Retrospective : Day 128 of 460

This morning I woke up with the thought ‘retrospective’, which means looking back on or dealing with past events or situations. Currently in the heavens there are a number of planets that astrologers term going ‘retrograde’.

Retrograde motion is an apparent change in the movement of the planet through the sky. It is not real in that the planet does not physically start moving backwards in its orbit. It just appears to do so because of the relative positions of the planet and Earth and how they are moving around the Sun.

When planets are in retrograde motion they give us an opportunity to go back over things and think them over from a different point of view. During retrograde cycles it is all about the “re” – re-new, re-write, re-turn, re-do, re-pair, re-schedule and re-store. Each of us are being asked to reassess what is important to us and to think carefully about the historical past so that we can move into the type of future that we really want to create.

The manner in which the retrograde motion impacts us changes from planet to planet. Right now Venus is retrograde in Gemini while Jupiter and Pluto are retrograde in Capricorn and Saturn is retrograde at 1 degree of Aquarius. Venus is a personal planet and represents what is important to us – what we truly love and value. Gemini is the intellectual sign of communication and with Venus retrograde in Gemini it gives us an opportunity to rethink and express what truly matters to us. Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are impersonal or social planets that play an important role in economics and government. Saturn dipping its toe in Aquarius has highlighted the need for social change as it pertains to human rights and the structures that ensure the correct governance of these rights.

Retrospective politics means to pay attention to the historical injustices of the past in order to raise the moral standards for the cause of peace and democracy in the present and into the future. [1] Following the recent protests in the USA against racial injustice, peaceful protests are being organised in Australia to support Australia’s First Nations People in their own struggle for social justice.

People of all nations are now being given an opportunity to reflect on their individual histories and past racial injustices, in order to express what we truly want for a fair and equitable united future. We are being given an opportunity to think about what “SORRY” truly means, but it cannot be a rhetoric political apology that does not include listening and speaking about the truth of the past. It has to be backed with REsolute actions that show REspect and for all people regardless of race and include a genuine plan for REconciliation. A good place to begin is to truly listen to what Australian First Nations People are saying. At the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples gathered at Uluru, the heart of Australia, to make the following statement:

Uluru Statement of the Heart :

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. [2]

[1]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282426109_The_past_is_evilevil_is_past_On_retrospective_politics_philosophy_of_history_and_temporal_manichaeism

[2] https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement