“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
-Albert Einstein
Back when I was a kid there was a source of psychological trauma that kids generally don’t have today, and they should be thankful for that: the specter of nuclear war.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union had a large stockpile of weapons that could end human civilization as we know it, and on numerous occasions simple human error alone came close to unleashing it all. This happened a lot more often than you might think, and certainly more than we wanted to think about it at the time.
This week there is a Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio, and it is square the Nodes. On the upside, a Mars-Jupiter conjunction can be a fantastic time for cutting some weeds out of your life, and the involvement of the Nodes implies that those we have karmic connections to may well be involved. Sometimes that sort of thing is necessary, but let’s be honest: a Mars-Jupiter conjunction is usually better at “shooting first” than the whole “asking questions” thing.
So: let’s run down the safety check list before we engage the nuclear option (and how did nuclear ever get to be an option, anyway? It makes the matter sound like you gone into a restaurant and ordered a dish with your choice of french fries, salad, or radioactive inferno on the side), shall we?
1. HAVE YOU MISIDENTIFIED THE THREAT?
A surprising number of relationship problems arise because of one person’s subconscious assumptions about the other one. You’ve been treated badly before by a certain kind of person, so even a superficial resemblance to that certain kind of person can be triggering. Ideally, a relationship is one in which the parties involved reflect positively back on each other. Just make sure that smudge you’re seeing is on the mirror or on yourself.
2. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE LONG-TERM RAMIFICATIONS OF YOUR ACTIONS?
We all like to live in a world where forgive and forget was the primary operating principle. However, the reason why forgiving forget is such a cliche is that it is damned hard to live by. We keep telling ourselves forgive and forget not because it is obvious, but because it isn’t.
3. DID YOU ATTEMPT A LESS DRASTIC COURSE OF ACTION FIRST?
Having a big red button on your desk that can unleash hell on a single command kind of sounds like fun, doesn’t it? But is the impulse to push that thing and get it over with really worth what it will do to both you and the other person?
“How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have do from the very beginning? Sit down and talk!“
-Doctor Who
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