But last week, and the week before, I found myself marching down the street called 10 de Agosto, in Quito. (This street is named after the date in 1809 when the Spanish authorities were kicked out of this city.) The crowd around me was chanting, "¡Alerta! ¡Alerta! ¡Que camina! ¡La lucha por la paz en América Latina!" (Alert, alert, keep walking, it's the fight for peace in Latin America!).

There were rainbow flags, paper maché masks, and stilt-walkers dressed as Uncle Sam. There were nuns gleaming with a pope-sanctioned opportunity to get out there and do some civil disobedience. There were lots of pithy slogans on signs and banners. My favorite was "No hay camino a la paz - la paz es el camino" (There is no path to peace, peace is the path.)

In some ways it felt just like home. In some ways, it felt strange. It felt strange to be standing in front of the U.S. embassy, staring at soldiers placed every three inches along the fence. I stood there chanting "¡Bush, fascista, eres terrorista!" (Bush, fascist, you're the terrorist!) But I got a little choked up. I felt simultaneously more at home in the world than I've ever felt before, and more of an exile.

Peace marches continue all over the world, even though many of us feel a bit raw and wounded around the relentless policies of this administration. Does the astrological picture offer any changes in April? I wish I could say that it did.

All month, the sun and Mars are in square aspect to each other, and this is a fairly belligerent aspect. Mars is the planet of war and of assertive action. The sun/Mars square won't move out of orb until mid-May, and so I don't see a quick end to hostile and aggressive behavior on the part of the US. Neither do I see an end to protests and demonstrations. In fact, people may become more passionate and reckless, as they become angrier and more frustrated.

When the tanks start their ponderous tread into the countries that have been designated as enemies, U.S. citizens become even more polarized. Many ordinary people have been doubtful, as they've listened to the arguments raging around them. Many of those doubts will be buried, as people acquiesce to the tradition of supporting their country in wartime. Of course, if we stopped supporting this behavior, maybe the government would stop using it. (I seem to remember this elemental lesson from back when I was raising a toddler.)

Mars spends most of the month in Capricorn, the most firmly structured sign in the zodiac. Mars in Capricorn symbolizes the buttoned-up soldier, standing ramrod straight and saluting the brass. It squares the sun in fiery, spontaneous Aries, the sign of reckless action.

The Aries/Capricorn square is a father/son conflict, with Capricorn symbolizing the old man and Aries the brash young son. And this is what this war is all about. It's the son proving himself to the old man. The sun in Aries is about defending the ego, making a name for oneself, entering a fierce contest, taking definite action. Mars in Capricorn is also about action, but within a rigid hierarchal framework.

For Mars in Capricorn, the rules are unbending. When someone doesn't behave, punishment arrives. Bush Senior was insulted by Hussein, and so his son must be an agent of retribution. And for his son, this is a chance to prove that he's a real tough guy, too, even if he didn't ever wear a uniform.

Any ongoing aspect can play itself out on many levels. You could also see this Mars/sun square as the struggle between the U.S. government and the worldwide crowds of protestors. Mars in Capricorn is the career soldier, while the sun in Aries is the brash youth seeking self-expression and meaning.

The peace movement includes a lot of veterans of older struggles - many of which have resulted in definite, measurable advances in human rights. But it also includes people who have never done anything like this before, and people who are too young to remember earlier fights for freedom. As I walked through Quito, the loudest voices around me were those of the young. There were even kids in school uniforms.

Aries is the sign which symbolizes the quest for meaning and identity. When the sun is in Aries, people are impelled to look clearly at their lives and at the world around them. All over the world, people - especially the young - are confronting basic questions, triggered by this mass political movement. The peace struggle isn't just about the way the U.S. has demonized Iraq. It's about how we live together, and about who wins and who loses in the struggle for life.

In the streets of Quito, people were chanting about not wanting to be a colony of the U.S. - especially when we came up to the MacDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets. The signs around me didn't just protest the war. They also protested ALCA, the free trade agreement. They protested the Colombia Plan. These connections aren't hard to make.

No matter what happens in Iraq, a great force of nature has been mobilized, and it isn't going away any time soon. The U.S. has roused a dragon, and the goal of this dragon is to change the balance of power in the world. It's time. It's happening.

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