I mentioned the death of “realness” on Pluto Revisits Capricorn: Nail In The Coffin Or Back From The Dead? Alice asked about this. I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach it. The answer to this is sweeping.
First, I want to say this, loud and clear. I’m real! I don’t care how different I may be from you and how utterly freaky my stories are: I am utterly real.
That’s my mother, in the picture, which was taken in the 1940’s. Further down, you’ll see pictures of my grandfather and myself. The lineage is undeniable. I’m laying this out to make my point, or rather, to make my case: Pluto in Capricorn has destroyed realness.
So, my grandfather was off the chain; a real character. My mother was a double Aquarius. Enough said.
I have Jupiter aspecting Uranus, major nerve, a sense of adventure, overconfidence and various other sundries. As a result I have insane stories with shocking turns you could never guess, in a million years, with your life at stake. So I wound up on the internet (Uranus), telling these stories (Jupiter) and fun was had by all. But then the clouds rolled in.
The first time I knew there was something deeply wrong, was nearly twenty years ago. I was telling a story – “Shack Man”. It’s a super weird story, funny story, vast and full of surprises. I think you could probably learn astrology from this story alone but I was unable to tell it! I was stopped cold, in a way that stunned me, right here on this blog.
If you doubt me about this – you can read here: Shack Man. That’s the beginning. You can see the wonderful, characters. Well this story takes off in all kinds of directions… Vietnam is dealt with, for example, you wouldn’t guess that, especially because none of us were Vietnam age. The story goes all over the place and at one point I go meet someone’s parents and I get thrown out of their house.
Now that was an unexpected event! Further, I was thrown out because I am a “n-word”. Is this not shocking? I’m Italian! But I was standing there, with this man, yelling at his son, “Get that n-word out of my house!” And then I’m standing outside, listening to the yelling, from inside the house. “I told you not to bring N-words to my house!”
Now all I was doing was telling this story. In the story, I encountered a racist. Clearly. Nothing less and nothing more, because guess what? In REAL LIFE there are bigots and if you go out there and live, you will run into them and many other things.
This was nothing more than a part of my VERY LARGE story, but when I wrote this, all hell broke loose. I literally had a gal call “black twitter” (that’s what she called it) out to crucify me over recalling this experience. Is this fathomable? Probably not. Just another unbelievable thing that happened in my life, but here is my point…
You can’t just write or speak or whatever, these days. You must be concerned all day, all night and overnight, that something you utter may be misconstrued. So in my world, this started two decades ago and what’s happened since?
Armies of bots to steer conversations. Shills to steer conversations. I’m talking about people paid to lead/mislead people. Armies of people saying they are one thing, when they are another thing entirely. News you can’t trust. Tiktok people in masks and other guises, pontificating and informing you with whatever distraction.
The most remarkable thing to me is the images. I’ve blogged all these years, always using pictures. In the old day, I would search “little boy on skateboard” and it would pull up, literally, thousands of pictures of little boys, skateboarding, posted by their moms, or whoever. Just regular kids, real kids, caught doing real things.
Search that today, and you will get nothing but commercial, staged shots. They’re for sale, but that’s only part of the point. The point being, real, average, truly authentic, everyday, creative people have been eradicated from the internet.
Now there is a huge, very dark shadow attached to this, but even leaving that out – staged is not real! If a commercial youtuber or tiktok-er stages a situation – that is not a real situation. It’s movie-making and it’s going to be… what’s the new word for “pc”? It’s not going to be REAL!
The food is also ridiculous, more so all the time. I have a garden! I know what a tomato tastes like! If you have only had tomatoes from the grocery store, you probably don’t.
Real people (like me) can be easily wiped from the public square. I know, I’ve lived this for more than a decade! So the internet is going to serve what it serves. At the same time, people quit going out, spending time with other in real life. I’ve been writing it about this for years.
You don’t want to clean your house (for company), because you’re on the internet. Tell me this is not familiar to you.
So now we’re at a point where reality is shown to us digitally and it is completely manipulated. You can’t hear real stories that might actually teach you something or open your mind, because hey! PTB don’t profit from that, do they? No agenda is advanced and when I say that, please don’t jump to a conclusion. The agenda could be to sell you the new dog coin or the moon coin, or the supplement, or the…
Henry is real. He was as real a son of a bitch as you could ever meet. Further, these pictures are real and I hope you enjoy them.
Henry: Desert Philosopher and Authentically Interesting Person – Part 1
I don’t know how to conclude this, really, other than to say, I’m going to remain “real”, even it if makes life nearly impossible for me. I’ve said a few times, I used to be afraid I would end up like my grandfather (living alone in the country). Well, the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree, does it?
If you have someone in your life with whom you can have a real conversation, I hope you cherish them. If you want people like me to continue, you must support us, because the “internet” will not and we will fall away.
I have a soul. I share it with you and have for decades. It’s people like me who have to go, to be replaced by digital or otherwise modified “influencers”. It makes just real, every day people feel they’re inferior, but that is anything but real!
This is prolific.
Oh, I have lived that way too, and concur with everything you’ve said. 😂 I honestly don’t know how NOT to be real. Note: this is not the same thing as being selfish or a narcissist; no, narcissism and its ilk are actually another form of dishonestly in which one is deluding both others AND themselves.
Much of life is actually inert until we ascribe it meaning and then react to whatever meaning we created with our likely well-intentioned noggins, IMO.
“Much of life is actually inert until we ascribe it meaning and then react to whatever meaning we created with our likely well-intentioned noggins, IMO.”
That’s a really interesting view and it makes a lot of sense. It also reminds me of this: https://elsaelsa.com/astrology/how-will-neptune-in-aries-impact-men/
People begging their kids to at least play the (video) game, rather than watch other’s play. Animate your life!
Makes sense to me. 😊
Dear Elsa, This is a really great essay on real and staged pseudoreality… a lot to reflect on. How Pluto in Aquarius is going to maybe delete us as hearty , real individuals.
It reminds me of Philip Dick novels.. Ubik and all other books where a real animal or real coffee was a luxury
Thank you! We’re way, way, way further gone than most (and I mean, 95%) realize. I guess Pluto in Aquarius might turn this up for people, meaning, “reveal it”. At the moment they can’t even see unREAL housewives. I have made a dent in very few people in this regard (as compared to how many people I’ve tried to reach). Let’s see if Pluto fares better!
All of modern western society reminds of at least one of Philip K. Dick’s novels or short stories…Pre-crime is already a real thing, and blade hunters are coming soon…
I mourn the loss of what is real. Deep fakes and AI are taking it to an alarming level. And, they no longer teach children how to think critically anymore. So, where is this all going to lead?
I’m holding onto the small things that are real, like this blog.
Yup, I’m glad to be a long-time reader and supporter of your blog; an elder woman willing to be educated. The astrology I learn here and build upon in my life grows my capacities as well as my humility. Like a lifetime of tweaking a standard recipe for omelet depending on what you gave to hand.
About the real, versus artificial in today. I’m in the early weeks of experiencing setting up shop (a purple tent), every Sunday through the summer and fall displaying and drawing customers (real people) into my art world to talk with them. These are strangers until one or more of my drawings make a connection.
The stories that grow from these real face-to-face moments grow from a decades ago practice I learned as a young girl sticking shelves in the first drug store built in the late ‘50’s.
The realness is in the pitch: we pitch our tent, rain wind or sunshine. The customers are there on some days, but not. And then the selling and welcoming. The customer service. It takes commitment and attentiveness to nuance, and patience.
Then, there’s the interaction between the other vendors. Chewing the fat during the lulls.
All-in-all the lessons learned at these Farmers’ Markets are real world antidotes to artificial screen engagement. I love meeting people and selling the work I love, telling stories.
Real-time Spider Woman:)
I love everything about this.
It’s so true.
This week, I had to let go of a friend through 10 years due to toxic relationship dynamics, and in the aftermath I came to realize I had replaced daily text messages with a real human connection to fill the void of belonging and validation. Our moons are in a square with each other, so I am not 100% surprised that she and I could not see eye to eye.
I am going through all da feelz at the moment, and I try to be conscious of not putting judgement on myself, as I wasn’t even aware of this until now.
But truth is, we all have done it, one way or another, at one point or several in our life. Digital cannot substitute real interaction, and I am fast learning this (thank you Aquarius Ascendant and Uranus sextiling it).
For a girl who has found almost all of my romantic partners on the internet, this feels like a pretty big wakeupcall.
Matthew Hussey did a video some years ago about the future of dating. I believe it is still on YouTube (haven’t checked since watching it though). I remember thinking “oh, that’s taking it too far, our relationships won’t look like this im the future.”
Now I am not so sure.
One thing I felt when the internet became more used was people could use it to create ideal, pretend, or fake selves. It would allow people to hide all of their blemishes and present an alternative, unblemished form for whatever reason they see fit. I read something that if I wanted to get more attention from men in online dating, females who are blonde, average to shorter height, and less educated get it. So I can present myself as that (I’m female but not rest of that string) to get more interest, and then bait and switch or catfish them (another form of inauthenticity)? Ok then!
The sad thing was this seemed to come true, and people do meet and get to know each other (online, that is) each other under false pretenses. Now it’s spread to news, images (filters, Photoshop like programs, etc.), and the internet landscape., and it’s infected the world outside of it.
Hi Elsa, I appreciate your honesty in sharing positive and negative aspects of things. You don’t sugarcoat, and that’s commendable.
Thank you. It’s the only way I know. It’s the only way to show the client, respect.
I know this isn’t necessarily what you mean but I don’t post pictures with filters on my socials. I might try to post the most flattering selfie but I don’t use filters and generally don’t wear makeup unless it’s my eyes.
Partly bc I’m disabled and don’t have to work, I don’t have to “market” myself to potential employers or clients so I don’t have to become a product etc.
There’s a woman I know, she works in media, she works hard, but I was finally able to verbalize why I’m somewhat put off by her posts… everything feels a little staged and stylized, even candids. But that’s because even though she is supposedly a person living her life, she’s also presenting herself as a product and has to look 💯 on her socials or why would you want to hire her for your project? I feel like if you have to do stuff like that it hurts true authenticity but wtf do i know cuz I don’t do anything 🤷♀️
For me ; I love your take on the day
And how you share who you are. Very Real makes me feel ok about what’s my past and reasons I feel how I do. Your star forecast help me prepare and plan and protect myself. I hope you type till you are placed in your garden to rest.
Thank you!
There is no control
Because we are post-reality
Where nothing can possibly matter
So, we may as well relax,
Let go
https://om2317.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/post-real-triptych/
Your posts always spark my memories of being young. My first encounter with racism was when I was 17, in 1977. I fell in love with a young black man. The nasty, vile things that came out of people’s mouth made me realize how deep racism is in this country. My “Christian “parents tried to break us up, forbid me to see him. My mom’s fear was that my dad could lose his job. My dad threatened to have him charged with statuary rape. The boy was just 19. So many young men went to prison with these trumped-up charges. It has broken my heart to see all the racism that has come out of the closet the last 15 years.
oops that would have been 1972.