Theme: Magicians Reporting for Duty

Week 9: in which bombs fall and people cry AND a miracle 144 years in the making comes to fruition

Beautiful Magicians,

I have to make a big decision today.

It’s 1pm on Saturday. Today, the US, under the TIC (thug in chief) bombed Iran. He is gleefully calling it a war. And actually saying that people will die, but, hey, that’s what happens in war. He’s willfully oblivious to the minor detail that only Congress can declare war. But laws and principles and morality and any other decent human constructs have never stopped him from hurting people and lining his pockets.

Which brings me to my big decision.

Do you remember last Sunday, I wrote about Saturn and Neptune coming together in Aries? If you missed it, you might want to read or reread it to fully realize the incomprehensible power of what happened on Friday February 20.

That date, which already feels so long ago, was the day Saturn—structure—met Neptune—dreams—in the first degree of the cosmic story we call the Zodiac.

In last Sunday’s Notes from the Field, I mentioned something I learned from listening to several astrologers: the last time Saturn and Neptune met was 1989. They met in Capricorn, the sign of solid foundational earth. And what happened? The Berlin Wall fell. Do you remember that news?

Not unlike the news today, we all stared at the TV in shock. Today, it’s horror shock. How could he be so stupid, shock. Is he that afraid of the E files, shock? Is this how he justifies ending voting, shock. We are in shock. Bad shock.

But in 1989, we stared at the news in good shock. Happy shock. Anything is possible shock.

Having written that newsletter, and hearing so many different astrologers talk about the importance of that date, I paid attention on Friday the 20th to everything happening. And sure, enough something significant did happen.

Something beautiful. Hopeful. Magical. Something that restores my faith and justifies my love.

On Friday, February 20, 2026 a massive crystal and ceramic cross over 50 feet tall was placed atop the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona Spain. That final addition brought the total height of the church to 564 feet, making it the tallest church in the world. The official website of the church announced that this milestone completes the work on the exterior of the tower. (Work will continue for two more years on the inside).

Why does this matter? Because building this radically gorgeous church has taken 144 years.

Now, if you’re the least bit interested in numerology, that number gets your attention. It is a sacred number that appears over and over in spirituality and geometry.

• If you grew up with any kind of exposure to the bible, you’ve seen this number repeatedly. It is interpreted as meaning divine protection and plan.
• And in math class, you memorized it as the product of 12 x 12.
• 144 is the 12th number in the Fibonacci Sequence which feels particularly meaningful to me because the Fibonacci Sequence is the recurring pattern of plants and flowers and all manner of life on earth.
• People who interpret angelic messages consider 144 an Angelic Number and describe it as a call to action, to say yes to being an architect of change.

I have not been following the construction of this church. But I am now thanks to my partner in creating The Witch Sequence, Cathy Stevens Pratt. It was Cathy who told me what happened on Feb 20. Her friend and fellow Visual Medicine creator, Jennifer Wickham, who lives in Chili, just happened to be on holiday in Barcelona when the crystal cross was lifted. (Don’t you love complex synchronicity.)

Jennifer sent Cathy a slew of photos. Cathy, in turn, showed them to me. And now, with Jennifer’s permission, I share four of them with you.

Because, as the TIC foments violence, destruction, and war, it feels deeply healing to me to not just talk about the communion of structure and dreams, the world and the cosmic, reality and possibility, but to SEE what that looks like in the hands of an outrageously creative architect and designer, Antoni Gaudi.

Gaudi didn’t start the church. It was begun in 1882 and turned over to Gaudi in 1884. (Wikipedia has lots of information.)

Gaudi died in 1926 in a bizarre tram accident on his way to pray, but the work continued. That is, until the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

That stoppage for war feels prescient and an important piece of the picture. Consider that the Berlin Wall was a product of war.

I’m not sure where TIC's war is going. But my heart, like yours, is heavy with foreboding. So, taking a moment to absorb Gaudi’s glorious vision of what the union of the divine and the world can look like feeds me and sustains my hope.

If this is what Saturn and Neptune can do together, I await the next few months and years with some sparks of joy and possibility in my heart.

Although these are photographs, I invite you to open not just your eyes but your ears as well.  Because it turns out Gaudi intended the entire massive church to be a living instrument! A hymn to life.

Hence the baby birds and the musicians and the towers that vibrate. Yes, the stones hum.

Here's an article on the acoustics. it may take a moment to open.

In our imagination, let us gather in Barcelona, walk around the church looking at and listening to the chickens, roosters, baby birds, and musicians.

Then let's step inside and relish being bathed in color pouring through the windows onto our faces and feet.

Then, let's stand perfectly still and listen to the Sagrada Família sing her song of life.

This is my antidote to fascist domination right now.

We can return to the horror of war tomorrow, right now, let us sing a song that has waited 144 years to be heard.

Life is Fragile, Handle with Reverence. And song!

Janet

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