Every system of power believes it’s unshakable, doesn’t it? Kings build monuments to their glory, corporations weave their names into the skyline, and capitalism rewires our imaginations to believe its grip is eternal. But every great system has a weakness, and it’s not always shattered by force. Sometimes it’s a single thread pulled loose, a quiet rebellion, an unassuming act of defiance. This is also called subversion: the slow unraveling of power from within, using its own rules and tools against it.
Subversion isn’t about toppling the tower in one heroic strike. It’s about planting seeds in the cracks, repurposing what was built to control into something that liberates.
Astrology and capitalism both ask the same question: do you have free will? And some follow-ups: If so, where can you enact it effectively—and when you locate opportunities to do so, how can you make sure you’re prepared? They ask for different ends, but the inquiry is worthwhile either way.
Under capitalism, you believing that you always have a choice is central to the system’s functioning, even as choice is removed for all but a select few. Everyone else becomes disposable; fodder for the labor and extraction machine. And yet, if you’ve been categorized as fodder, capitalism still needs you to believe there’s a way out through a series of correct choices made by you and you alone. The illusion of free will serves a powerful purpose.
Within the ancient practice of astrology, the question of free will determines how you approach the planets. I’m less interested in settling the debate than I am in treating each chart as a map and assessing the conditions. The chart names patterns, timings, terrains. Some paths are open roads; some are switchbacks in fog. Fate, in this sense, is a weather report, and your level of agency lives in how you travel: what you pack, who you travel with, when you wait out a storm, when you move at night.
This is also where capitalist realism creeps in: the sense that “there is no alternative,” that our imagination has been fenced. It has narrowed our perception of astrology, too. It flattens the twelve houses into productivity metrics and self-optimization lanes. The 2nd house becomes “money mindset.” The 10th becomes “career ladder.” The 6th becomes “grind or perish.” When the map is colonized, travelers forget there were ever other routes.
But astrology is a tool, and tools aren’t neutral. If we care about wielding it properly, we have to see where capitalism has distorted the houses, and then reshape the tool for liberation. That reshaping is both imaginative and practical. What does a de-capitalized 1st house look like in a disabled body? What happens when the 10th is read as “radical accountability” instead of endless advancement? How might the 11th become infrastructure for solidarity rather than networking for clout?
Subverting Capitalism Through the Houses is a guided practice in this kind of reading. Together, we will trace the capitalist storylines grafted onto each house, offer liberatory reframes rooted in history and lived experience, and locate the windows where will can be enacted—personally and collectively—without feeding the machine.
What you’ll receive
- 20+ page guide with house-by-house distortions, reframes, and reflection prompts
- Live 90-minute session (orientation, a few deep dives, open Q&A)
- Recording + transcript for your own tempo
Sliding scale: $15-60
Live session: October 25th, 11:00-12:30 PDT
Register here.
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