Cognitive Warfare meets Mass Hypnosis in the Battle for Your Brain
We are entering the exactness of the Lunar Eclipse in Taurus on November 19th. A Lunar Eclipse is like a Full Moon on steroids – and Full Moons bring things to a climax; they reveal what has been hidden, as we reach a ‘make or break’ moment. And this Taurus Moon, sitting with the fixed star Caput Algol, needs to discover the secrets, the lies and the corruption that are deeply buried. The chart set for London has Sagittarius rising – looking at the world from the bigger picture – and has Sun, Mercury, Mars in Scorpio in the 12th sign – the unconscious, what is hidden in the Underworld, politics, hidden enemies. But this chart is very ‘fixed’ in its nature - we are up against stubbornness, ingrained ideologies, inflexibility and intransigence. So, despite being in a highly volatile period with disruptive and possibly shocking events occurring, we are likely to be ‘stuck in the mud’. Mercury has opposed Uranus, increasing the potential for revelations of an explosive nature and now Mars opposes Uranus, with both squaring Saturn. Fireworks time, but we may not be able to hear or see them as they explode underground. Even so it’s time to make your mind up how you want life to be – not much more dithering around time left.
Astrology highlights the archetypal energies at work. The Sun is our Soul, our ego in this life, but he is also the King, he who rules. Mars is action, warfare, whilst Mercury, who is sandwiched between these two guys, is our mind and how we communicate. The sign of Scorpio will bury and conceal, keep things secret, manipulate. This is a very strong Mars because he rules Scorpio – he is the King at home ruling his kingdom – and he opposes Uranus, the disruptor, the awakener, the truth seeker. We are in a volatile period but because there is this ‘fixity’ there is a sense of extreme frustration. Mercury is the messenger of the Gods but he is trapped underground, almost held prisoner between the Sun and Mars. He can’t do his job as a go between; for now he is condemned to the Underworld – the land controlled by Hades, the God of Death. And Mercury represents our minds and mental faculties – they too are being held prisoner, trapped and enslaved in the Underworld.
A subject that has just come on to my radar is Cognitive Warfare. Reports appear to show that Western Governments in the NATO military alliance are developing tactics of cognitive warfare using the supposed threats of China and Russia to justify the battle for the control of our brains and how our brains process information. (Sun, Mercury, Mars in Scorpio!!!!!) By exploiting the vulnerabilities of the human brain, the individual can be ‘hacked’ and their brains weaponised for some very sophisticated social engineering.
According to a 2020 NATO sponsored study, the brain will be the battlefield of the 21st Century, with the aim, this NATO report says, of harming societies. And I can really see this being supported on an astrological level. 2020 held many markers for change including the potential for the beginning of a new era within our civilisation. This could be as small as another type of Industrial Revolution or as big as a civilisation change within society. Either way big, hot stuff! I was also reminded that the last time we saw Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus we have to go right back to the final years of the Stone Age before we hit the Bronze Age and the beginnings of writing. So I am minded to consider the time we are in as pivotal – a change in our civilisation type. With the emergence of AI we could be well down the road to singularity.
Cognitive warfare sounds insidious, pervasive, as though it seeps into the psyche without being noticed. It doesn’t cause obvious deaths in the same way as on the battlefield, but anything working on our brains like this would have the potential to disrupt humanity and disrupt how humanity has always functioned (very Saturn square Uranus). Throughout the pandemic we have seen glimpses of mind control in the form of ‘nudge’ units and a proliferation of behaviouralist scientists everywhere, even on the Sage committee. And these exist in order to reframe, using applied psychological methods, how we think and what we believe.
Cognitive warfare positions the mind as a battle space and contested domain. Its objective is to sew seeds of dissonance, instigate conflicting narratives, polarise opinion and radicalise groups so that they act in ways that can disrupt or fragment an otherwise cohesive society. Wow! Certainly sounds familiar to me.
Cognitive warfare overlaps with Big Tech corporations and mass surveillance, because it is all about leveraging the big data that is collected on every individual every minute of every day. Cognitive warfare begins with hyper connectivity, where we are all connected to cell phones that gather the ‘fuel’ of cognitive warfare – our data. And this battlefield is global via the Internet. Then if you add in other fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, alongside a corrupt, mind-bending Media, we have a very dangerous cocktail of brain manipulation techniques that go way beyond information warfare and psyops. This is not just action on what we think but how we think and how our brains process information so that anyone who questions a narrative or attempts to encourage critical thinking becomes an enemy. Technological progresses added to artificial intelligence, big data, big media and digital addiction have created a situation where individuals, unbeknownst to them, will potentially behave according to the will of another, effectively making them slaves.
None of this would be possible without the Internet, the birth of which coincides with the first beginnings of the new Jupiter/Saturn cycle, which actually occurred in 1980/81. This point in time also coincides with the AIDS epidemic and a lot of us can remember the hysteria that went hand in hand with that time. History repeats but never in quite the same way.
But at the same time as this is occurring we have a reactive phenomenon of crowd psychology – a form of mass hypnosis which occurs in response to social isolation (tick), lack of meaning in life (tick), free floating anxiety (tick), extreme frustration (tick), whipped up by media and government tyrants. It is actually an unconscious process both on the part of the populace and some of the leaders. It only occurs when very specific conditions such as those I have mentioned above are met. The lack of social bond was ripe after the lockdown, particularly amongst the young who were interacting mainly on line between their avatars – but these avatars are not real, they have no substance. The free-floating anxiety becomes projected out and channelled, as the narrative and ideology surrounding the pandemic and the treatment for it becomes ‘the object of the anxiety’ and provides a scapegoat. People find relief from their loneliness and isolation, discovering solidarity within a collective group, as finally they have a focus to their anxiety and are engaged in a virtuous and heroic struggle against this focus. This type of crowd hypnosis leads to a crowd consciousness called ‘mass formation’ which in turn leads on to a totalitarian state. According to Professor Mattias Desmet, a psychologist and statistical analyst from Ghent University in Belgium, totalitarianism always begins with mass formation within the population - but totalitarianism is not the same as a dictatorship. In a dictatorship the people show obedience out of fear of the dictator at the top. Totalitarianism acts in an opposite fashion as the people are hypnotised into obedience for the ‘good of the collective’. Sound familiar?
30% of people are susceptible to hypnosis, whilst at the other end of the scale 30% are not susceptible. The middle 40% band tend at first to go along with what appears to be the majority for various reasons - they don’t want to stand out or be different or be seen to not doing the ‘right thing’ and they don’t want to be objects of ridicule. The answer is for the resistant 30% to unite in order to influence the wavering 40%; the hypnotised 30% may have found solidarity and focus together, but they are no longer rational and no longer thinking critically. The pre-pandemic lonely isolation and anxiety is now solidly locked into a narrative. This group has no tolerance for a different narrative and has no desire to question in case their anxiety returns and they are left without a crutch. The leaders of the mass formation cannot allow the masses to wake up because, if they see the true damage and loss, their anger will be turned upon these leaders. Professor Desmet says that in history the organisers of a mass formation are always killed by those hypnotised once they wake up and see the real world again.
So – a look at the symbolism of this Lunar Eclipse. The Moon in Taurus represents our inner emotions, what we need on an internal level to nurture us, our Spirit. Taurus is a sign that wants to feel safe and secure, but she also likes ‘stuff’! The Moon symbolises the people of the land, and in Taurus they are what we term astrologically ‘exalted’. The Moon is treated like an honoured guest in this zodiac sign. But does she actually feel safe and exalted sitting with the fixed star Caput Algol, who represents the head of the Gorgon Medusa, cut off by Perseus? Medusa, who was the only mortal one of the three Gorgon sisters, was originally a beautiful maiden, but her hair was changed into hissing serpents which gave her so fearful an appearance that everyone who looked at her was changed into stone. This star is considered the most evil star in the heavens, causing misfortune, violence, decapitation, hanging, electrocution and mob violence.
Taurus is generally a steady, laid back placement for the Moon, but sitting with Caput Algol she is not necessarily a Moon to be crossed, so beware the power of the people who have the potential to become a hotbed of hissing, demonic snakes. Caput Algol could make changes to events that appeared to be set in stone. It is said to be ‘a marker of time when the universe’s energy is highly charged and emitting a spell over the people’. Perseus’ sword did indeed remove a monstrosity to the world but once we get past ‘ugliness’ we can see the pureness of Spirit concealed behind. Fear of the ugliness holds us back in the same way that fear brought on the slaying of the witches. But instead, if we consciously control and channel this energy, we find love, healing, intelligence and strength. And, with this eclipse squaring Jupiter in Aquarius, is the Sun acting overconfidently, overhastily using extreme technologies? Indeed the Sun could be met not by a laid back populous but instead by hissing snakes.
As our world became more materialistic, more about the ‘stuff’ we could obtain and the position within society we could reach, did life also become less meaningful? A world based on materialism loses its connection to spirit and to spirituality. It becomes a slave to money. Our world used to be alive with all sorts of spirits, Gods and Goddesses. We may have made progress in one way but what have we lost in terms of our life having meaning and purpose? Once the focus was on tending the planet and caring for the crops and the animals that would feed us. A good harvest gave the knowledge that there would be food through the winter. Thanks would be given to the Gods and to the Earth – lives might have been hard but they had a purpose and a meaning. We are so much more than material beings.
We are blessed with Spirit and with Soul. If we lose these connections, our lives become without purpose and we are at the mercy of those who are in a position to control us. Our bodies and minds are miracle of a fine balance which allows for ‘ease’ rather than ‘dis-ease’ of living. But if we allow this assault to continue we face menticide – literally the death of our minds as our brains can take no more.
The Moon might appear to be outnumbered by her opposition, who are also very strong and have a strong desire to manipulate, to control and to conceal their corruption. But it is vital that the resistant 30% unite because that middle band will waver, even if it does not appear that way. Big fights are not necessary. This is more like a gradual chipping away at the created narrative in order to sew seeds of doubt in order to allow the truth to be revealed. It is only necessary to say things such as - this does not seem to make sense, or acknowledge data that has been suppressed, question the data, why is there no alternative narrative; science has always been about discussion and alternative opinions, because science is never set in stone – until now that is!
This eclipse demonstrates a strong Moon - a strong populace who if they find they have been lied to could easily turn into a terrifying hotbed of hissing venomous snakes.