In Trainwreck: Woodstock ‘99, a 2022 docuseries on the shit-show that was the Woodstock ‘99 music festival, the goings-on of the festival are repeatedly referred to as quite literally hellish: one interviewee describes it as the “entrance to the gates of hell;” another, Colin Speir, said ”it was kind of like looking into the first ring of hell if the first ring of hell were fun;” an attendee says, “I really thought I was gonna die there at one point.”
From the classically-hellish fiery heat of late-July (and, of course, the fires and explosions that concert-goers would eventually start), to the mounds of garbage blowing around the tarmac alongside tainted drinking and showering water and improperly tended to porta potties that created conditions reminiscent of the mud that sinners are forced to lie in in Dante’s third circle of Gluttony, to the nudity and public sex that speak to the second circle of Lust, to the insane prices of water and food as well as the lack of proper security all fueled by the greed of corporations and individuals alike a la the fourth circle of Greed, to the extreme anger and violence (including rampant sexual assault and rape, property destruction, intense and dangerous mosh pits, fires, and more) reminiscent of circles five and seven (Anger and Violence), the festival represented many different depictions of what one might call Hell.
What does this have to do with astrology, or Aquarius?
At the time of the festival, the south node was in Aquarius conjunct Uranus, illustrating some of the worst of mob chaos, and perhaps most importantly, Neptune was in Aquarius as well. It’s interesting to consider the ways that the Roman festival of Saturnalia (Saturn is Aquarius’ traditional ruling planet) was a time of lawlessness, much like Woodstock, when all rules and social norms were (supposedly) suspended for a finite period of time and hedonistic revelry ruled.
It was striking to have the astrology in the back of my mind throughout the documentary and particularly when they showed the footage of the end of the third night of the festival when the festival organizers handed out 100,000 lit candles to the angry, dirty, drunk and otherwise intoxicated audience — what ever could go wrong?
For reasons that remain unclear, the organizers said that this was supposed to be a vigil of some sort, a moment when the kids were ‘taking a stand’ against gun violence. The idea seemed bizarre, disjointed and out of place to begin with, and it represented the ultimate Neptune in Aquarius bullshit: the illusion (Neptune) of activism (Aquarius). This kind of illusion has resurfaced often in the last several years as the Neptune in Aquarius generation (the people who were born around the time of the festival in 1999) began to come of age and while Saturn and Pluto spend time in Aquarius as well, initiating us into a long-term period of illusion-shattering in regards to what we see as activism and humanitarian work, and of touching Aquarius’ shadow. While many people genuinely care about the issues we face as a world, others are performing activism under social pressure or for social credit (some will say this is better than nothing and I don’t necessarily disagree; I certainly remember how bleak it all was before, when no one was expected to give a shit about anything), and it goes without saying that soulless corporations and media have never cared and will never care about anything but their profits; many of the limp actions they’ve taken to perform “activism” and “inclusion” in recent years are almost as cringey as a washed up pseudo-hippie handing out lit candles to an angry mob under the guise of a cause that not one among them has voiced support for. You can’t fake a soul in hell.