if they do not see you fit to wield it, and the dark gods will offer it to you just so that you learn your lesson from the pain of miss-wielding it. If you let yourself fall prey to going back to the way things were, you will suffer tremendously. This will bring you to a state where you have lost faith in yourself. You will realize you do not have the strength to overcome your own negative cycles, and you will make the choice to go back to them with open arms instead of living in the difficult present.

It’s like the Matrix when Cypher chooses to go back into the simulated reality because he doesn’t have to suffer anymore there – tempted by good food, sex, and ease. Life is good and predictable there and he isn’t forced to be a hero. This combination of planets is demanding you finally make a stand, Heretics, no matter how rough the road ahead of you may be. It wants you to make the inverse decision that Cypher did. It wants you to be tempted with all of the wonderful things, but you still make the choice to take the high road – to be the hero. You know what the right decisions are, and Aries doesn’t lie to you about the bravery necessary to move ahead. The challenges will always get harder, but you will grow stronger because of them. The moon reminds you to celebrate regardless of how painful this process has been (4 of Wands). You have completed a cycle, and you must not back down now. This is the part in the story where you come back and take charge. The 4 of Wands is also known as the little universe card, showing you that a great cycle has now come to a close. This Aries New Moon is the official closure of 2016’s cleansing by fire energy, and the intense shadow work that accompanied us since Scorpio season. What are the lessons you have learned about yourself – about your weaknesses and where you find strength? It’s time to channel those things. This is no time to rest, or you’ll be destroyed by the pressure of what’s ahead. You must let the past go, because this is the portal to the new astrological year and we have plenty coming that will need your full attention. This moon demands you to be present and to celebrate your accomplishments through the harshness of 2016 and early 2017. With Venus so intimately involved with this new moon, we are in for a fight over the things we value the most in our lives. Are you willing to fight for what you love, Heretics? For what makes you truly who you are? Or will you give up on your love – for yourself and for your deepest desires – and settle into a life of comfort and complacency?

Mercury, Saturn and Uranus– Get ready for high-speed processing of whatever old issues you still refuse to get rid of, for some insane reason. Maybe clinging to your pain makes you feel like you are paying your dues, or something, I honestly don’t know. Whatever the reasoning, Chiron is going to make sure that you get this handled NOW. It will feel as though you are being assaulted from all sides on this, but all you need to do to make it stop is just drop what you are trying to cling to, what has had its time pass. Let it go and it ends. You need to see the new path you have ahead of you, but you cannot go down it until you get off of the old one. You’ve already decided that one doesn’t head to where you want to go, so why are you fighting so hard for it? Force of habit? Run of the mill bloody-mindedness? Whatever the reason, you will get woke to it real quick with this Moon. There is a lot of adjustment to be done, so the actual cathartic moment will be swift and merciless and you will be expected to roll with these punches. Get into the new way forward, and save yourself a lot of pain. Keep pace or get left in the dust. (Minor Planets used: Pallas Athene, Ixion, Eris, Sedna, Rhadamanthus, Haumea, Chiron, Echeclus, Thereus, Rhiphonos, Damocles, Asclepius, Askalaphus, Kassandra, Itokawa, Nemesis)

Mercury (6 of Wands), Saturn (King of Swords), Uranus (7 of Swords), Chiron (Death)- Damn, ok guys! You need to be the motivator even though things may be hard as fuuuuuck all right now. You need to truly motivate yourself, tell yourself that you are fucking important, and get on with it already. Chiron (Death card) wants to finally drop some petty pain that has been holding you back from accomplishing what you truly want. All things die eventually, Heretics, and this definitely includes your pain from the past. You have been walking around with an open wound in your chest, and it’s time to let the sinew mold around your wound – creating a stronger and more durable structure. You have been through hell and back, and now it’s time for you to realize that, fuck, you are still standing (Mercury as the 6 of Wands). You have made it this far. All victories are temporary, and so are all defeats. You have clawed your way up the mountain, starved, almost lost all hope, but you are standing here now – at the Spring Equinox. If you give up now, everything – all that pain you have gone through – will be for nothing. This is the place where the magic happens, so don’t pass up this Aries energy. It wants to breathe life into you, but it cannot do that if you do not choose action and forward motion. Ride the wave, Heretics. Don’t let people bring you down when you know what you have accomplished -what you have sacrificed to get to where you are. Don’t let their dead weight carry you down. If they were worth the ilk, they wouldn’t be in the shit situations they are in. They would be at peace and in harmony with their environment. The very fact that they are lashing out at you and your accomplishments is because they are in a tremendous amount of pain about their own failures. Don’t let other people’s hate for themselves bring down your love for yourself.

Saturn is breathing down our necks to forge something useful (King of Swords). He wants you to take all of the mental bullshit you have mulled through, beaten yourself up with, and assessed like crazy and fucking deploy it. The Kings of the Tarot allow energy to be released, and he is telling you it is time to take up your sword and act. A ruler doesn’t have the chance to go hide in their room when their people are in trouble. Think of your life like your kingdom, and Saturn is demanding that you address the hoards at the door. It is time to kill the child and let the adult be born. Life is messy and hard and painful, but you will not receive the blissful, elating, ecstasy aspects unless you are willing to fight the bloody monsters. Then there is Uranus, and he wants to let you know that all the secrets are coming out (7 of Swords). If you think you can get away with taking advantage of someone, this will be the time all of that bullshit comes out. There are many energies in the micro and the macro who believe they can win out with brute strength and secrecy, but Uranus (accompanied by Eris) wants to tell them that their plans will be subverted for sure. Not very many secrets will survive the Venus Rx, and they surely wont survive the plethora of planets (including the sun) that will be illuminated with Uranus’ revolutionary light. People are getting angrier and angrier about their mistreatment. Change is knocking on our door, and change wants to tell us that the old order is about to crumble like a Jenga tower. Secrets come out sooner or later, no matter who you are. Even state secrets. Keep vigilant.

Mars and Neptune– Doooooooom. That is what you fear, anyway. Some sort of vague and undefined sense of dread is permeating your subconscious, and with it your actions. You cannot hesitate just because you cannot see how it is all going to play out- C’mon, you’re so much better than that! Doing anything in this life carries some amount of risk, and you need to have faith that taking that chance will pay off. If you don’t then, you just end up stuck in the same place forever, paralyzed by fear. You need to be willing to lose it all to play the game, but if you accept that, then you can win. Until you are willing to chance it, you will feel stuck, going through the everyday motions and your soul will die a little more each day. Take that chance, do the thing that scares you the most, and watch the magic happen. (Minor Planets used: Juno, Teharonhiawako, Chariklo, Okyrhoe, Astraea, Sisyphus)

Mars (King of Wands) and Neptune (Ace of Wands)- So we have a Mars in Taurus that has already had a fire lit under his ass. You have finally been pushed to the point where you have no choice but to act. That’s perfect, because a Taurus in motion is a Taurus you can work with. We are not only being called by Saturn to put your philosophizing to work – make it practical and usable in this world and in your life. We are also being called by Mars to channel our physical and sexual energy into creative pursuits. This is “motivate the troops and fight in the trenches” sort of energy (King of Wands). You can’t command your life from a high tower, you must immerse yourself in it and feel the grittiness of your every day. Hermit season is over, Heretics, and now we must put into action all of those creative ideas that have been incubating through the winter. You will have all the energy that is necessary, the only thing you have to do is focus is. Once Mars in Taurus is focused on a goal, it is relentless.

Neptune is helping with the cause (Ace of Wands). The divine are the match stick here, and the redemption of the last new moon in Virgo should still be burning in your gut. Neptune wants you to be motivated to do the most important things right now – the “real work.” The work that the gods put your soul on this earth to accomplish. We all play our part in the grand plan, so what is this “real work” for you? Well, Heretics, you will finally be getting that breath of fire air needed to set out on your mission. It wont be hard, but there is real redemption on the other side. If you can keep yourself zoned in on your mission, fighting off all the bullshit that slows you down and keeps that Mars in Taurus from it’s runaway train energy, you will truly come to recognize what great power you possess. Don’t let them lie to you and tell you that you are weak. There is a universe of strength inside of you – just look at all of the things you have already fought and survived from.

Jupiter and Pluto– Here is where it gets tricky. Yes, both Jupiter and Pluto both want to win, whatever contest they think they are in the running for while the rest of us are not playing anymore, but it matters how they win. You’ll notice that I’ve been talking about ethics quite a bit lately, and these two are a big part of that. The signs they are in, Libra and Capricorn, are both very concerned with The Rules and How Things Should Be Done, and their transits exemplify that- especially now that they are squaring off against each other. On one hand, there is a call to be at your absolute best at all times, and follow the rules to the letter (while letting others do your dirty work for you), sacrificing your maximum gain so that everyone is taken care of; on the other hand you have a palpable desire to ensure that your needs are met above all else, and that your survival is tantamount. There really isn’t much middle ground between the two at the moment, the call is for polarization one way or the other. You must make a choice, and take a stand for yourself, as your honor demands. (Minor Planets used: Vesta, Chaos, Sila-Nunam, Varda, Circe, Toro, Orpheus, Siwa, Tantalus)

Jupiter (The Tower) and Pluto (1o of Swords)- Love will break the chains. You must find that deep, resounding love for yourself and let the mental cage you have surrounded yourself with fall. Pluto wants you to transform even through the pain (1o of Swords). He is telling you that you have come to the end of a mental cycle, and that if you stay where you are you will only suffer. But if you choose to move forward, you will be blessed with a grand mental awakening. You must become like a phoenix, burning your body and life in the process. To become a hero, you must leave behind all of your attachments to old ideas about yourself. You can’t get where you need to go by just traveling there in your mind, Heretics. It is Aries season, you must involve your spirit to be the vehicle. You must emerge from the cocoon and spread your wings – becoming something unrecognizable. It was scary going from childhood to adulthood, knowing the demands that were waiting for you. Life is a series of these emergence, and you will only be laughing at how silly your fear was once you have made the jump. It is a natural law of the universe to continue to emerge, so fighting it will only bring you despair. You will realize that all of the things holding you back from your expansion were mere illusions. You cannot survive off of illusions. Mirage water will not keep you alive. If you do not move out and expand, your spirit does die because you become out of sync with the universal rhythm. (The Tower)

New Moon in Aries- Crossfire was originally published on Heretical Oracles

#aries new moon #aries season #become the hero #close of a cycle #fight fight fight #strength #the emperor #astrology #tarot #asteroid astrology #fuckstrology #bruja #brujeria

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