most people probably aren't happy today

Last year i wrote about the dark side of Valentines' Day, and i'm not likely to change my mind much about the unfortunate character of this "holiday."  I imagine that others who feel like i do have described their objections well enough, so anything i could write in that direction would be redundant.

One of my objections to the observation of St. Valentine's feast-day as a romantic celebration is ... the time of year!  It must be granted, the "church" which gave us the holiday in the first place has always been AGAINST earthly love, save as it might be a means of procreation = more church MEMBERS = more power = more income.  "The church" is scared to death of sex because it's such a powerful thing, and they've wrapped all sorts of myths around it, like "original sin."  Kiddies, "original sin" is your own bad karma you brought into this life with you, from the last -- it doesn't have a bloody damned thing to do with the fact that we all are "conceived in sin"!  The misogynist "saint" Paul and the raging pedophile Augustine are largely responsible for the ridiculously anti-feminine slant of Christianity and all its writings.

In the middle ages, this feast day (thought to be a cleaned-up version of Rome's Lupercalia) became associated with the convention of "courtly love."  If you're a history buff, you know that it was rare for anyone of wealth or importance to wed a person they were in love with -- marriages were mergers or alliances, and some really inappropriate matches have been made through the centuries with those "ideals" as a guide.  "Courtly love" was all about sleeping with somebody you actually WANTED, although it was dressed up in prettier finery than that.

But from an esoteric point of view, could one possibly choose a WORSE astrological signature for a holiday meant to celebrate affection, romance, and devotion?  I can't see it!  The sun is currently in Aquarius:  the "intellectual" sign; the 50-years-ahead-of-everyone-else sign; the cool-headed, reasonable, detached sign.  Piss-poor time for romance, to me!  And since the inner planets (Mercury=mental, Venus=hedonistic) signs can never be far from the sun, there's a darned good chance they'll never be in an auspicious sign, either.  This year, the moon (emotions) is in Aries (hot-headed, stubborn, selfish, rash), Mercury is in Pisces (a wild-card), Venus in Aquarius, Mars ("drive") is in Pisces also, and Jupiter (good fortune) in Gemini (duality).  Frankly, i don't think it looks good.

If we MUST have a holiday "for lovers" i would lobby for May as a much better time than February.  The first three weeks, the sun is in Taurus, the sign associated with hedonism (also fertility).  Or July, September or October, for various reasons.  Even March!  Give people a CHANCE to have something to celebrate!

[sigh]  Since we're stuck with what we've got, the least we can do is try to make sure our honeys know we CARE.  Be extra nice today, because most people need it!