Obsidian Quindecennial

Yesterday Neptune crossed the threshold into Aries. This transit last occurred was 1861-1875. This was an age of great power consolidation and strong resistance. It was a span of years that witnessed not only the American Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery in the united states, but also the decade where the Maori resistance to British occupation intensified, national power was consolidated in Germany and Italy, Tsar Alexander II abolished serfdom, and Canada became a dominion. 

On a personal level, the 1860’s was the decade my Great-Great Grandmother Susan Martha Ross was born. I was given her name, Ross, when I was born. She would eventually be disowned by her southern family for marrying a unionist, and later inherited by her sisters who stole the family silver and returned it to her. 

I am thinking of obsidian as a material metaphor to use for this transit. Obsidian forms when lava cools rapidly and does not have the chance to form crystals. Whatever lies ahead for us collectively, we might do well to look back collectively and personally and ask where we want to be when the dust settles after this quindecennial. Maybe history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, and if it’s rhyming at all with the 1860’s there will be many hard decisions ahead. Like lava, we might not have a lot of time to reflect on them before sides solidify.