The Pandora Papers

John William Waterhouse "Pandora"

When the Pandora Papers story hit the news, reporters were saying: "biggest leak in history!", "almost 3 terabytes of data", and I remembered that Mercury Retrograde is notorious for "REvealing Secrets"...!
(almost any "Re" word you can think of will describe the effects of a Mercury Retrograde)
​Naturally, as an Astrologer, I also wondered what Asteroid Pandora was up to...?

​Sure enough; Mercury Rx and Pandora were conjunct in Libra!
Are journalists into Astrology, or was this just Asteroid Magic?

Apparently, they didn't choose the name based on the Astrology.
​The Astrology just reflects the event. Asteroids are *so* crazy like that...
The ​ICIJ said about it:

We call the project Pandora Papers because this collaboration builds upon the legacy of the Panama and Paradise Papers, and the ancient myth of Pandora’s Box still evokes an outpouring of trouble and woe.

Mercury Rx (23°) is conjunct Asteroid Pandora (22°)

Pandora: In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground kylix in the British Museum—is Anesidora, "she who sends up gifts".  Wikipedia

We are currently in Mercury Retrograde - a great time for me to revisit my Blog - it's in Libra, from 27th September - 18th October, 2021.
While Libra is ruled by Venus, my friend actually thinks Libra is probably co-ruled by Themis: Goddess of Natural Law and Divine Order. (Asteroid #24)
Venus rules both Taurus and Libra, just as Mercury rules both Gemini and Virgo.
But we Love to discuss the evolution of Astrology, and much in the way that Chiron co-rules Virgo, I can see how how Themis might co-rule Libra.
My friend suggests that Taurus is the real earthy, sensual, material aspect of Venus, but Libra is the more cerebral, diplomatic aspect, frequently found seeking Justice, in ways that Taurus just isn't interested in.  Taurus is happy with 60/40 their way.
Celebrity Justices include Rose McGowan's Venus in Libra conjunct Revolutionary Uranus, and Kim Kardashian's Sun in Libra shining a light on unjust prison sentences.

So yeah, I can see it in them, and in The Pandora Papers: the secret finances, and off-shore bank accounts of the world's richest, most powerful and influential people, who may or may not be using that money unjustly.
Being an Air Sign, I often find Libra in Admin Roles: Paperwork
With really pretty or manicured nails.
Venus also rules Money and Riches, so we see that influence, here.
Mercury definitely rules "papers" - it may even be one of its keywords!
Papers, Mind, Details, Stationary, Hands and Handiwork, Thoughts, Communication, and Commerce.

We know that Money, managed equitably, could fix a lot of problems in this world.
But for now, it's a Pyramid of Power, with men at the top, and Amazon Affiliates at the bottom.

A Retrograde reaches back, into the secret-lair of a sign: old paperwork.


As for Pandora... if you didn't grow-up around a fire, with wine and myths, maybe you don't know who, or what, Pandora and her box represents.
In Greek, Pandora means: "All Gifts".
Pan - All
Dora - Gifts

The Gods made her as bait for their revenge-box, and gifted her with all of their qualities.
Hence her name, All gifted.

In Astrology, Pandora is the can of worms; the hornet's nest, stirred up.
The cat let out of the bag.
 
So, Zeus - this Greek god -  filled a box with sickness, disease, and evil, basically trolling humans for their curiosity and desire for knowledge. It was a revenge-box because OG Prometheus gave this human guy the knowledge of Fire, and the gods think humans are too stupid to have things, because they use them for destructive purposes.
Zeus really had it in for this guy, so he created a really hot, gifted chick as bait - Pandora - gifted with all the traits of the Olympian Gods. Including curiosity.
So Pandora was sent to Earth as the bait with the revenge-box, and she was told to never open it under any circumstances whatsoever - but, of course, the key was around her neck. So...
She married the human guy and everything, but was obsessed with opening/not-opening the box. 
Hermes told her the box was a wedding present, and even though Prometheus had warned the human guy that Zeus had it in for him and to never accept anything from Zeus, ever, they must have forgot, or believed Hermes; it had been so long. So of course she snuck a peek inside for just a second - but it was too late: all these diseases and evil (bad news) escaped and poisoned the world. But at the bottom of the box, was a Light: "Hope".
Everything that's bad and evil in the world is because Pandora opened this revenge-box.
If you look closely at John William Waterhouse's painting of Pandora, you'll see toxic-smoke escaping out the corner

Pandora is basically Eve, and the box is basically the apple.

Pandora and Eve are "supposedly" the first woman on Earth, whose curiosities doom man and earth to ruin. Or: do these female archetypes expose the truth of man's ignorance?
God wants you dead.
Specifically Zeus, but Hermes was into it, too.
So, another misogynistic tale blames woman for ALL of god and man's evils.
But there's alway Hope - that dangling carrot - to keep us going through the endless suffering!
Myths designed to scare women from looking too deeply into the secrets of man.
Frankly, I think this is a women's planet - but that's a story for another day!
Pandora looked. Pandora saw.

In other cat-out-of-the-bag news, Facebook, and the entire Suckerberg Pyramid of Power, experienced its biggest outage, ever, the other day - rumours suggest hacking, and the data of over a billion people, stolen. I wouldn't be surprised; people/humans/that guy who married Pandora don't know how valuable their data is to others.

In news you may have missed, The Facebook Whitleblower has revealed her identity; Frances Haugen. Pandora! I'd Love to know her astrology.
Whistleblowers usually have important activations of Galactic Centre.

So what whistle did she blow?

"The complaints say Facebook's own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest - but the company hides what it knows. One complaint alleges that Facebook's Instagram harms teenage girls."

So, you know, you have your phone. You might see only 100 pieces of content if you sit and scroll on for, you know, five minutes. But Facebook has thousands of options it could show you.

The algorithm picks from those options based on the kind of content you've engaged with the most in the past.  And one of the consequences of how Facebook is picking out that content today is it is optimizing for content that gets engagement, or reaction.

But its own research is showing that that's content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing, it's easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions.
​
Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they'll click on less ads, they'll make less money.

The Mudra for Fire

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