Happy Black History month! As we move into February, it becomes ever more important to keep track of history. The truth is not always easy to come by these days, with the US media intent on selling the administration's viewpoint (and keeping corporate owners comfortable). But when the truth disappears, we lose one of our most important resources. We lose the ability to learn from our history.

How many of us know that the first successful non-Native settlers in the US were Black? In 1526, five hundred Spaniards and a hundred slaves started a colony in what is now South Carolina. The slaves rebelled and joined forces with the indigenous people, while the surviving Spaniards jumped back on their boats, feeling strangely unwanted. This was the beginning of foreign emigration to the Native Lands of America. That whole business with the rock came later.

Here in Ecuador, too, we have a thriving Black community along the coast, and it derives from only seventeen men and six women. We can send our imaginations back to the year 1553. The Spaniards were taking slaves to Peru, planning to trade them for gold, when their ship was wrecked off the coast of what is now Esmeraldas. This tiny group of people escaped, made alliances with the indigenous people, and eventually negotiated successfully with the Spaniards as well. Through the centuries, they've grown to a current population of 700,000.

It's important to know these things. It's important to keep track of the fact that people have always organized, and in doing so, have overcome incredibly difficult circumstances. It's important to remember that no-one is ever content with slavery, abuse and exploitation. And when we struggle together against these things, we are eventually victorious.

I'm reminded of the indigenous people in Ecuador's southern Amazon, who are even now organizing and fighting against powerful oil interests (some of which are foreign, and some of which spring from their own government). This group of Quechua people, the Sarayacu, use civil disobedience, community training, media outreach, and alliances with international environmentalists. They resist pressure, divide-and-conquer techniques, and some pretty hefty bribes. In a pinch, they rely on their numbers. They stand there and guard their jungle against the machines.

The new moon (on February 8th) brings a stellium in Aquarius, the most progressive and humanitarian sign in the zodiac. Not only will the sun and moon be there, but also Mercury, Venus and Neptune. And so this is a great time for learning, teaching and organizing.

Among the notable women born with Aquarius suns are Angela Davis, Rosa Parks, Alice Walker, Leontyne Price, Eartha Kitt, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Sharon Pratt Dixon, Gloria Naylor, and Oprah Winfrey. This is quite a collection of active, creative and courageous individuals.

Those with Aquarius moons include Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Barbara Jordan, Lorraine Hansberry, Shirley Chisholm, Miriam Makeba, Cicely Tyson, Marian Wright Edelman, Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and (once again) Angela Davis and Rosa Parks. With the moon in Aquarius, the urge for freedom is more instinctive, an inner longing for a new world.

And so, with this strong Aquarius influence, February is a great month to get the word out, and to reclaim the lost parts of our history. It's a good time to challenge the media, to question the way words like "freedom" and "patriot" and "terrorist" are used to manipulate people.

At the same time, there's something that we need to watch out for in February, and that's the new moon's proximity to Neptune, the planet of magic and illusion.

Neptune is beautiful, strange, elusive. It's the planet that rules poetry, film and music, and it has to do with the many ways that our souls call out to each other. We can use these Neptunian arts as tools of organization and connection - but Neptune is not really about using, but about feeling.

All the other Aquarian influences - the sun, the moon, Mercury and Venus - are much more cerebral, more intellectual. They are about looking clearly and objectively at what exists now, at what existed in the past, and at what might exist in the future. But when you try to explain Neptune, to clarify its nature, it dances away from you. It's idealistic, but in an emotional rather than an intellectual way.

I'm reminded of Josephine Baker, who had Neptune conjunct Venus and trine the moon in her natal chart. She danced and mesmerized everyone who saw her. She was magic incarnate. At the same time, she was very idealistic, and put her beliefs into action. She worked undercover during the French resistance, and later on, she was a civil rights activist who refused to perform for segregated audiences.

I'm also reminded of Frida Kahlo had a sun/Neptune conjunction in her chart. She was a visionary, a dreamer, a woman who lived brilliantly and colorfully. But she also had strong political beliefs, and was willing to stand up for them.

And so what does this Aquarius stellium ask of us, in February? It's not just about the Aquarius dedication to truth and progress - although that's definitely there. But the presence of Neptune changes things, shifts our awareness, adds another dimension. It's a strange, sweet dimension, a blending of many realities.

Sometimes we feel lost. It's hard to separate truth and imagination, and sometimes we have no idea which direction to go. All our histories have been distorted, and so faith can be like a wandering child looking for a place to settle down.

But hold on, even when you feel lost. While you're living a particular moment, you're never sure of how things will turn out. But all those who've changed the world have been inspired by a vision of love. Neptune is that vision, the changeling who creeps into our political agenda and tells us that the heart is always at the core.

Index of Jenny Yates' Writings on Lesbian.com