My brother lives in the US, and when I asked him what kind of news they’d gotten about Evo Morales’ inauguration, and he said, “Well, we heard a lot about his striped shirt.”

Here in Quito, the headlines have been huge. “Histórico Ascenso de un Indígena Al Poder” – historic ascension of an indigenous person to power – trumpeted El Comercio, our local newspaper. It shakes five hundred years of established order here. The children of colonial invaders have been in charge for all this time, but suddenly, things are different. An old line in the sand, a line that Columbus first drew, is getting smudged.

And what about the power structure that stood behind Columbus – the financial backing, the strict religious beliefs, the centuries of hereditary privilege, the unreasonable and inflexible moral standards? What happens to them, if that line in the sand is erased? Do the invaders all get back in their boats and go home? It’s a little late for that, I guess. We can only do one thing, and that’s gingerly make our way towards truly diverse societies, in which all gifts are welcomed and all people valued.

This seismic shift comes from Saturn in Leo and Neptune in Aquarius. Leo is the sign of kings, of leadership and privilege, and Aquarius is the sign of new social orders. With Saturn and Neptune in these opposing signs, ranged against each other in a fixed cross, the political structure has been cracking and reforming. When established power loses its toe-hold, change comes rushing in to fill the vacuum.

In the US, the press doesn’t pay much attention. They did talk about Evo Morales’ striped shirt, so perhaps they also mentioned that he refuses to wear a necktie. Instead he chooses more traditional garments.

Did the US press say that Morales’ inauguration speech was in Spanish sprinkled with Quechua and Aymara? Did they say that he asked for a minute of silence, with only the sound of the “pututu” (cow’s horn), in which to think about the martyrs of liberation, including Che Guevara? Did they say that he warned the US that they couldn’t come in and subjugate Bolivia, using the fight against drug-traffickers as an excuse?

Something else followed Columbus off that boat – mainly a morbidly restrictive attitude towards women. And that’s changing now too.

And so now we have Michelle Bachelet, who won Chile’s presidential election last month. She will be the first female president in South America. She won my heart when she said she approved of gay marriage, a very bold stance in a Catholic country. More, she is an agnostic and a single parent. Bachelet’s drive comes from her Mars/Pluto conjunction in fiery Leo, and I imagine there’s some rage in there too – in spite of her ladylike sun in Libra.

The seismic shifts extend beyond Latin America. What about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was inaugurated in Liberia on January 17? She’s the first female president in Africa. Sirleaf has a cautious Capricorn moon, but her Mercury in Scorpio opposes Uranus, so she has gotten ahead on brains, creativity, and resourcefulness.

Both Bachelet and Sirleaf have spent time in prison for their beliefs. Both are healers, in countries torn by agonizing dictatorships. Both open the door for other women to attain positions of leadership, in cultures that have marginalized our gender.

Things are definitely changing, but they don’t seem to notice it in the States. There, Bush and Cheney have managed to cling to power (so far), although Bush’s approval rating has sunk to a new low. Will they hold on in February?

Cheney has the sun and Mercury in Aquarius, proving that this sign – even when strongly invested in the future - is not always all that enlightened. In fact, Cheney has been working towards radical changes in the social order, trying hard to rip up the Bill of Rights by its roots. He has a fixed T-square involving the sun opposing Pluto, with Jupiter/Saturn in Taurus squaring both. So my sense is that he basically wants power, and the conservative position has been a well-established route to that for him.

The Jan 29 new moon falls right on top of Cheney’s T-square, so power may not be sweet for him in February. And the full moon on February 13 makes another T-square with Cheney’s Mercury and Uranus, so he may have to talk fast to save himself. The fall of Cheney would hit Bush hard, although I don’t see Bush’s power wrested away from him quite yet.

Yes, it’s definitely a time of change. Of course, I’m not so pleased about the change in Canada, a shift to the right after twelve years of Liberal rule. But Stephen Harper’s stated positions still seem better than that of the majority of Democrats lately. (Yes, we’re all quite disenchanted with you, Hillary!)

For those who live in the States, it’s not easy to be optimistic about the future – and the press is a big part of that. While these stories of amazing world change are downplayed, the focus is on the sheepish behavior of most Democrats on the Hill. Is there anything that can be done about the Supreme Court’s imminent turn to the right, when Alito puts his butt on the bench? Most Democrats seem resigned to the Bush/Cheney plan to take over all three branches of government, and then the world.

But the United States is not the world. That’s something that doesn’t get a lot of publicity there. They would like you to believe that they are in control of this whole madly-whirling blue/green globe – or will be soon. But it just ain’t so.

These days, most of the graffiti that I see in Quito is about globalization. There are kids with cans of spray paint, writing “TLC” (Free Trade Agreement) and then crossing the initials out with a big red line. Yesterday I saw a graffito in English that said “TLC – To Kill Latin Countries”.

New lines are being drawn in the sand, or mostly on the walls. The people stare the colonizing forces in the eye. The colonists back up, look around. They wonder what life would be like without their neckties, without the heavy guns, without those stern religious precepts. It’s anybody’s guess who scuffs out the lines in the sand first.

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