In my Planet Waves daily diary all week I’ve been commenting about the conjunction of Chiron and Neptune that is now within one degree, in late Aquarius. This is a ‘near-miss’ rather than an exact conjunction but it’s coming in at a nice strength. Neptune in Aquarius, which began in 1998 around when Bill Clinton was impeached, has been the perfect fodder for our whole “lie to me / why deal with it?” mentality that has been such fruitful soil for the Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys of the world to plant their fleurs de mal.

When we look back honestly on this phase of history, we’ll see that one of the most profound issues of our day is a pandemic-scale crisis of self-esteem. We don’t need to look far for the manifestations of this, or for the causes. They surround us so completely that we barely notice them; or if we do, we assume they are an indelible part of existence. They are built into our relationships, which are often designed as shelter from the storm, but which don’t usually work.

Due to some horoscope schedule shuffling, there is not a monthly horoscope today, but we will be doing a radio edition tonight.

When news broke that the National Security Agency was tapping telephones and skimming emails of American citizens, I wondered why people were not more concerned. This was in late 2005, when we also learned the same day that The New York Times had sat on the story for a year. We learned simultaneously what was happening, and that one of the great newspapers of our civilization had covered it up. It was funny, in a sick way.

By Eric Francis Aries (March 20-April 19) Usually this is an outgoing time of year for you, though lately one eye seems to be turned inward. That’s a good direction for it; there is no vision like inner vision. Be patient as you go through the deep experience of Venus moving backward through your sign […]

Today, Venus retrograde is in an exact square to Pluto, inching her way toward the Aries Point. The square was exact at 6:21 am ET and because Venus is slow and powerful in the sky, it’s within exact orb as you read this.