March 2007 features an exact opposition between Saturn and Neptune. The Iraq war soldiers on, government corruption and abuses of power fill the news and presidential candidates are selling new visions of the future. There is a collective sense of disillusionment -- the purpose of this interchange is to ground (Saturn) the next wave of spiritual promise (Neptune).

Astrologer Jessica Murray published Soul-Sick Nation in late 2006, just after the first exact pass of the Saturn-Neptune opposition. True to the spirit of these times, it pronounces America to be lacking in spiritual nourishment. It uses America's birth chart to paint a sobering picture (Saturn) of how we have made money, power and materialism our false-gods (Neptune)--all with a cocksure attitude. Murray explores all of our goodies including: media, collective attitudes and justifications, even our democratic ideals. The portrait she paints of America is of a stubborn adolescent, preoccupied with insecurities, needing to prove itself, and brandishing all types of power ploys to feel confident.

Many have criticized America for these very reasons. However (to my knowledge) no one has used astrology so adeptly as a piercing laser to provide a backdrop, and historical rationale, to our collective psychology. Murray also provides expert insight into upcoming astrological events with clarity and candor. Although she doesn't shy away from being blunt (and often delightfully irreverent) about our national condition, the intention is to raise public consciousness to do something about it. With exceptional writing, this book is an absolute MUST for anyone concerned about the state of America's soul.

An excerpt from the closing remarks of Soul-Sick Nation captures the spirit of the work--and also brilliantly conveys the Saturn-Neptune interchange. "Once inspired by curiosity and responsibility, we may start to muse about our membership in humanity as a whole--a massive whole of blessed and afflicted, creative, inter-related beings--a whole of which we are an indispensable member. We may start to think about the human race as if it were a single teeming organism, damaged as well as blessed, going through a dark night of the soul. We may start to see not just the USA but the modern Western mind itself, with its machines and weapons and power games, as having grown distorted to the point of insane. We may find ourselves joining the millions of thinkers from many different worldviews who have proposed that we give up on the dominance/submission gambit, the paradigm that has prevailed for the last five thousand years or so, and to look to a new (and very old) one: that of cosmic connectedness." For more visit www.mothersky.com