Last week, 73,000 attendees of this year’s Burning Man Festival traveled out into the desert in order to build a makeshift utopia, only to be trapped in a muddy hellscape of overflowing toilets, disease, and at least one death. Due to poor road conditions brought by a deluge of rain, attendees were forbidden from leaving and ordered to conserve food/water by the authorities. The themes surrounding the event appear to align closely with the space weather at this time, with Saturn and Neptune in Pisces in a sign-based opposition with retrograde Mercury in Virgo. During this time, there was also a full moon, with the Sun in Virgo and the Moon in Pisces, shining a light on that which is hidden. What follows is an attempt to sift through the mud in the hopes of unearthing some of the astrological themes of this moment in time.
During the Burning Man festival, attendees were greeted by a watery deluge which turned the desert into a muddy cesspit. Authorities closed off all traffic to and from the event, leaving the attendees trapped in their makeshift shelters. Toilets could no longer be serviced and attendees were asked to conserve food and water. At this time, cell service was virtually non-existent, and communications were cut off to the outside world. Rumors floated around about a dangerous transmissible disease, though these reports remain at this time unverified. At least one man was declared dead but the circumstances around his death have yet to be elaborated upon. The annual ceremony of the burning of a giant human shaped effigy, a ritual centerpiece of the festival, as well as the Chapel of Babel, have been delayed.
https://news.yahoo.com/burning-man-disaster-timeline-did-152738137.html
At this time, Saturn, the planet of restrictions, boundaries, challenges, and hardship is in the watery, mutable sign of Pisces. The sign of Pisces represents ephemeral states of altered consciousness, the somewhat naive tendency to accept things based on faith and trust, and our desire to commit to some greater dream or ideal. Saturn’s desire to build structures that are long-lasting and stand the test of time are therefore already on unstable ground.
Neptune is also present in the sign of Pisces, and although the planet does not share exactly the same significations, there is quite a bit of overlap between the planet and the sign. Neptune represents dreams, illusions, mysticism, and states of intoxication. The planet represents our desire to transcend the self, to blur the boundaries between what is real and unreal, and to merge with divine.
In a sign-based opposition to Saturn/Neptune in Pisces, we have a newly retrograde Mercury, in the mutable, earth sign of Virgo. Mercury is the planet of communications, travel, commerce, and represents our capacity to think, speak, and reason. In their retrograde aspect, the planet Mercury adopts a trickster quality and behaves in a more malefic manner. In the sign of Virgo, Mercury is his own domicile ruler, and is concerned with matters related to problem solving, analysis, and discernment. But in their retrograde aspect, in opposition to Neptune, Mercury in Virgo’s attention to detail and skill at problem solving are muddied.
Saturn in Pisces may be seen in the building of a temporary city in the middle of a muddy desert, restrictions placed upon the attendees, and the limiting of incoming and outgoing traffic. Saturn often tells us “no”, you cannot pass, and there can often be a feeling of being stuck. Here, in the water sign of Pisces, in opposition to a retrograde Mercury in the earthy sign of Virgo, attendees were literally stuck in the mud, unable to leave. In Pisces, there is often a foolhardy quality of misplaced optimism and this may be glimpsed in the perhaps somewhat naive belief that one can build a desert utopia without certain challenges. Saturn also represents the final boundary of death and the tragic death of one of the festival goers would appear to evoke this theme as well. The site of Burning Man itself, Black Rock Desert, also suggests Saturn, he whose color is black and rules the earth sign of Capricorn.
Neptune in Pisces themes of intoxication, dreams and visions, and poetic inspiration may be seen in the wild art installations and the use of copious amounts of drugs and psychedelics that the festival has become known for. The Neptune in Pisces desire to surrender the ego and submerge oneself into some transcendent communal experience may also be seen in the festival goers attempt to build a temporary utopian community, fueled by aspirations and dreams of a better world. The principles of the event, concerned with “radical inclusion”, “communal effort”, and “gifting”, among others, also appear to reflect themes embedded within Pisces’ ruler, the planet Jupiter. Finally, Neptune often has a deceptive, illusory quality, and this may be seen in the unverified reports of a mysterious illness ravaging the community.
Retrograde Mercury in Virgo, in opposition to Saturn/Neptune in Pisces, may be seen in travel delays, communication blackouts, and again the feeling of being stuck in the mud. The burning of the Chapel of Babel itself along with the burning of the effigy were delayed. The Chapel of Babel is a reference to the parable of the Tower of Babel, which also evokes themes of a retrograde Mercury. In the story, God , angered by man’s hubris, destroys a tower built by a human race united by a single language. God confounds their language and scatters the people across the world so that they can no longer understand each other.
As mentioned previously, Mercury in Virgo, the sign of its rulership, is typically a very strong placement and good for problem solving in sticky situations. But in its retrograde aspect, in a sign-based opposition to Neptune/Saturn in Pisces, Mercury’s ability to offer clear solutions may appear out of reach and our capacity for discernment becomes muddied. Finally, as each sign of the Zodiac represents a different part of the body, Virgo rules the intestines and digestive system. A retrograde Mercury in Virgo in opposition to Saturn, suggestive of delays in the digestive system, might be seen in attendees having to withhold the contents of their intestines due to unsanitary, overflowing toilets.
The delays and miseries of this year’s Burning Man appear to be fading. The rains have stopped and the roads are slowly reopening. As of this writing, festival goers are beginning to leave and return to the world of material reality. Following the challenges of constructing a utopian society built on dreams and wet earth, one imagines the attendees of Burning Man are now in search of something far more mundane and practical: a shit, a shower, and a shave.
