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Today the Moon in Libra makes a sextile to the Sun in Leo as it moves through the waxing crescent phase. This is a time of practicing trusting intuition and also cultivating curiosity, especially our interests in others. How might we move through the world differently—especially in movements toward justice and liberation—is we came to one another with curiosity? As Kate Bornstein has said, “I have problems with the word ‘ally.’ Many people think, ‘I accept you, therefore I’m an ally.’ No, you’re not. You know, you’re an accepting person. Ally means you ask me what I need. I tell you. And you tell me what or how much of that you can actually supply … Ask. Don’t assume you know.” As the Moon moves through a square with Mercury in Cancer, there’s potential for emotionally challenging conversations that seem to stretch our bonds to one another beyond what may be comfortable. But the Moon rules Mercury in this configuration; even if friction arises, look for the ways in which we can actually still find belonging with one another. This is a vital resource as the Moon moves into an opposition with Aries. Challenging conversations may escalate into conflict that feels as if it pits individual assertiveness against the needs of the collective. Remember, there is no individual who is not constituted in collective relations. Whatever conflict arises, the opposition challenges us to find synthesis—how to bring personal needs into the collective in ways that need not stay locked in adversity. 
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Today the Moon in Virgo moves through a square with Venus in Gemini, an opposition to Neptune in Pisces, then trines to Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn. We may feel as if our intentions for efficiency are at odds with our desires for meaningful connection and exchange. Stay adaptable. Stay open to the possibility that the practical implementation of our ideals might involve compromise and working at a more manageable scales. When we accomplish what can be done with the available resources rather than fixating on what is out of reach, we may find that more becomes possible than would not have been otherwise. As the Moon then makes a trine to Saturn in Capricorn, we may step into our roles as architects of change, building on the foundations that have been laid in order to create movement that can last. Finally, the Moon ingresses into Libra with reception from Venus in Gemini. Remember, movement has never been and will never be an individualist operation. As Angela Davis writes in Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, “… we may be given the opportunity to emerge from the individualism within which we are ensconced in this neoliberal era. Neoliberal ideology drives us to focus on individuals, ourselves, individual victims, individual perpetrators. But how is it possible to solve the massive problem of racist state violence by calling upon individual police officers to bear the burden of that history and to assume that by prosecuting them, by exacting our revenge on them, we would have somehow made progress in eradicating racism? … Every individual who engages in such a violent act of racism, of terror, should be held accountable. But what I am saying is that we have to embrace projects that address the sociohistorical conditions that enable these acts.” It is never sufficient for social change to focus on individual enactors of harm or recipients of violence. We must respond to individuals—including ourselves—always within the larger social fields in which we are constituted, especially as we continue to work for justice, equity, and equality.  Today the Moon in Virgo makes a trine to Uranus in Taurus and a sextile to Mercury in Cancer. Both are helpful, supportive aspects offering resources for motivating necessary change and clearly articulating the steps we are taking from a place of emotional intelligence. Virgo is the mutable earth sign, oriented toward optimizing material processes in order to make them more efficient and effective. The trine with Uranus suggests that what might be most effective today could require approaching the tasks ahead of us in innovative ways, while the sextile with Mercury inspires critical thinking that comes from the heart. bell hooks writes in Teaching Critical Thinking, “… it is practical wisdom that leads us to recognize the vital roles played by intuition and other forms of emotional intelligence in creating a fertile context for the ongoing pursuit of knowledge. Uniting knowledge gleaned from facts and hard data with social skills is a pragmatic approach to learning. Effectively using knowledge in and outside the classroom we develop an organic relationship to critical thinking and use the resources it brings in every sphere of our lives.” When approaching the work laid out before you, listen for the ways that your emotional currents guide and direct you. Bringing those resources to your critical thinking may require deviating from other people’s expectations, but doing so will also allow you to operate from more of your own wholeness.  Today the Sun ingresses into Leo, its domicile, where it has access to the resources that it needs in order to accomplish that which it signifies. Leo is the fixed fire sign at the heart of the summer in the northern hemisphere, where the days are long, hot, and bright. In Leo, we are called into radiant courage and consistent authenticity, the bravery to see things as they truly are and to allow ourselves to be seen as we truly are. Seeing and being seen in our authenticity can be profoundly vulnerable. Brené Brown writes in Rising Strong, “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.” The Sun in Leo has access to all the resources we need to step into vulnerability and fear, when we cannot control the outcome, and persistently insist on authenticity—for ourselves and for others. Mercury in Cancer makes a sextile with Uranus in Taurus, which can describe unexpected news or sudden, surprising changes in communication patterns. If you are feeling misunderstood, consider expressing your ideas in a new way. Finally, the Moon ingresses into Virgo, with mutual reception with Mercury in Cancer. In Virgo, we bring our attention back to practical matters and physical processes, working through the tasks at hand with meticulous precision. But with Mercury, the ruler of Virgo, in Cancer, remember to allow efficiency to be anchored in genuine care.  Today the Moon in Leo makes a square to Uranus in Taurus, a trine to Mars in Aries, then a sextile to Venus in Gemini. This is a day for bold departures from rigid social norms, for breaking from established expectations and courageously stepping out into the world radiating the brilliance of our own authenticity. Alok Vaid-Menon writes in Beyond the Gender Binary, “The world we want is one in which all people, regardless of their appearances, are treated with dignity and respect—one in which these factors do not have a bearing on safety, employment, and opportunity. We want a world that acknowledges and appreciates the complexity of everyone and everything—one in which transformation is celebrated and not repressed. We want a world which people have an underlying worth regardless of their gender … Imagine how beautiful it would be if the way we navigated the world was about creative expression, not conforming to arbitrary norms.” We can challenge existing norms that make life unlivable for people who are different when more of us confidently and creatively embody our own differences, challenging the conditions that demand conformity. When we do, we not only contribute to a world more capable of accepting and celebrating difference; we also make ourselves more available to meaningful connections with others, as we allow them to see and know us in more of our complexities and difference rather than seeking connection through sameness or trying to meet others’ expectations.  Today the Moon in Cancer opposes both Jupiter and Pluto before perfecting its conjunction to the Sun. Oppositions can be confrontational, demanding that we find balance or synthesis where there seem to be opposite extremes. What is the role of care and caretaking within the larger, long-term projects of transforming systems of power and demanding justice and liberation? Today’s New Moon in Cancer occurs in opposition to Saturn retrograde in Capricorn. The Sun will exactly oppose Saturn several hours later. The New Moon is the initiation of a new cycle of growth and consciousness, and with the Moon opposing Saturn, we are being asked to root our review, deconstruction, and reconstruction of inherited systems in the felt, lived experience of the body. Cara Page and Susan Raffo write, “There is nothing we talk about in movement building work that is only an ‘issue.’ These are things we have experienced. Our bodies, our communities, our memories carry all of the times when we experience or witness violence, systemic oppression or displacement, oppression, disrespect, and marginalization … Everything we want to change in the world around us also exists right here in our bodies. We carry the histories of our people’s trauma and our individual struggles. They are both here, strengthening us with what they have taught us and also holding us back as our fears, anxieties and survival strategies keep us away from the things that could most support our liberation.” In order to truly pursue collective change and liberation, we must take seriously the wisdom and direction emerging directly from embodied experience, healing what holds us back and leaning into what supports us. As the Moon then ingresses into Leo, we may begin to find how to externalize and express that which we discover and experience within our tender interior places.  The Moon makes a conjunction to Mercury in Cancer just after midnight, in the hours before dawn. Mercury is the messenger who moves in between the upper world and the underworld. Listen for the insights and messages that may have come through in the night. The Moon then makes a sextile to Uranus in Taurus, inviting helpful disruptions to shake us from our habits and to draw us into more immediate presence with the here and now. The Moon then makes a square to Mars in Aries. Both are in their domiciles, but Mars is in the superior position, a challenging aspect for physical or emotional harm—accidental or arising out of conflict. Finally, the Moon makes a beautiful trine to Neptune retrograde in Pisces. Alexis Pauline Gumbs writes in M Archive: After the End of the World, “when the memories started to come back we were sleeping. not quite dreaming but regenerating our cells. almost dreaming that we were regenerating cells. on the verge of regenerating cells that would let us dream deep enough to remember … when the memories started to come, we were untrained. we didn’t even know how to tell each other what was happening. eventually we would learn to share what went on while we were sleeping with all the specificity we had reserved for waking life. but at the time, when the memories came back, we were only starting to know.” In these troubled times, how might we all surrender to sleep and regeneration that would allow us to dream deep enough that we begin to remember—remember what we do not know how to name, do not know how to share, do not know that we do not know. Remember the dreams that will teach us how to survive.  Today the Moon makes a conjunction with Venus in Gemini then moves through a square from Neptune retrograde in Pisces. Venus is still retracing the shadow of its retrograde, integrating the lessons brought to us through May and June. Gemini offers the capacity to hold multiple perspectives, to understand that love need not be singular in its point of view. Rather, as we practice holding and sharing the experiences of others—experiences that are different from our own—this can become the foundation of love. Audre Lorde writes in “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” “Within the interdependence of mutual (nondominant) differences lies that security which enables us to descend into the chaos of knowledge and return with true visions of our future, along with the concomitant power to effect those changes which can bring that future into being. Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our personal power is forged.” Venus in Gemini teaches us that difference is this raw and powerful connection from which to encounter new visions and bring change into being. But then as the Moon squares Neptune, we may indeed find ourselves disoriented within a chaos of unfamiliar terrains. The risk of connecting across difference is the loss of the illusion of certainty. When we invite perspectives other than our own into our worldviews, we may find that the world becomes unfamiliar and our place in the world becomes uncertain. It can feel like a loss of self, but in truth, however challenging it may be, this is an expansion of Self, the dissolution of the limited ego that only had space for one.  Today the Moon ingresses into Gemini, shifting our attention to social connections, to conversation, to curiosity and learning. Then the Moon makes a sextile to Mars in Aries, bringing heat and motivation and drive, perhaps in the forms of fueling our search for information, perhaps in the form of healthy debate that allows us to deepen our understanding. adrienne maree brown writes in Emergent Strategy, “It is imperative to regenerate our curiosity, our genuine interest in different opinions, and in people we don’t know yet—can we see them as part of ourselves, and maintain curiosity, especially when we want to constrict and critique? Can we each take our little spark from the fire that has started and truly let it breathe enough to grow?” How might you nurture and regenerate your own curiosities today, especially when you encounter perspectives that are different from your own, especially if your impulse is to constrict or critique? Can we start by wanting to learn more about what we do not know about where people are coming from? Can we sustain that curiosity even if we also encounter conflict or disagreement? What might become possible if we preserve our interest and investments in maintaining the social connections that matter to us even when we disagree?  The major aspect of today is the Sun in Cancer opposing Pluto retrograde in Capricorn. This opposition is the culmination point of a story that began when the Sun was conjunct Pluto on January 13, analogous to the Full Moon in the lunation cycle. It is a face-off between the source of life and vitality and the ruler of the underworld, between visibility and what is hidden, between radiance and decay. We must confront the powers that constitute lives as unlivable, disposable, or unworthy of grieving. Judith Butler writes in Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, “For when bodies gather as they do to express their indignation and to enact their plural existence in public space, they are also making broader demands: they are demanding to be recognized, to be valued, they are exercising a right to appear, to exercise freedom, and they are demanding a livable life.” As we continue to persist through these unprecedented times, how are you continuing to demand livable lives—for ourselves as well as those who are most marginalized? Then throughout the day, the Moon in Taurus moves through a series of supportive aspects: sextile Neptune retrograde in Pisces, trine Jupiter retrograde in Capricorn, sextile the Sun in Cancer, trine Pluto retrograde in Cancer, and finally trine Saturn retrograde in Capricorn. Alongside the Sun/Pluto opposition, the themes of the day may include: reconnecting to old dreams and fantasies, observing how much growth has taken place, clarifying the significance of what we are witnessing, and affirming the boundaries that allow us to remain grounded and compassionate.  Today the Moon in Taurus makes a sextile to Mercury in Cancer. Listen to the messages coming through your own body. Practice naming, articulating, and expressing your own corporeal experience. The Sun in Cancer opposes Jupiter retrograde in Capricorn. The Sun describes perception and understanding, and Jupiter describes expansion and growth. But the opposition can be confrontational, a demand to find balance between what can feel like opposite extremes. The challenge today may be to enlarge your point of view in order to hold and accommodate experiences other than your own, developing a more expansive and inclusive perspective, which may require us to move beyond our own familiar limits. Alexis Pauline Gumbs writes in M Archive: After the End of the World, “she wouldn’t tell us anything until we stopped knowing. stopped thinking that we knew, which came at the long edge of a lot of time spent acting like we knew. and then pretending to know what we didn’t know. and then pretending not to know that we didn’t know. she waited. she saw through all of it.” In order to hold a more expansive view of the world, we must first accept and affirm the limits of our knowledge, all that we do not yet know. Finally, the Moon makes a conjunction to Uranus in Taurus, which can be unsettling physically and emotionally, but in the sign of its exaltation, the Moon has particular access to stability and grounding. In the midst of upheaval, bring attention back to your body, supported by the earth. Breathe deeply. Remember that however shaken you may feel, you are already being held.  Today the Moon in Aries moves through superior squares from Pluto and Saturn, both retrograde in Capricorn, before ingressing into Taurus, the sign of its exaltation. Pluto can describe misuses and abuses of power, and Saturn can describe authoritative limitations and punitive constraints. We are in a challenging moment of pushing through operations of power and existing systems in order to imagine more sustainable communities. As Janaé E. Bonsu writes in Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories From the Transformative Justice Movement, “Many of us have never seen what it looks like to be truly free, but a common thread in our dreams of collective freedom is a world full of self-sustaining communities that do not rely on systems that perpetually harm us—police, jails, and prisons—to keep us safe or to hold each other accountable … Conflict resolution and community accountability through a Black Queer Feminist lens is sensitive to avoid replicating punitive and carceral logics, which are inherently racist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, and misogynist. Community accountability emphasizes the belief in people’s ability to transform and grow and does not deem people disposable.” As the Moon moves from these hard aspects with Pluto and Saturn and into its own exaltation, we may feel some sense of what a different kind of world could be—a world in which people are supported in growing, in which people are not disposable. As we do so, we must center the voices of Black queer feminists, who have been moving us toward liberation for decades, for centuries, perhaps from the beginning.  Today Mercury stations direct in Cancer after having been retrograde since June 18. It will take a couple of weeks for Mercury to clear the shadow of the retrograde, but today we begin the process of integrating what we have learned from this period as we move forward. The Sun in Cancer forms a trine with Neptune retrograde in Pisces. The Sun brings illumination and clarity, while boundless Neptune describes that which defies or exceeds logical taxonomies of categorization. With Neptune moving retrograde, what becomes clear today may be the ways in which we have obscured that which is true through misapprehending how much more there was than could be known within our available frameworks. Kimberlé Crenshaw, who introduced the framework of intersectionality due to the inability of available frameworks to account for discrimination against Black women, offers, “… when facts do not fit with the available frames, people have a difficult time incorporating new facts into their way of thinking about a problem.” As the Sun potentially illuminates our past misunderstandings, the opportunity is to imagine new ways of perceiving and thinking that bring what is true into clearer focus. The old categories may no longer work; it’s possible that they never did. The Moon in Aries moves through a square with the Sun, entering the waning quarter phase of this lunation cycle. Knowing what we now know, what must be surrendered or abandoned? Where is it time to let go? Finally, the Moon makes a square to Jupiter in Capricorn. Although Jupiter is retrograde and fallen in Capricorn—and although the square can describe challenges—this is a condition of bonification, with Jupiter overcoming the Moon. Support may come from places we considered ineffectual. Affirmation may come in the form of being pushed to grow in ways that could be uncomfortable but also necessary.  Today the Moon ingresses into Aries, igniting drive and direction after several days of wading through the tides of our feelings. The Moon makes a square to Mercury retrograde in Cancer. The square can be a frustrating aspect, and as Mercury begins to station direct, the frustration may stem from a desire to take action when we do not yet fully understand the information with which we have been presented. So many of us are being tasked with making choices and setting plans into motion when the circumstances remain deeply uncertain and everything we need to know in order to act has not been revealed. As the Moon makes a conjunction with its ruler Mars, the call for decisiveness is sharp and direct. Be clear regarding what guides your actions. When the circumstances are uncertain, what does it mean for you to act in alignment with your own integrity? In “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Audre Lorde writes, “But when we begin to live from within outward, in touch with the power of the erotic within ourselves, and allowing that power to inform and illuminate our actions upon the world around us, then we begin to be responsible for ourselves in the deepest sense.” When charged with the responsibility to take action, will you do so in alignment with your deepest sense of inner satisfaction? Finally, the Moon in Aries makes a sextile with Venus in Gemini, suggesting that supportive connections are available if you are bold enough to initiate them.  Today the Moon in Pisces makes a trine to the Sun in Cancer, bringing illumination and understanding to the currents of our own feelings and the ways in which we respond to the feelings of others. Then the Moon makes a conjunction with Neptune retrograde in Pisces. This can describe overwhelming sensitivity, perhaps being caught in the undertow of memories or projections, perhaps your own, your ancestors’, or from origins unknown. Neptune can obliterate boundaries, and retrograde, this could pull us into histories of feeling, dissolving present and past, who we are now and who we have been. The Moon then moves through sextiles to Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn—all retrograde in Capricorn. There are sources of power and possibility available to us if we are willing to reach back into times and places we thought we had left behind, our personal and collective histories that still require healing. Doing the work of healing in the present is also healing that which came before. As Alexis Pauline Gumbs offered on How to Survive the End of the World Podcast, “I believe that the fact that my ancestors have suffered and that people have been suffering due to systems of oppression for multiple generations, it doesn’t just mean that I have to repeat those experiences—although there is repetition, and there are patterns in the way that that manifests and has manifested in my life. But it also means that when I heal around those things—and when we heal around those things—it reverberates in both directions. I think we often think about the fact that what we do is going to make it better for the future, and yes. And: it also reverberates the other way.” As we do the work of healing across generations, we insist that these patterns of harm stop here. After the deep dissolution of Neptune, Saturn returns us to our edges, lending structure and containment to all that the day has uncovered.  Today the Moon in Pisces makes a trine to Mercury retrograde in Cancer. We may not yet know what to say or how to say it, but this aspect invites us to feel more deeply and fully, to review what we have felt that has not yet been articulated. Then the Moon makes a square to Venus in Gemini, a condition of bonification in Hellenistic astrology but also sometimes a challenging aspect. With both in mutable signs, we may feel challenged to change how we feel as we relate to others, pushing through feelings of discomfort or resistance in order to experience the rewards of pursuing another way of being with one another and ourselves. This could involve unlearning patterns of feeling and relating that we reproduce through our behaviors. In Pleasure Activism, adrienne maree brown writes, “… if we aren’t both careful and creative, we can get stuck in fantasies that don’t mature and politicize with us. We can get caught in fantasies that perpetuate things so counter to our beliefs and values that we feel ashamed of what we want, even as we find ways to get it.” She invites us to ask, “What do you want to be turned on by? Can you even imagine it? Try. Again. Again. Keep trying until you feel something.” It takes courage to imagine that we can feel differently, but when we push through what might feel challenging, we become more available to ourselves and others. Finally, the Moon makes a sextile to Uranus in Taurus, reminding us that opportunities that we could not have predicted become available to us when we dare to deviate from our established patterns, including the habitual behaviors that condition our capacities to feel.  Today Mercury retrograde in Cancer squares Mars in Aries. Conflict may arise and confrontation may be necessary, particularly if actions being taken compromise your sense of safety or well-being. In Hellenistic astrology, this is a condition of maltreatment, with Mars overcoming Mercury. With Mercury already retrograde, we may feel impaired in our ability to speak up and advocate for our own needs or the needs of those who are most vulnerable. But as Audre Lorde writes in “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” “We can learn to work and speak when we are afraid in the same way we have learned to work and speak when we are tired. For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.” Despite our fear—of retaliation, of being misunderstood—despite feeling silenced, we must learn to come to voice and speak back to our aggressors. The Moon then ingresses into Pisces with reception from Jupiter. Jupiter is not in ideal condition—retrograde and fallen in Capricorn—but will offer whatever support and resources that it can. In Pisces, these resources may move us toward deep sensitivity, abundant compassion, and affirmative responsiveness. What becomes possible if we start from a place of validating and affirming feelings—our own and one another’s?  Today the Moon in Aquarius makes a square to Uranus in Taurus. The push toward revolution is resounding in the air and throughout our bodies. But what does true revolution require? Grace Lee Boggs writes in The Next American Revolution, “… we had to ask ourselves whether there is a fundamental distinction between a rebellion and a revolution. Out of that questioning, we concluded that although a rebellion is a stage in the development of revolution, it falls far short of revolution … rebellions are important because they represent the standing up of the oppressed. Rebellions break the threads that have been holding the system together. They shake up old values so that relations between individuals and groups within society are unlikely ever to be the same again. But rebels see themselves and call on others to see them mainly as victims. They do not see themselves as responsible for reorganizing society, which is what the revolutionary social forces must do in a revolutionary period … Thus, while a rebellion usually begins with the belief on the part of the oppressed that they can change things from the way they are to the way they should be, they usually end by saying, ‘They ought to do this and they ought to do that.’ In other words, because rebellions do not go beyond protesting injustices, they increase the dependency rather than the self-determination of the oppressed.” Rebellion and protest are vital mobilizations of mass energy toward change, refuting the existing organizations of power. But as Boggs writes, revolution requires that we go beyond protesting injustices and do the even more radical work of reorganizing society—rather than deferring that power to those who sit in positions of authority. As we continue to move toward revolution, what does reorganizing society away from exploitation and domination and toward justice and liberation require in your life today?  Today the Moon makes a conjunction with Saturn retrograde in Capricorn before ingressing into Aquarius. Notice what is slowing down and drawing your attention backwards even as you find your way forwards. As the Moon makes a sextile to Mars in Aries, we can connect to our drive and determination to think in new ways and develop perspectives together that generate more possibilities. Finally, the Moon makes a trine to Venus in Gemini. This aspect supports loving dialogue and stimulating conversations that increase our capacities for understanding complexities that only become appreciable when examined from multiple points of view. There are some things we can only know together. adrienne maree brown writes in Emergent Strategy, “There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.” With Mercury and Saturn—the rulers of Venus and the Moon—both retrograde and in aversion to their domiciles, cultivating meaningful connections might require questioning our assumptions, considering the ways in which old ways of thinking actually limit what we can perceive, and revising familiar conditioning that is no longer in alignment with the kinds of relationships we want to form.  Today the Moon ingresses into Capricorn, the sign of its antithesis or detriment. Notice the ways in which your body feels compromised, your feelings ignored, your emotional and physical well-being buried beneath the relentless, grinding demands for productivity and achievement. Scrutinize the systems that marginalize your own embodiment. The Moon makes an opposition to Mercury retrograde in Cancer, an opportunity to review and challenge the entrenched narratives that tell us that some bodies are more worthy of care than other bodies. As the Moon makes a trine to Uranus in Taurus, we are empowered to break away from old habits and established patterns that reproduce the very systems that depend upon our complicity with ongoing exploitation and domination. Finally, just after midnight eastern, the Moon perfects its opposition to the Sun in a penumbral Lunar Eclipse. This will not be the most dramatic eclipse we experience this year, but it may describe a significant culmination or ending in the area of our charts occupied by Capricorn. With the Sun and Moon both in tight aspects to Uranus, we may come to some conclusion through disruption or upheaval, a revolutionary turn toward more authenticity, especially in the places where we feel most alienated from our bodies or our own well-being. In describing the effects of somatic practices on her work in social justice movements, adrienne maree brown writes, “I can already feel the impact in the community of having more organizers who can feel themselves, who have been practicing returning to center and moving toward longing, all of us organizing ourselves around what we long for rather than what we are against.” What if, in this time of systems collapsing, we practice feeling deeply into our bodies and organizing ourselves around the longings we find within?  |
AuthorMichael J. Morris is a witch, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Categories
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