Destiny written in the stars?

analysis Just when Malaysians think they are about to catch the political rat by the tail, it has darted out of reach again.

With rats, you can never be sure of their movements - more so when they are cornered.

In case you’ve forgotten, there is the lunar year of the rat. And midway through it, we are witnessing the pestilence, conflict and turbulence that were predicted at the start.

Popular astrologist Roxanne Carol said the cosmic ‘rat’ year coincided with the Aquarius new moon solar eclipse on Feb 7, along the entry of Pluto in Capricorn.

Capricorn is the most sensitive sign - it goes to power, divine power. Power-mongers had better beware unscrupulous politicians because the ‘rat’ year is also a powerful karmic period.

In the imperfect territory of man-made law, there will always be injustice. ‘Divine law’ is always just, as it is written on the cosmic table of eternity.

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s triumph in sacking his deputy Anwar Ibrahim (right) in 1998 illuminates the dynamic forces of karmic play. It has come back to haunt him and the nation.

Political chaos and instability within Barisan Nasional are fruit of the ‘leadership seed’ that Mahathir planted in his succession plan in 2003. Inevitably, the chain of political cause-and-effect is making its positive and negative impacts felt.

The karmic reverberations against the ruling power will last another 10 years, even after the downfall of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (left) .

K Sri Dhammananda in ‘What Buddhists Believe’ compares cause and effect with seeds; the results of ‘karma’ are stored in the sub-consciousness mind in the same way as leaves, flowers, fruits and even trunk of a tree are stored in its seed.

“There is no place to hide in order to escape from karmic results,” the Buddha says.

‘New way of believing’

Carol explained the configuration of Pluto in Capricorn - in opposing Mars (a planet ruling anger and passion of all kinds) - has triggered a motion, a forceful aggressive energy in the depths of man’s sub-consciousness (ruled by planet Pluto).

It also means no one can avoid its transformative partnership.

This is connected to the re-defining of power in the political domain. Things were set in motion during the first set of eclipses on Feb 7, the start of the year of the earth rat, in the sign of Aquarius at 17 degrees.

It probably explains the sudden changes in power play and the results of the March 8 general election.

In the political domain, we are witnessing power struggles over what we believe. The process over time will prove to be cathartic.

Renowned anthropologist Margaret Meade once said, “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

“But most people fear change more than they fear death. It threatens their comfort zones and what many always held to be true and secure. Yet there are those who have the spiritual guts to stay behind and facilitate and establish themselves in the new mode of being, a new way of living or believing.”

Also listen to the advice of Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of former US president Franklin Roosevelt.

“You gained strength, courage and confidence, by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself: I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Malaysians need new perspectives on the same old issues. The same old solutions, old mindsets are no longer relevant in the age of the Aquarius.