THREE CUPS CIRCLE—FEBRUARY 2026

Opening Story

Saturn — Understanding the Architect
Written by Aster

Feature Story

The Test of Time: Form and Function in Saturn
Written by Nico

In Hellenistic astrology, Saturn rules structure and systems, and right now is a very tumultuous and "proving" time for our systems in the United States of America.

Systems (procedures, norms) are collaborative structures built to serve a purpose. There is no one “builder”, at least in the beginning, so systems most often come into existence through a cyclical trial and error loop where priorities might change, but the central purpose remains grounded in a basic need. Food, for instance. If we think of agriculture, any system based around food would likely relate to the successful growing of nutritious food and the distribution of it to fellow humans and animals.

(Money is not guaranteed within a system, but often becomes lubrication to keep the cycle going. Bartering is another path. Compensation is what we make of it, and the form it takes changes based on the values of a given society.)

There is much to be said about how a successful agriculture system should also care for the Earth that provides the food and encourage a reciprocal relationship with the ecosystems that support us, but for now, we’re going to keep it simple and “market”-core. Supply, demand, process.

Systems develop and become more complex as the needs of a society evolve. Most of us have no idea who grows our food, whereas 200 years ago, we may have had a close personal relationship with our local farmer. As the distance between the “moving parts” of a system increases, responsibility to our fellow humans becomes diluted and is siloed behind logos and AI chatbot customer service.

Saturn forces us to acknowledge that over time, systems may stop serving their original purpose and instead deform into a new, secondary purpose after millenia of over-refining — and, of course, predatory tampering. Diversion. Greed.

Often, we are only made aware of these systems when they begin to collapse. Otherwise, it's business as usual.

Reliability is hypnotic, invisible. Why would we spend the time to ask if the postal service is still delivering mail today, as opposed to yesterday? Why would we think about how that mail gets where it needs to if, from our perspective, it simply does?

And we are all so, so busy, and so scared. Who has the time?

As a medical professional, I am intensely aware of the systems and industries that support my role and my work. Part of the reason I left retail pharmacy was that I was mentally unable to bear having a front seat to the mismanagement of my field as profit began taking more and more of a priority over health. 

After the height of COVID-19, antibiotics started disappearing. We would order 10 of a medicine and only receive 2. "Backorder" was the first word on my lips the entire day. I would regularly have to choose between dispensing an entire course to a sick child, or half a course to two sick children, and pray that the remainder came in the next inventory order.

There was no material cause for the shortages, like ingredients or process issues. Even the labor shortage from COVID deaths didn’t fully explain the problems we had acquiring the meds we needed. It was just “business”.

Of course, this still affects me. Leaving the field doesn't mean the problem is gone. This time I'm on the patient side of things, which means I won't scream at a pharmacist if they tell me that the antibiotic I need isn't currently being made ... 

But, selfishly, I couldn't stand being the one to say it. 

To explain, over and over again, that certain medications aren't being made anymore simply because they aren't profitable to the parent companies, and there is no recourse for patients who found relief and are now without.

"Well, what do I do now?"

That question haunted me. It has been asked honestly, dishonestly, screamed at me, whispered at me, and worse still, begged of me, because I should be the one with an alternative path in a world where emergency exits are being chained shut to cut heating costs. So I had to stop, because I didn't have an answer for them besides this:

Someone, somewhere, doesn't think they're making the money they deserve. So, you have to suffer.

The same pressures and unpredictable loss came with insurance. Suddenly, due to some nebulous shift in the "market" or half a decimal point on a spreadsheet somewhere, a medicine was no longer covered. Telling patients they could no longer get the medicine they needed was something I dreaded from the moment I woke up. And with what explanation?

Someone wasn't making the money they thought they deserved. So, you have to suffer.

And because medications aren't valued at production costs, inflated by hospital bids and hedge fund investor games, you may have to give up $1000+ that you don't have ... just to retain your baseline health.

Not to get better. Not to heal. Just to continue, as is.

Maybe we never had a reason to care before, because the best way that systems stay invisible is by pretending to be an unquestioned norm. They work, for those who work them, until they don't. Until the pain and the discord start to drown out the quiet, arrogant assumptions of its function. 

This is where we are. Not only as a country, but as a species.

In theory, the food/agriculture industry is a system created to increase human access to food.

What the system should do: ensure sharing of knowledge on optimal food growing and prioritize distribution of food to communities, as well as safeguarding the well-being of the Earth on which we grow.

What the system does: exhausts soil, pollutes waterways with excess fertilizer, copyrights seeds, and purposefully wastes metric tons of food in an effort to generate scarcity and maximize profit (not even for the farmers but for the investors on all levels of the system).

Similarly, our healthcare system is only tangentially concerned with human health. The goal is profit for a few men, one of whom was murdered on the street as a statement on that inequality. 

Saturn acknowledges that these systems are created, not immaculately born as the ruling class would have us believe, and can thus be uncreated. But to what extent? Is the system serving its purpose anymore? Are there structures or parts of a system that can be repurposed or retained, or has it become a twisted version of its original intention?

It's necessary to see where we've "lost the plot" and the basest intention of the system has been destroyed and absorbed into something else entirely … and yet we still have to participate in it.

We go back to work in office buildings in the height of COVID-19 in 2021, not because it's better or safer for anyone, but because otherwise the office real estate companies can't collect their rent.

We work five days a week despite multiple studies showing cognitive inefficiency and unnecessary stress, because stressed populations are easier to control.

ICE is using tax forms to hunt down immigrants, because it was never about dodging taxes. 

It’s not about training, either. You cannot reform murder. The purpose of a system is what it does.

These “norms” are ballasts of an extractive system that we can just barely glimpse as circumstances change catastrophically and suddenly, for an instant, we see the true nature of who gets priority when shit gets turned upside down.

Hint: it's rarely about humans. It's business. It's cash flow. Late-stage capitalism demands our blood. 

I was recently called into work right after a dangerous snowstorm, not because we would earn enough money to make budget or even cover operating expenses, but because somebody somewhere has decided that "days open" is a meaningful statistic that they want to show to their boss.

We are beginning to realize where systems have been painstakingly, cruelly designed in favor of some arbitrary marker that, in the end, will benefit capitalism.

Systems do their best to remain invisible. It's normalcy incarnate — this is just the way it is, and you have to survive the how, so you don't waste time questioning the why. The rules then dictate how you act within the system.

Did you know that credit scores were implemented in 1989? As humans, we are so quick to normalize. It's always been this way. How could it be any other way?

As entrenched as it all seems, there is such fear of the unknown on the other side. Better the Devil you know, right? We would rather know the rotten rules and try our hardest to play the rigged game than break the mold and expose ourselves to uncertainty. It seems like the world would end if our particular way of life stopped.

It's true, a world would end. Many worlds have ended before, as one did with COVID, yet here we are.

Systems, by their nature, are multi-part and communal. They require organization and cooperation. They need bodies. Fortunately or unfortunately, regardless of those in power who determine the nature/purpose of the system, they require participation, participants, and “consent”.

An Amazon warehouse without workers is just a building. Without crushing material poverty and the threat of homelessness, humans wouldn't work there. Everything in perfect balance, for those who reap the profits.

Saturn reminds us that we are always feeding something, and everything is permanent until we make something new. Now, we must dare to ask questions and dream new things into existence.

Who are these systems designed for? What is a world where healthcare isn't for healing anymore?

What is a state that is no longer interested in protecting its people?

The most important question of all is this: what the hell else is left, after?

Personal Story

You’ll die for the cause, but will you do the dishes?
Written by Vesper

A meme has been going around socials lately asking: So you want a revolution? But are you ready to die? Are you ready to kill?

And the responses have been great: Are you ready to attend boring meetings? Are you ready to make phone calls and run spreadsheets and endlessly explain things to people? Are you ready to fail sometimes and keep showing up, or to go along with a communal decision you didn’t agree with? Are you ready to learn how to de-escalate disagreements?

Are you ready to make food and do dishes?

Are you ready to do menial, inglorious, tedious work with people who annoy you? Because that is the bulk of the work. Showing up to that work every day is what it takes to have a community.

And maybe this sounds discouraging, or sounds like a bunch of Leftists being scolds, but in the spirit of Saturn, it’s a reality check we can all use as we confront what to do about this historical moment. Yes, we need a revolution. We need community. And we need to be real about the steps to get there, what they look like and the discipline it takes to recognize their value.

I am grappling with this in my own life right now. I’m heavily involved with my labor union, and we’re in a tense moment of negotiation with a management team that is testing our boundaries. There are several complex, overlapping issues we’re navigating, and standing up for ourselves now is fundamental to protecting the union’s future. In the midst of this, I have so far had exactly one glorious moment of standing up to management and telling them in no uncertain terms that we won’t give up our rights. It was a clean, shining moment of bravely standing up for our values. The kind of moment that makes you feel important, and sure that you’re doing the right thing.

And it was surrounded by a lot of little moments of boring, annoying movement-building work. A lot of scheduling meetings with people who are more apathetic than you hope. A lot of explaining things over and over to different people, some of whom are not giving you the benefit of the doubt. A lot of talking people down from impatience and assuring them the work is being done. A lot of emails.

Has this been annoying and frustrating in turns? Absolutely. Has it tested my commitment and self-discipline? Certainly more than any one moment of bravery has. But this quiet, steady, disciplined work is essential to being a group and moving as one.

People are imperfect, and communication can be hard. And even if you somehow found a community that could perfectly communicate, there would still be meetings and emails and dishes to do in between moments of punching Nazis.

So, Saturn asks us: Are you in it for the glory and the heroic moments of clarity? Or are you in it for the long haul? For the real change? And how can we develop our own sense of self-discipline to better engage with that part of the work?

And then, be sure to find moments of joy and connection to remind yourself why this work is worth it at all. There is joy to be had in the work, and joy to make the work worth it. We can do hard things, and doing them together makes them less hard.

Watching: “A Bug’s Life”

Reading: An Abolish ICE Reading List

Check out this Abolish ICE reading list, and don’t forget you can shop through Bookshop.org to benefit your local bookstore.

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