Astrology of the Riverwest 24

The unruly power of collective ecstasy

My heart is full, and my body is tired. This weekend my partner and I celebrated our one year Milwaukee-versary coinciding with the Riverwest 24 otherwise known as the People’s Holiday. If you’re not familiar, the 24 is a 24 hour bike race, block party, and community celebration. A weekend to frolic and play with neighbors and visitors. Everyone is welcome, and Riverwest goes all out with art, music, food, performances, and lots of love, joy, and camaraderie to go around!

I’m brought to tears realizing the magic my ancestors crafted behind the scenes to make this happen. In 2022, we unknowingly moved to Milwaukee on the Riverwest 24 into a house on the bike route. To our surprise we were greeted with the biggest welcome to Milwaukee party ever! As we unpacked boxes, we set the intention of hosting a party the following year. Fast forward to today, my heart is full after hosting our Milwaukee and Chicago besties for the best weekend of the year! I feel more rooted in community than ever before, and I’m overflowing with gratitude.  

The Riverwest 24 is a real world expression of the 5^th and 11^th house axis in astrology. The 5^th house is the house of good fortune and includes our creative self-expression and energy. The 11^th house is the house of good spirit and includes community and collective aspirations. The Riverwest 24 is a stunning expression of both!  Astrologer Maeg Keane writes about this axis as the festival procession in our charts. To me, the Riverwest 24 is a festival. Neighbors come together and plan for months to make the weekend happen. Volunteers curate artistic, interactive checkpoints for bikers to pass through on their ride. The community builds DJ booths, paints signs, cooks food, and performs! Neighbors invite friends, family, and people from out of town to share in the magic.

Maeg Keane says, “Festival was one of the primary ways we built communal ties. So effective was the festival at shoring up these bonds that it was systematically uprooted by those in power who would prefer bonds be based on fear and to the state. Collective ecstasy was suppressed in Europe and this suppression was exported by European colonizers around the world, but ecstatic festival, its rituals, and experiences still live in many communities around the world. Whiteness is defined in part by a lack of revelry and ecstatic dance traditions, and a persistent fear of collective ecstasy’s ‘unruly’ power.”

Just like ancient festivals, the Riverwest 24 builds communal ties through the unruly power of collective ecstasy. Collectivism is the antidote to capitalism’s rugged individualism. The Riverwest 24 disrupts capitalism’s attempt to isolate us from our neighbors. The feeling of belonging radiates throughout the neighborhood. Everyone regardless of age, race, or gender comes out of their homes to dance in the streets, share food and beverages, and cheer on bikers!

This weekend’s festivities took place under the waxing gibbous Sagittarius Moon in an expansive, easy flowing trine to the Sun and Venus retrograde in Leo. The perfect astrology for fun, play, and creative expression in community. For those who I’ve met around town, did you partake in the Riverwest 24? If yes, I’d love to hear your stories! What was your favorite experience? Reply to this email or leave a comment. For everyone else, how did the Sagittarius Moon trining Sun & Venus in Leo impact your weekend? What expansion, play, or creativity did you experience?

Here are some of my favorite Riverwest 24 experiences:

• Making homemade beet juice and passing out shots to bikers and neighbors

• Going for an evening lap and stumbling upon circus performers in front of Art Bar

• Dancing in the pouring rain while a DJ played on through a storm

• Going for a 1:30 a.m. bike ride when the storm finally passed over

• Free screen printed T’s from Shaky Hands Co-op

• Final lap Booth Street dance party on Saturday to wrap it all up

This weekend was an experience I’ll never forget, and I hope to see you at next year’s Riverwest 24!

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Flower Moon is a semi-regular newsletter written by Emily Hall of Mystic Magnolia Astrology. Emily is a Taurus Sun, Gemini Moon & Leo Rising. Her ever-changing titles include astrologer, creative & writer, for now. Book an astrology reading here.