Step into a world where the pulsing heart of America's nightlife intersects with history, culture, and the stars. As we sit down with Dr. Lucas Hildebrand, author of "The Bars Are Ours," we illuminate the profound legacy of gay bars in American society, from their role in the 1960s as bastions of community to their modern-day struggles and triumphs. Delve into the vibrant past of venues like Houston's Mary's bar, uncovering their place in the narrative of queer history and their function as platforms for political activism and communal solidarity.
In an enchanting twist, celestial insights from internationally acclaimed astrologer Lily Roddy elevate our conversation, casting a gaze upon the astrological currents that will shape 2024. From personal zodiac forecasts to broader cultural and economic shifts, Lily's expertise unveils the astrological influences that may sway the political arena, including President Biden's tenure and the tides of future elections. We wade through the complexities of societal issues, such as racism and gentrification, that have permeated the gay and lesbian community since the 1970s, all while contemplating the evolution of gay bars in an ever-changing societal landscape.
As we wrap up this episode of Queer Voices, our exploration transcends the mere recounting of events, offering a profound reflection on our shared past and insights into the future that awaits us. The episode's rich tapestry of narratives brings to life the enduring importance of spaces like gay bars in shaping identity and belonging, set against the backdrop of astrological phenomena that may herald a new chapter in our collective story. Join us for this enlightening journey as we honor the legacy of queer culture and peer into the promise of tomorrow.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
Step into a world where the pulsing heart of America's nightlife intersects with history, culture, and the stars. As we sit down with Dr. Lucas Hildebrand, author of "The Bars Are Ours," we illuminate the profound legacy of gay bars in American society, from their role in the 1960s as bastions of community to their modern-day struggles and triumphs. Delve into the vibrant past of venues like Houston's Mary's bar, uncovering their place in the narrative of queer history and their function as platforms for political activism and communal solidarity.
In an enchanting twist, celestial insights from internationally acclaimed astrologer Lily Roddy elevate our conversation, casting a gaze upon the astrological currents that will shape 2024. From personal zodiac forecasts to broader cultural and economic shifts, Lily's expertise unveils the astrological influences that may sway the political arena, including President Biden's tenure and the tides of future elections. We wade through the complexities of societal issues, such as racism and gentrification, that have permeated the gay and lesbian community since the 1970s, all while contemplating the evolution of gay bars in an ever-changing societal landscape.
As we wrap up this episode of Queer Voices, our exploration transcends the mere recounting of events, offering a profound reflection on our shared past and insights into the future that awaits us. The episode's rich tapestry of narratives brings to life the enduring importance of spaces like gay bars in shaping identity and belonging, set against the backdrop of astrological phenomena that may herald a new chapter in our collective story. Join us for this enlightening journey as we honor the legacy of queer culture and peer into the promise of tomorrow.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a home-produced podcast that has grown out of a radio show that's been on the air in Houston, texas, for several decades. This week, brian Levenka talks with Dr Lucas Hildebrand, author of the new book the Bars Are Ours History and Cultures of Gay Bars in America 1960 and after.
Speaker 2:Statistically we have fewer gay bars than we had 20 years ago, but that doesn't mean that the cultures have ended. It just means that their roles in culture continue to shift and I think particularly in the post-COVID moment we're seeing a reassessment and a real interest in having shared public spaces again after a few years of feeling like we might lose those spaces.
Speaker 1:Internationally acclaimed astrologer Lily Roddy, who lives here in Houston, will join us for our traditional New Year's look at what's in the Stars for 2024.
Speaker 3:For Aries this is a lot less chaos. In their life. Aries have been dealing with a lot of work and career disappointments, changes, things that are changing beyond their control, and it's likely to get just a whole lot better, particularly the further we get into the year 2024.
Speaker 1:Do you know what your sign is? Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 4:This is Brian Levenka, and today I'm speaking with author Lucas Hildebrand about the book the Bars Are Ours Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and after. Welcome to Queer Voices, Lucas, Thank you. Thank you for having me so tell us about this book and why you wrote it.
Speaker 2:So I realized around 2008 that there had never been a national history or any kind of book written on history of gay bars in America, even though if you asked any sort of gay person over 30, they would have told you that gay bars had been sort of the central public space for gay public life in America for the last several decades. So it just seemed like something that should exist in the world and it seemed like a really fascinating project to take on for myself as the next project.
Speaker 4:So how did you pick the bars that you did in the book?
Speaker 2:So it took several years of doing archival research, both in Los Angeles at the One Archives, which is the largest gay lesbian archive in the world, as well as traveling to as many different collections across the country as I could find, and I had a general sense that certain cities or certain topics would be in the book. But I wanted to make the book as comprehensive as possible in terms of having a kind of national coverage, and I also wanted to make sure that certain cities that might have been overlooked in other studies came to the fore in a certain way to understand that gay history doesn't only exist in New York, san Francisco, and so I really let the archive dictate what bars, what cities, what stories would ultimately become central to the book. And the book very deliberately does not start in the coasts but it starts in the heartland. It starts in Chicago, kansas City, denver and cities that sort of have very rich gay and lesbian histories but that oftentimes are overlooked in other accounts of this past.
Speaker 2:And when I was doing the research, houston has a lot of the most dedicated local queer archiving in terms of documenting the local gay and lesbian history in Houston, and Houston actually ended up being one of the most fascinating cities for me to do that research.
Speaker 2:How was it fascinating? Well, specifically, there was a particular bar in Houston called Marys, which, really more than any other bar that I researched, seemed like the absolute center of gay community but also political organizing, as well as creating sexual cultures, as well as being ground zero of the AIDS epidemic in Houston, and so it was one of the few bars in the country that seemed to do everything that a gay bar can do, and it was just. There's a lot of really fascinating ephemera related to it, both in terms of the stories and the writing about the bar. It was a bar that had a lot of commemorations in the press at different anniversaries and at the time of its closure it had very famous murals that were flagrantly visible so that anyone who drove down Westheimer might feel like they had been to a gay bar, even if they never crossed the threshold. And I was just really fascinated by the role that Marys in particular had in terms of creating a culture, creating a politics, in a way that I hadn't necessarily expected.
Speaker 4:And so did you come here to Houston to research Marys.
Speaker 2:So I came to Houston to do research and I discovered Marys while I was there for research. I was in Houston a few times to do research and at different archives, because there are actually multiple collections and multiple archivists in Houston, which I think actually reflects that there's such rich local, political and cultural history in Houston that isn't perhaps known beyond Houston and really there's such a depth of material in Houston that it was in many ways, one of the richest cities that I researched.
Speaker 4:And so, what did you learn about writing this book? What did you learn about bars or the gay culture?
Speaker 2:Well, certain things were interesting in terms of some things that we might have assumed were sort of had longer histories than we might expect. So, for instance, we might assume that drag had always been a gay bar staple and that actually wasn't the case. It only really emerges and solidifies in the mid to late 1960s as something that is specific to gay bars and gay culture and distinction from female impersonation that had been part of these traveling reviews and show lounges that were actually primarily for street audiences in a theatrical or vaudeville tradition. So the emergence of drag is something that happens actually later than I assumed it had.
Speaker 2:One of the other things I thought about and wanted to do with the book is to de-center Stonewall as the pivot in gay bar history. So one of the things that I argue in the book is that, although it's undeniable as a turning point in gay political history, the sort of bar culture had to have already been in place and people had to have already had a sense of enfranchisement and sort of a known culture and sort of a sense of this as our space Before the protests and the uprisings, to defend those spaces from being threatened. And so there was a rich and robust and developed bar culture that precedes the Stonewall riots that then become a turning point in gay liberation beyond it. But one of the things I really argue throughout the book is that basically every subculture, every political movement, every political debate within the community first really happens through the gay bar and in relationship to the bars. The bar becomes the way to focalize and think through larger community questions because it's the most central, most visible public and social space for gay public life.
Speaker 4:Why is this important for historical perspective into younger generations for them to read this book.
Speaker 2:Well, one of the things I think we see is that history is cyclical, so the same debates, the same concerns keep returning. And one of the things I found again and again in my research is all these political questions, all these debates. So, for instance, things like racism and sexism within the gay lesbian community is something that was already debated decades before my own experience of witnessing those tensions and those concerns. So we see it as early as the beginning of the 1970s that there's actually a really robust attention to discrimination and bias within the gay community. Similarly, in the last few decades we've seen a lot of attention to gentrification and the changing of gay neighborhoods. But we already see a lot of attention and debate and organizing and political discourse around those same questions, again as early as the early 1970s.
Speaker 2:So I think it's important that we actually learn from our past in order to move forward, but also understand that what we're experiencing now has histories.
Speaker 2:And one of the things that I found again and again and I found it with my students is that people, when they're young, feel like they're inventing culture, they're inventing nightlife, because they're experiencing it for the first time and they don't really have a sense of what came before.
Speaker 2:So part of it is about filling in knowledge of those histories, that there's still an excitement of going out for the first time. There's still an excitement of feeling like you're self-defining but we can learn from these histories. And it was just also something that I just thought was important to document because when I started working on the book, there was a lot of public comment and think pieces about the idea of the death of the gay bar, and one of the things I really pushed back against is that idea. So statistically we have fewer gay bars than we had 20 years ago, but that doesn't mean that the cultures have ended. It just means that their roles in culture continue to shift and I think, particularly in the post-COVID moment, we're seeing a reassessment and a real interest in having shared public spaces again after a few years of feeling like we might lose those spaces.
Speaker 4:You know it's interesting because for a while, like social media and kind of the apps were taking over and it's felt like the gay bars were dying. But you're right, the COVID pandemic has caused us to kind of reengage and kind of look for that social interaction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. I think one of the things that we see is that there were a lot of theories about why the gay bar was dying, and probably the most common were the cruising apps, which meant that you didn't have to go to a gay bar to find someone today or to hook up with. But I also always found, when I was going out, that people were using the apps in the spaces of the bar as well, so it wasn't an either or situation, but it changed the dynamic and the function of those bars. Similarly, the question of gentrification is important, because people couldn't afford to live in gay neighborhoods anymore and bars couldn't afford the rent on their buildings anymore, and so I think those economic questions probably had more impact than the social or the technological questions of the apps or those kinds of things.
Speaker 2:I also have heard over the years that things like gay marriage and social acceptance has diminished the need for gay bars, and that may be true insofar as it's no longer the only place a person might feel safe, but it doesn't. But I don't think gay marriage replaces bars. They have different functions within people's lives. It's just that the conditions of the external world have shifted in a particular way, and as we move into the present, I think there are generations now who have come out younger than people used to. So it used to be.
Speaker 2:People first came out by going to the bars whether they're 21 or sneaking in with a fake ID or going to an 18-plus night and it was a space to explore and figure out who you were and have a sense of potential or a sense of connecting to a community. And people are coming out at a younger age and maybe don't have that experience or bars don't play that role, but I think it still has an important function as a space. That's unlike anything else. So even if you're coming out at a younger age, that's not the same experience. There's no sort of replicating the experience of being on a dance floor surrounded by people or the sense of you know safety in PDA or cruising sort of in person. Those things just don't exist, you know, at chain restaurants in the suburbs or any place else. That's not a specifically protected and designated gay or queer space.
Speaker 4:So why did you choose the 1960s? Is that kind of the heyday of the gay gay bars? And before the HIV-AIDS epidemic?
Speaker 2:Well, I think sort of when I started the project, in my mind the heyday was the 70s. It was this sort of liberation moment of discos, bathhouses, sex clubs, and certainly I still have a kind of romantic vision of that period, of this sense of excitement and euphoria and expansion and possibility. But what I found in my research is that it's really around 1960 that we begin to see certain things solidify. So we begin to see the first leather bars that are gay owned and defining their own cultures. We begin to see bars having drag performances that are gay bars and that are not show lounges or they're not for straight slumbers and tourists.
Speaker 2:By 1960 we begin to have gay travel guides. We begin to have a gay press. We just begin to have all of these things coalesce around 1960 that gay bars are now sort of unambiguously gay and they're beginning to self-define their own cultures. We begin to have openly gay ownership of bars and it's really around that moment that the culture of gay bars begins to solidify, sort of in advance of Stonewall, but also in the wake of the post-war Cold War or lavender scare moment. We begin to have this coalescing happening around 1960 and it's a period that hasn't really been understood as the defining start point. Generally we have a lot of histories of World War II as people are sort of moving around. We have three World War II histories with George Chauncey's K, new York, and we have Stonewall and After Histories. But the 1960s hadn't really been thought of as this formative moment for what came after.
Speaker 4:So you know a friend of the show, jd Doyle. This book sounds very familiar to me. Sounds like his book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean. So JD Doyle has been an absolutely essential sort of partner, supporter, collaborator. I've relied quite a bit on both his archival materials and his website, but also his knowledge of Houston, history and sort of opening doors and making connections there. So certainly my book would not have been possible without JD Doyle, so I give him all the props in the world. I think the distinction is that his book is a memoir and it's traveling in one particular moment, and my book does travel the country, but each chapter is a different topic or political issue or genre of bar located in a different city.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. You have an event in Houston coming up. Can you talk about that? I do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'll be doing a talk at Rice University and then the following night I will be doing a public reading for the broader community at the Phoenix Room at the Eagle. So I'll be at Rice on January 17th, which is a Wednesday, at 4 pm, and I will be at the Phoenix Room at the Eagle at 7 pm on January 18th, the Thursday.
Speaker 4:And so, as we're wrapping up, can you talk about the reviews for the book?
Speaker 2:Sure, the response has been very generous, I would say so, and it's been really gratifying.
Speaker 2:It's a project I spent about 15 years working on and it was really important to me to get the book right.
Speaker 2:And I also felt that, even though I am an academic myself, the absolute worst thing the book could be is boring. As a history of gay bars. It's just like a boring book shouldn't exist. So I really tried to both have comprehensive research historically and archivally, but to give the book a voice and a texture of kind of lived experience, so bringing in either anecdotes from archives and from the gay press or bringing in my own experiences traveling through different spaces and making connections between past and present. So the critical response has been very positive. I've done readings in Chicago, in Kansas City, in Los Angeles and Omaha, in Boston and so they've all been really lovely, lovely experiences and the book has gotten, I would say, a surprising amount of attention for what is an academic book. So it got a positive review of the New York Times, it got a really lovely write-up in the Bay Area reporter and it's been a book that it's been very gratifying to see that audiences are connecting to the way that I hoped.
Speaker 4:The book is called. The Bars Are Arts, histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America 1960. In Africa, we've been speaking with the author, lucas Hildebrand.
Speaker 2:Well, lucas, anything you want our listeners to know before we go, Houston is actually my favorite chapter of the book, which I shouldn't say in any other city, but I'm really excited to share the work with audiences in Houston in January.
Speaker 4:Thank you. I'm excited to hear that you like Houston the best. I read the book as quickly as I could. I did get through all of it. I read the Houston chapter and it was very exciting and interesting, so I look forward to seeing you when you come to Houston. Okay, great, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:This is Core Voices Coming up, astrologer Lily Roddy with a look at what the Zodiac has to say about 2024.
Speaker 5:This radio program where voices has existed since the 1970s. On KPFT we have this little crew of folks working every week to produce what's no longer unique because we're almost mainstream now, but we're still an important voice that might not otherwise get heard because it's not on that many places. So KPFT is very important to give voices to those who might not otherwise have voices. So, as Glenn always says, you participate by listening. You should also participate by supporting the station. So please go to kpftorg and make your donation right away.
Speaker 1:This is Glenn from Queer Voices. Have you ever thought about getting into podcasting? Maybe you're already active in the LGBTQ community and you'd like to make your voice heard. We at Queer Voices are actively looking for volunteers to find and interview community members for this podcast. You don't need any radio experience, just a desire to make a difference, or maybe you have something to say. Maybe you want to speak editorially. Whatever your skills and connections, we need more help putting this show together. Every week. Just contact show host Brian Levinca through our Queer Voicesorg website and say you want to get involved. Hopefully our listeners will soon be hearing your voice on Queer Voices.
Speaker 5:That's Queer Voices, the worldwide podcast, and Queer Voices, the radio show, fridays at noon on KPFT Houston 2023 was quite the year, and we had with us astrologer Lily Roddy to tell us about what she saw as possible in that coming year. She's back with us to talk about what promises to be an even more intense year, 2024. So, lily, let's start off with this. Looking back at 2023, was there anything that was a surprise for you?
Speaker 3:Well, hey there, I'm really glad that I get to come back and enjoy my time with you once again. So I'm, you know, totally ready to talk about last year, I think, the only thing that surprised me about last year. I just want to say I followed Trump's chart a lot and I've actually been following it since the 80s. I'm surprised he's not in jail by now. That's about the only thing that I'm actually surprised about. The rest of the things that we that I've been looking at, we're still involved in big economic shifts in the USA and that's going to continue all through the end of 24, really doesn't begin to resolve itself until the beginning of 25, 2025.
Speaker 3:And in 25 is a big year because we're having two of our major bodies Pluto and Neptune. They are the slowest moving planets. Consequently, they represent the largest number of people. So whenever they switch signs, as they are doing, that creates a big shift in our cultural views and, ultimately, who's in power. So we're sort of looking at big shifts 24, 25. But, yes, there's a lot of still a lot of struggle around finishing up the past and not to be too detailed about this, but part of our problem in the USA is that we have where our chart has Pluto and Capricorn, and Pluto is the planet of death and rebirth, purging all sorts of things. And what's been happening? It's come back to the same place that it was when the USA was started, essentially 1775, 1776. So we are essentially going through those very same energies. We're not really done with them, Of course. We all know that was the American Revolution, but that was a huge time and we're still in it and this is a repeat of those energies. Pluto repeats its energies about every 248 years.
Speaker 5:Well, like I said, it should prove interesting. So you say there'll be a shift economically, but right now we're actually in a fairly good economic situation. Employment is high, inflation is low. So is this a positive change that's taking place, or what should people? Be on the lookout for.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're just we're moving and changing the way we all do business and what's important to us, as as Pluto moves to a sign, it creates a sense of expunging. So, as Pluto moves into Aquarius, for the next 21 years, essentially this is going to be a big shift in group consciousness and we'll see the downfall of a lot of different groups and organizations, something like you know, one of the particular political parties which is shooting itself in the foot. A lot of the different organizations and groups could go through a huge change and I think people are going to be more open to, more open to compassion than we have been before, well, really since the Civil War.
Speaker 5:It almost sounds like that dawning of the age of Aquarius thing.
Speaker 3:It does, doesn't it?
Speaker 5:So being an old hippie and all that. So do you call it a forecast, a prediction? What do you call it when you cast a chart, and are you predicting something? Are you forecasting? Are you talking about possibilities? What exactly is it?
Speaker 3:Okay, astrology is an ancient language and basically what astrologers do is they learn to translate the symbols. The chart itself and the continuing movement of the bodies in the sky really represent a timing and a sense, a calendar or a clock. So what I do is I just look at the movement of the planets and what areas of someone's chart or life that will be affected, and then I, you know, work on that. You could say that was somewhat predictive, but astrologically it's kind of like you would expect these things to happen. So they don't seem predictive to me. But if you don't follow astrology or are involved in metaphysics in a way, you may not see all of those things.
Speaker 5:So the United States of America you said we're kind of like in the same time frame astrologically, as we were at the time of the American Revolution. What is the birthday? Is it July 4th 1776?
Speaker 3:That is the birth date that we use. That's the birth date that our country celebrates. In reality, there is no actual clear date.
Speaker 5:But that's what is used if you're like trying to look at overall for the country.
Speaker 3:Exactly. I mean, it's the date we choose to celebrate and as an astrologer I sort of look at the significance of that particular historical era around that time 1775 to 1780 or so and just to kind of add to some of what we already are seeing, is that one of the very things that I'm very uncomfortable with is that Neptune another, the other slow mover, is just about to enter Aries. The last time this happened was the Civil War. So to me, I've been seeing examples of obvious discrimination on a real public sort of level, as opposed to it being more subterfuge or hidden.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we've seen some evidence of that. Hopefully something like that will not happen, because we've got enough bad things going on in the world and we sure don't need that here at home. So when you sit down and you're looking at the coming year, do you kind of do an overview for the whole year?
Speaker 3:Well, actually, because I write my you know my column for Elf Smart, I do an overview for each sign for the year.
Speaker 5:And that'll be coming up in the January issue.
Speaker 3:It should be. I've already written it.
Speaker 5:Okay, so you can have that as a go-by for what we're going to be talking about. Lily Roddy is an astrologer with over what? 25 years of experience 40. Oh, 40. Oh my gosh, lily, that's wonderful. And you not only write the column in OutSmart Magazine, but you also do the Lily Roddy Show. Where is that available?
Speaker 3:Well, right now that's at lilyroddyshowcom and you can connect with me there and you know, or you can find me on OutSmart or on Facebook. That's probably the easiest place to find me. Yeah, for a chart for an individual, different than sort of looking at sort of this huge forecast. You know what are the potentialities. An individual chart is based on your birth date, your time and your birth location and consequently, because of that, I can offer a lot more detail and a lot of things are more, much more specific to that individual. And those people, as you know, are just aware of their Sun sign, what sign they were born under Capricorn, gemini, sage, whatever it may be. But when I look at the chart, I'm looking at the placement of all of the planets in our solar system and and they represent archetypes that's kind of what we refer to them nowadays as opposed to gods, and so each planet has its own specific meaning and and how it interacts with the rest of the chart, and that's kind of what I do is translate that information into what's going on.
Speaker 5:Do you feel like there's a certain intuitiveness to how you translate?
Speaker 3:You know a lot of people ask me that question. I think it helps if you, if you have some intuition, if you have a lot. Of course, that helps even more it helps if you're good at translating or you understand symbols. Although I think of myself as an astrologer translator, the reality is that when I was in school I took seven years of Latin, so I spent a great deal translating and getting used to that idea. I'm pretty sure that helped me be able to sort of understand the symbols. For example, venus in the chart represents love relationships. It represents the things we enjoy, but Venus in the negative can represent all the things that are bad for us gluttony, excessiveness. So you know, each planet has both a negative and a positive presentation in the way we interpret it.
Speaker 5:When are people most likely to come to you to have their chart cast?
Speaker 3:When their life is horrible.
Speaker 5:And so they're looking for some kind of hope.
Speaker 3:I would actually say more of a sense of an understanding of where they are and in then a better way to navigate. I won't say that some people aren't looking for hope, because that would be true I mean, it would be true of me, but maybe it certainly is. You know, people are looking to understand why they're in this phase. Some of the things I would do are to explain why it's happening, how long it's going to occur, the impacts it may have in your life, both you know, positive and negative.
Speaker 5:Some more guidance.
Speaker 3:I prefer to look at it that way. I'm not. I would never tell you not to come see me, but you know, if you just want to ask me, it's just a good day to lose weight. Probably not a good thing to call.
Speaker 5:Because some of the things are fairly general. It's like, oh, you should watch your finances or you should maybe not have that second piece of chocolate cake. I mean, there's some things that are just kind of common sense things. But as we move through the year, the astrological year starts, I believe, in March.
Speaker 3:Well, you mean it starts with the with Aries.
Speaker 5:Right, and why is that?
Speaker 3:That's because Aries is on the far eastern side of the wheel and it represents the east, where the sun rises.
Speaker 5:So astrologically, that's the new year.
Speaker 3:That's probably a good way to look at it. The beginning of Aries is sort of the beginning of the cycle. Aries is the energy of initiation and getting started, followed up by Taurus, which is the energy of persistence and creating stability. So yeah, through each sign there is a sequence of personal growth for all of us actually.
Speaker 5:So let's start off with an overview for 2024. What are some of the major aspects that you're looking at?
Speaker 3:Okay, well, one is that when I was talking about was some of the economic elements that are going on, and it is true that our economy is doing better. I actually thought that it would be doing better because of the time that I'm Biden took office and then there was an expected recession at that particular time. So, and that happened the same time with JFK when he came into office, and both of them presented ideas that really helped navigate through a lot of the difficulty of the economic period that we're in. Mostly, it's that we're dealing with sort of a lack of power overall and a struggle that you know, that's obvious, it's just going on. You know, within the country, I do think that we are going to see a greater level of divide, because that is part of the energy cycle that we're in. I wish it wasn't true, but nevertheless, this is the energy that prompted the Civil War, which was about, you know, people being repressed in certain states, you know, trying to cut off their ability to be free, obviously. So that's going to be big.
Speaker 3:The the eclipses this year are in Aries and Libra, so that means that, and the eclipses are in May excuse me, march and April, and then September and October and those eclipses, since they'll be in Aries and Libra, have a lot to do with our relationships with other people or other countries, and it could be a real push and pull kind of tug-of-war energies with the eclipses in those particular signs. So there may be more of a conflict, conflictual element going on worldwide. I would kind of expect that. So I do think that things are, you know, continue on some level to remain unsettled. Things will improve, but but honestly I mean they're just not going to make the kind of improvement that were, that a lot of us are going to go and finally breathe. That probably just doesn't happen until we get into 25, and that's probably the spring of 25.
Speaker 5:Interesting. Now we don't want to be like Nikki Haley and deny that the reason the civil war happened was because there were people who wanted to keep other people enslaved, and they did. They did that because that was what their economy was based on and they knew that if they didn't have unpaid labor, that it would be an effect on them. But we did have. That is the kind of the same thing that happened on January 6th, when they stormed the capital and tried to overturn an election. It was a matter of those states wanting to secede from the Union. So I think you're right. I think there is a divide. It's hard to imagine that it could get even more so. Do you have any ideas about how to not navigate that?
Speaker 3:Well, I just think that we have to, you know, find people on I guess you could use this term who are actually concerned about the way our government runs, on all elements. You know both political parties and not, you know, and not these really horrible politicians that are, you know, taking and running the Republican Party, which doesn't exist anymore. Of course, so many Republicans came over to vote for a Biden, thank goodness, you know. So many Republicans are now Democrats and I believe the Democratic Party is a lot more, has a more conservative tone because of that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, the biggest difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and you can just look at their platforms if you want to know what those parties stand for is is that the Democratic Party really is the big tent party.
Speaker 5:It is inclusive. They made sure that in the rules that they had equality built in, that there has to be a certain number of women, there has to be a certain number of people of color. They recognize LGBTQ A plus rights. So there is a stark contrast and people have to look at okay, what do I believe, but how do I think it should be? And that can be a guiding element there. Is there a way for you to chart the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, or is that because we don't really have a birth? Do we have a birth date for either of those?
Speaker 3:Actually the answer that is yes. I actually have both of those start dates and, as you could well imagine, the Republican Party is going through a period of self-destruction. The Democratic Party is actually more stable and but in a couple of years there are some big upheavals coming for the Democratic Party. I kind of expect that because of Plutus movement into Aquarius, which is going to change the dynamics of all groups and organizations, much like when Plutus moved through Capricorn from 2008 to 2025, and that was the death of business and the reinvention of business, and that's well and that's what that energy is. That's Plutus moving into Aquarius the representation of groups, community humanity within society.
Speaker 5:And part of that had to do with world events such as the COVID pandemic and how that affected us on so many levels, and such as the way we do business, the way we accomplish work in this country, has changed dramatically in just about four years. It's just, it's like it's a different world. We certainly have the issue of technology and how that has changed and shaped our world, and especially now with the advent of artificial intelligence and what we may be dealing with with that some days. I think if we let the robots take over, we might be better off. So let's go through the various signs. So let's start off with Aries and tell us what we're looking at in 2024.
Speaker 3:Okay for Aries. This is a lot less chaos in their line. Aries have been dealing with a lot of work and career disappointments, changes, things that are changing beyond their control. That's likely to get just a whole lot better, particularly the further we get into the year 24. This is also a big shift in their group and political associations, or even business associations. There will be sort of redefining, looking for their own tribe in a way, but it's a. It's a better year and it's a more socially active time for Aries, but there's still somewhat gun shot and still trying to recover. Aries, libra, cancer, capricorn those four signs have been the most impacted by Pluto and so there those particular signs go through the greatest level of change as Pluto moves into Aquarius. And, trust me, this is a long period, pluto being Aquarius for 21 years and so Pluto will have the biggest impact on Aquarians, leos, taurus and Scorpios over the next 20 years. Shall I continue on to Taurus?
Speaker 5:Sure.
Speaker 3:Okay, taurus. Now for the fixed signs Taurus, leo, scorpio and Aquarius but particularly for Taurus, this continues to be a really active and positive year for you and just all kinds of ways relationships, career, all of those things are better there's. Even if you're single after Mercury goes direct January 8th, then this is a good time to connect with other people. If you're looking for a partnership, either business or personal and a lot of the Torians are sort of looking at doing something that's more independent on their own, a lot of times, if you're older and having some of these aspects, they can be retirement aspects as opposed to initiating energies. Gemini's are dealing with a much more focused direction than they have been really for the last probably 14 years, and this is a big career investment, energy time. They're paying a lot more attention to what they want to do. If you're younger, then this is a time where you're going to want to take on a greater role in your career and if you're like a stay at home parent, then you're going to take a greater role within your community. Relationship energies improve a lot for Gemini's as we get into the spring and then that's really good for Gemini's a lot of positive energy, travel, expanded education. It's really an upbeat time for Gemini and that will actually be strong from May of 24 until June of 25, so that's a very positive time. So Gemini is dealing with both, really, saturn and Jupiter. Jupiter is expansive, saturn is refractive, so this is part of them about wanting to expand but at the same time, being cautious. That's going to be a big deal in their charts, so we're going to see relationships and commitments, all kinds of things. The cancers, much like the Aries, capricorn and Libras, are having a lot of less upheaval period in their life, and particularly for the cancers, in partnerships. Now this is going to be a better time for writing or teaching, any kind of educational process, and for the cancers and this is also true for Capricorns the eclipses are in your career and home sectors, so that means that there's going to be doors opening for your career opportunities and then possibly relocation or moving or doing some sort of home repair.
Speaker 3:For the Leos, there's a huge shift in relationships and part of the reason is because the opposite sign of Leo is Aquarius and that's where Pluto will be. So Pluto will be having the strongest impact on the Leos that are born in essentially the first four to five days of the sign and this can be a huge element of change. I mean, this can be retirement, this could be starting your own business, this could be major shifts in the family. Older people might be dying off. There might be a new sort of energy for the overall family.
Speaker 3:It's just a busy time. It's a busy time for all the fixed signs Leo, taurus, scorpio and Aquarius, virgos. Now Virgo is experiencing similar energies to Gemini, so they're having a lot of Saturn and that's this sort of getting their act together, being a lot more serious, focusing on directions, revitalizing their career, making long-term goals, particularly associated with their career excuse me, their relationship. If you're in a good partnership and you're a Virgo, then this is really a good transit. If you're in a difficult relationship, then this essentially means that you have to fix your problems or your relationship will not continue. So some part of this is kind of a conscious downsizing. So there's a lot of opportunity, but yet an element of caution. For Virgo Libras this is, and for you there's just less chaos with home and family. You may be either considering moving or downsizing. There could be massive shifts in your family hierarchy, but there is definitely an improved focus on your health and exercise, and then another issue which you've been working on, which the Libras have been working on for a while, and that is to rid themselves of debt. It's a big deal for them they're really working on. That has a lot to do with their personal sense of freedom. Now for Scorpios, especially the ones born in again the first four to five days of the sign. This is where Pluto is going to have its impact, and this could be major shifts in your family. It could mean you moving, relocating. It could be changes that occur at your workplace that don't really have anything to do with you but affect you personally. Could be major changes in the ownership or even in the management of the company. This is definitely in time for clearing out of the past and, you know, letting go of a lot of things. Strangely enough, relationships are still fairly positive through the spring, but as we get past the spring, scorpios are looking for a much closer and much more intense connection with their partner.
Speaker 3:Sagittarians. You are still paying attention to your health and work routines. That is going to be going on all year for you, and this is a real. This is a year of boundaries for the Sages Sages, naturally, an energy. That's about expansion and growth and often taking on more than they can handle. But this year you're going to be a lot more controlled about that. You're much more concerned about how you use your resources time, living, money and you're really expecting people to grow up and act like an adult. So you won't have as much patience for people that are having the same problem over and over, and this could be a time where you could look to buy a new home or expand on that part If you're younger. If you're older, it may be just the reverse. You may be doing some downsizing there and then relationships improve a great deal for the Sages in spring, and then that'll be good for the whole year, all the way through June, so that should make them a lot happier.
Speaker 3:For Capricorn again, just like the rest of the Cardinal signs Aries, capricorn, libra and Cancer there's less chaos and less demand of your time and energy. This has been a real struggle for Capricorn. Pluto has been moving through your sign and Pluto creates changes that affect you personally but aren't about you personally. And as Deborah was giving an example of COVID, that'd be a great example of things happening to us that aren't really about us on a personal level, but do affect us personally. The eclipses are also occurring in the home and career sector for Capricorn, so this could easily be a better time to look for something more stable and sort of step away from a lot of the drama that you've been involved in. You're definitely getting your personal habits and shape and for some for some of the younger Capricorns this can be a better time to have children.
Speaker 3:Aquarius. Now Pluto is moving into your sign, aquarius, and Pluto moves about four degrees a year. Each sign is 30 degrees big, and so Pluto, in its direct and retrograde motion, moves forward four degrees and then retrogrades back two degrees, which is why it takes so long for Pluto to move through a sign. This is going to be a huge shift in consciousness for Aquarians. I mean, this is really their ultimate time of sort of death and rebirth, detoxification or my favorite term, the cosmic anima, and this is really getting rid of the negative things in your life. It's a personal downsizing time. It's a super therapy, improving your health, getting rid of people that aren't good for you. If you're younger, then this can be a time where you may want to start your own career, your own business, and if you're older. This can also be represented by time of wanting to retire or cut back on the work that you're doing.
Speaker 3:For the Pisces, this is a year of rebuilding and focusing on your future career and, ultimately, long term security. Pisces people have been dealing a lot with Neptune and not been as focused as they probably would like to be. Neptune Pisces energy is not always a very focused energy anyway. But Saturn the planet of boundaries, career, long term security will be in the sign of Pisces and will be there for the next two years. So this is a real stabilizing energy sort of makes Pisces be a lot more discriminatory and not want to help everyone that comes into their existence. But it's a better time for really having more control in their own life and also for Pisces, this also could be a time where you're moving or relocating based on some element of work. So that sort of takes us through all of the 12 signs.
Speaker 5:This is Deborah Moncrease Bell and you're listening to Queer Voices. Our guest is Lily Roddy, an astrologer with over 40 years of experience. She writes a monthly column for Outsmart Magazine, which is available in print and online, and you've shared so much about what we're looking at astrology wise. And you mentioned the eclipses, and we have a really big eclipse happening in April of 2024 that is going to the full totality is going to be in parts of Texas. Does that make a difference? Where the shadows actually fall?
Speaker 3:Yes, it does and absolutely does. The eclipse, the energy of the eclipse is going to be a lot stronger, right where the shadow is. That's exactly right, and it will have great impact on the lunar eclipse is March 25th and that's at five Libra, and the solar eclipse is on April 8th and that's at 19th Aries. So that is definitely has a lot to do with all kinds of relationship energies, not just like who's your boyfriend, who's your girlfriend, but our relationship with other countries and and you know who sides with this and who sides against us- I see.
Speaker 5:So should we go and be as close as we can to view the totality and, by all means, wearing protective our gear. Don't be looking straight at the sun when this takes place.
Speaker 3:You mean don't follow the example of Trump?
Speaker 5:Exactly. I think that's good advice in general.
Speaker 3:I totally agree with that.
Speaker 5:You said you've been following him. Have you done a chart for Biden?
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, I do charts on every person run for every office that I can get my hands on. Biden is a big time Scorpio, which is why you should never count him out, because he doesn't always look like he's so powerful. But I would just say don't mess with it. And but he has this really big Libra energy in his chart, which is really about fairness and equality, and he really seems to sell that. I mean, I really that's so genuine in his presentation and and he has done such a better job pulling.
Speaker 5:He dug us out from a mess and between the previous administration and the whole COVID pandemic and, like I said, we're much better off with the economy and in world relations he was kind of a sleeper. I mean, there was a lot of us, he was not our first choice, but he actually is having a transformational presidency and I just wish more people would pay attention to that, because you know, there's all the oh he's so old and all this, but he's getting stuff done, very important stuff. So it behooves us to be supportive and to see where we want to go, where we want to put our collective energy together as we approach this coming election year and as we look to the future. Lily, thank you so much for being with us today and I look forward to seeing what happens.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much. I was excited about being here again for the second year and it's just so enjoyable to have this conversation with you and, you know, look forward to doing it again.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think it will be a tradition.
Speaker 3:All right, excellent, excellent. I look forward to you and to everyone there at KBFT.
Speaker 5:Thank you. I would say I never thought I would be able to say anything like this.
Speaker 1:Martha what that fellow on the wireless? Just say Something about him. Interwebs. You don't have to ask Martha. We've got all the names, dates and web page links for people, events and anything else mentioned in the show right on our own website. It's QueerVoicesorg. We even link to past shows and other tidbits of information. So check it out, QueerVoicesorg. Besides, Martha is a cat. She doesn't know anything about websites. This has been Queer Voices, which is now a home-produced podcast and available from several podcasting sources. Check our web page QueerVoicesorg for more information. Queer Voices executive producer is Brian Levinca. Andrew Edmondson and Deborah Moncrief Bell are frequent contributors. The news wrap segment is part of another podcast called this Way Out, which is produced in Los Angeles.
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Speaker 1:For Queer Voices. I'm Glenn Holt.