I was at a Mass yesterday, in one of the most beautiful churches in the world - La Companía, in Quito. The curves of wall and ceiling enclosed me, so that I felt like an embryo in a jeweled egg. And the inside of the egg was covered with golden symbols ­ circles and half-circles, suns and flowers, an insistent message which repeated on every arching surface.

I felt that it was trying to tell me something. More, I felt that it had reached my brain without the consent of my consciousness. Meanwhile, a small figure in a white robe stood in the front of the church, and preached in Spanish that the holy family was poor and persecuted, just like the people who were occupying the pews.

What was I doing at a Mass? The uniformed man at the door had said that we couldn’t come into La Companía as tourists, but only as worshippers. So we ­ me, my lover, her mother, her grandmother, and her twin nephews ­ trailed in, and sat down in the last pew. For the rest of the group, raised as Catholics, it all came as second nature. But I was raised as a Unitarian, more or less. I stood up and sat down when they did, but I couldn’t bring myself to repeat, “Padre, ayúdanos,” with everyone else. After all, I’m a good pagan, a goddess-worshipper.

But I was moved. I was moved by the ceilings high above me, with their gleaming, tightly woven symbols. There was enough room to take flight ­ and yet, still, it seemed like an egg, a safe place for new beginnings. When the priest called for the kiss of peace, I was taken by surprise when my lover’s grandmother ­ and then everyone else in my pew ­ planted a kiss on my cheek and said, “Paz.” I thought to myself, “This is all the world needs, just to reach over and wish each other peace.”

After Mass ended in La Companía, we went up to the hill called Panecillo, and joined a more ribald throng. Strolling around, we admired the view of the sparkling city below. Above us towered the fifty-foot Virgin who looks out over Quito all year long. For the holidays, she was joined by an enormous and colorful crèche, sculpted out of wire and lights.

Although the breeze was cold, the air was savory. Vendors were selling fresh pork rinds, hot passion fruit juice (with or without aguardiente), hot dogs, cotton candy, meat kebabs, chicken stew, salchipapas, mote con chicharrón, and lots of other things under steaming lids. The twins bought fireworks from a gregarious woman with a flashing Santa hat, and other children gathered around as they set them off.

For my lover and I, this has been our first Christmas here in Quito. We’ve lived here five years, but we’ve always traveled during the holidays ­ either to Caracas or to the US. I have big plans for New Year’s Eve. One of the local customs is buy or make a dummy which symbolizes the old year, stuff him with explosives, and blow him up. Often the dummy is given the mask of a political figure, and I’m planning to put a G.W. Bush mask on mine. It should be very satisfying.

What will 2004 bring? There’s a flavor of newness, since Uranus is going into Pisces. Uranus spent the spring and summer in Pisces, but ducked back into Aquarius for the fall. Now it’s emerging again, and will stay in this sign for the next seven years.

At the same time, there’s something old about Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac. It’s the sign which finishes up the 84-year cycle of Uranus. It’s the sign of cosmic connection, the reunion with source, the end of the story. It’s followed by Aries, the sign of new beginnings ­ but that won’t be until 2010.

What can we expect from Uranus in Pisces? Uranus is the planet of change ­ and so, how will the world change? Will we be able to share our art, our faith, our celebrations? Will the differences between us melt, so that we can all worship in each other’s circles, and give each other the kiss of peace?

As the last sign of the zodiac, Pisces is the most idealistic and faith-based sign. It’s also the sign of sacrifice, and we all know that the most idealistic members of our community are often sacrificed. Whether they speak about turning the other cheek, or seeing the mountaintop, they are not usually with us long. It seems that humans can’t endure the voices of our conscience for long.

Pisces doesn’t just rule the spiritual impulse, but also other altered states ­ drugs, alcohol, music, romance, anything addictive. And so it’s the sign of the pure-hearted dreamer, but also of the person driven mad by loneliness or PCP. It’s the sign of holiness, but it’s also the sign of delusion. People are always reaching for things which promise to connect them to the divine, but these promises are not always kept.

Pisces is the sign under which boundaries dissolve ­ and this can happen both in beneficial and in harmful ways. In order to create a new world, you have to forsake reality (to some extent) and move towards a dream.

Some dreams are about finding fellowship, and seeing all people as worthy. People dream that the walls between nations and religions will dissolve, and we will all be wrapped in a common vision of universal love. But some dreams are about establishing new world orders built on the broken bodies of other people. Ordinary morality can fall by the wayside, to be replaced by the more bizarre products of the imagination.

The last time that Uranus was in Pisces, the League of Nations was formed, and the Hague was chosen as the seat of the International Court of Justice. In the US, women at last received the vote, with the 19th amendment to the Constitution. The ACLU was founded, and the first birth control clinic opened in New York City. Mahatma Gandhi appeared as a leader of the struggle for freedom in India.

At the same time, some more sinister things were happening. Some dreams and ideals were more twisted. In the US, the Ku Klux Klan was acquiring enough power to terrorize black communities for years. In Europe, Hitler was gathering power, and Mussolini seized it, becoming dictator. The Russian Revolution, its bright idealism only a few years old, turned into something more disquieting. Emma Goldman wrote “My Disillusionment in Russia” during the years when Uranus was in Pisces.

Uranus in Pisces will be a time of hypnosis. People will be charmed and drawn - by beauty, by power, by gold, by the need for safety, by charismatic speakers, and yes, by an ideal of universal love. We will all hear the mesmerizing music of change, but where will it lead us? What sirens will call us, as a world? And how can we know which of our dreams and our illusions is a path to peace?

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