Because we seem to be in a “things will get worse before they get better” time in the collective, we have an opportunity to do even more civic depth work as “psychological citizens.” James Hillman describes a psychological citizen as one who works to “see through” events and sense the invisible patterns in public life.
Reading history books is one of my favorite things to do as a psychological citizen, as it is about reading life backward (to borrow another Hillman phrase). Bob Crawford, author of America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, From President to Political Maverick warns us that “We tread on unsteady ground when we attempt to draw parallels between the past and present. If moments and events do not repeat, perhaps people do.” Angelina Grimké is one of those people.
On May 16,1838, just days after getting married to fellow abolitionist Theodore Weld—which was considered the wedding of the century at that time and called “an abolition wedding”—Grimké found herself inside the newly built Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia speaking to a mixed-race audience as the building became surrounded by a mob. The mob wasn’t happy about the mixed-race audience and was afraid of “amalgamation.”
Grimké was not intimidated by the shouts coming from outside, even as rocks were hurled and the windows shattered. “What is a mob? What would the breaking of every window be? What would the levelling of this Hall be? … What if the mob should now burst upon us, break up our meeting and commit violence upon our persons—would this be any thing compared with what the slaves endure?”(p. 200)
The very next day a mob of 30,000 people surrounded the empty Pennsylvania Hall and threw rocks, broke down the door, and poured forth into the building. They set fire to a stack of broken pews. By 10:00 pm the roof collapsed and “only the charred walls of the building remained. The fire smoldered for a day. The charred remains sat untouched within sight of Independence Hall for decades to come, a message to all that the City of Brotherly Love would not tolerate the radicalism of the abolitionists.”
Imagine seeing those building remains for decades. It must have felt like nothing would ever change.
I looked up that May 16 date in my astrology software, along with all the other dates of the stories of this time period in the 1830s-1840s, and one placement appears in all of them: Pluto in Aries, which lasted from 1822-1853. This week, as we experience a massive Aries stellium, that same fire is back in the collective sky.
In that hall, Grimké was living out the Aries core theme: the struggle to individuate and, in this case, rise up against corrupt authority. Aries reflects the impulse to go into dangerous situations to assert one’s independent spirit.
Grimkés’ husband Theodore Weld, several years prior, endured many mobs and physical attacks as he traveled the country organizing for abolition. His powerful style of writing and speaking was described as “logic on fire” yet he refused to seek the limelight. He pivoted away from being a charismatic leader and became a “foot soldier” focused on writing and laboring behind the scenes.
Grimkés’ advice to Southern women who felt they didn’t have any power to overthrow the system was: “‘You are the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters of those who do; and if you really suppose you can do nothing to overthrow slavery, you are greatly mistaken.’ She tells her audience they can read on the subject, pray over the subject, speak on the subject, and act on the subject.” And so can we.
Or as historian Heather Cox Richardson said in a video back on September 18, 2025: “Figure out ways to take up space in this moment and be ungovernable (non-violently of course and legally)… this is literally what the people who established the United States of America did. They made themselves ungovernable.”
Logic on fire, taking up space, being ungovernable. Which of those three is the most uncomfortable for you? Which of the three do you need to stop apologizing for? Which ones have you expected others to do that you need to start doing yourself?
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