Yearly Archives: 2012

Corrected Horoscope Text, Mail Server Issue and Cancer Birthdays

Dear Friend & Reader:

A poet can withstand anything but a typo.

Yesterday, we sent out the text of the horoscope without any of the corrections having been applied. There’s a first time for everything. What you read was basically the rough draft of the horoscope. Our forensic scientists and our underwater search and rescue dog are working on the case; meanwhile we’ve revised the text.

Planet Waves
Icha, the Pisces underwater search and rescue dog (who lives at the Grandmother Land), is helping us figure out what happened.

The corrected issue is available here. The problem only affected the horoscopes.

Meanwhile, both our mail server and some ISP servers were up to some tricks yesterday, and the past week. A number of subscribers who use Comcast (which I’ve dubbed Copcast) have been having issues receiving their posts — we’ve had this problem before, and encourage those who have Comcast as their service provider get an alternate email such as Gmail.

We will gladly allow two or more email addresses onto your account, as long as they’re yours. Call or email Chelsea and she will help you with that.

Meanwhile, a number of people who didn’t receive the issue yesterday did receive their corrected Aries text. Other people missed their subscriber content and got the free Master List mailing. Email is a mysterious and challenging way to deliver content. Remember, the subscriber homepage exists to address this problem — and as an archive of 10 years of past mailings. Once you dive into the archive you won’t come out for a few days, so bring a picnic basket and a notebook.

Please note — we don’t just cancel an issue or change the schedule without sending a notice. So if you don’t get your issue any Tuesday or Friday morning, please write to info@planetwaves.net and we will help you out promptly.

Planet Waves

Last, the Cancer birthday reading is available. I recorded it during the solstice for maximum power. We’ve had a lot of satisfied customers with these reports. They go much deeper than “Sun sign” astrology is supposed to be able to go. As I talk to other astrologers who do Sun signs, I realize why: most of them disregard the chart reading techniques that I use. I am able to use all 12 houses, and provide surprising detail because I work with a full compliment of planets — and themes.

This is a fully decked-out product, including three segments of audio, a downloadable archive for iTunes and Apple, access to last year’s report, photos of the Tarot spread — everything but me sitting down for coffee with you, which I would do, were we in the same neighborhood.

Here is a direct link to my description of the Cancer reading and the ordering info.

Thanks for coming along on our astrology publishing adventure, even when things are bumpy.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

Aries Corrected

Planet Waves


Monthly Horoscope for July 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Dear Aries Reader:

We had a bit of rough text in the Aries horoscope that managed to get past all of us. Thanks to April (a fine Aries name) for pointing it out.

While I’ve got your attention, and apropos of Aries, we’ve pulled together a compilation of my writing about Eris, which has a lot to say about Eris in Aries. You can find that here.

Have a fine weekend, Uranus-Pluto styled.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You’re about to experience what you can think of as a progress-check on your journey to wellness. You’ve been through a long phase of reflection, many experiences of learning how to change your mind, and gradually devoting yourself to healing. Yet it seems like the real demonstration of your progress is going to come through your relationships in the coming weeks. Part of what you’ve been working through is how to handle anger and aggression. Along the way you may have noticed what a big problem this is for so many people these days. Where you stand today is at the point of connecting theory to practice. You’ve studied the map, you’ve studied yourself; now as Mars moves out of Virgo and into your opposite sign Libra, you get to dive into the territory. This includes how you handle your own Mars-related emotions (desire, anger, aggression, fear) and how you handle those feelings in partners. You will need to notice carefully when you go into reaction mode, as opposed to response mode; it’s essential that you be able to distinguish whose feelings are whose; it will not always be easy. Most significantly, you become the guardian of fairness and balance, and this will necessarily involve situations wherein you’re the judge of your own cause. On one level I could describe the aspect structure of the next month as an experiment in integrity, which is to say, both inner wholeness and the question of what your relationships reflect about your state of mind.

A Compilation on Eris

Dear Friend and Reader:

Eris was discovered in 2005 and named in 2006, leading to the ‘demotion’ of Pluto into a dwarf planet, and the recognition that Ceres is more than an asteroid. Though it’s been more than seven years since the discovery (that anniversary was January 5), so far as I can tell, Eris is not a topic of open conversation in professional astrology. It’s still a boutique item, generally mentioned only by the few of us who track the newly-discovered bodies.

Eris. Illustration: Ravendusk.

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM (and a daily post Monday), I talk about the current aspect Saturn in Libra opposite Eris in Aries. My take is that this aspect is a comment on how it doesn’t really work when we try to define our identity through a relationship. That doesn’t stop people from trying — and even having temporary success. It’s just that when the relationship changes, or there’s an eruption of jealousy, you might get the feeling that you ‘don’t really exist’ and have to start all over figuring out who you are.

Eris is a deeply rooted source of passion, energy and chaos within the psyche that stirs up all kinds of identity issues. It can push people to find themselves; it can just as easily represent the place where we get lost.

Saturn in Libra to me represents the structure that Eris in Aries is trying to fit itself into, though the best way to see whether something fits is to try it on. The aspect — a rare one, happening every 30 years or so — peaks over the weekend. This happens concurrently with the Uranus-Pluto square, further emphasizing the deeply personal nature of any revolution that’s currently developing.

I took a few minutes this morning and put together some of my favorite articles on Eris, and I’m sending them to you as a compilation. These are all part of the Planet Waves subscriber series. If you find yourself diving into this list and reading voraciously, and you’re not yet a subscriber, brighten your day and sign up for a subscription. You’ll get a great service, you will love the feeling of being involved, and you’ll put some gas in our tank.

If you’re already a subscriber — thank you. You’ve helped make all this ongoing research and beautifully presented work possible.

Would love to know what you think of what you read below, and I am open to new ideas about how to cover Eris, so please speak up if you have some thoughts.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

PS — You’re invited to share this page, including linking to it from your blog or Facebook. Here is a web version of this page. — efc

 

Eris Notebook: Dancing with Discord

This article follows the development of Eris from its discovery by Mike Brown’s infamous team, through its provisional naming after Xena, the warrior priestess. “It was named for a heroic woman, for one thing, apropos of a discovery in Aries. Xena could show up in Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus in one episode and in Egypt the next week. She was bisexual. She killed people. She was a kind of sorceress. I ran this past my writing partner Paloma Todd, and the first words out of her mouth were, “Oh, this planet is about postmodernism.”

Calling Home the Castaway Woman

Women are often expected to act pious and pure — or face being outcast. But what happens when they refuse? This article looks at a number of different feminine archetypes, from the Virgin Mary to Lilith to Eris, asking some obvious questions. I look at the topic of guilt without an obvious source, which places it in the family background, or as transpersonal material.

Rachel Maddow: The Apotheosis of Eris

Rachel Maddow, the first (out) lesbian primetime news anchor, was born during the Chiron-Eris conjunction of the early 1970s. She is in many ways an expression of both, though Chiron tends to bring out the true nature of any planet that it makes contact with. Maddow provided me with her birth data, which I don’t reveal, though I do include samples of her chart.

Small World Stories: Eris

This is a nice delineation of Eris in essay form, from our breakthrough annual edition Small World Stories. This edition is open to all readers, and it has many other useful delineations of the minor planets that, sitting here, look like the beginnings of a solid book on the topic of the new discoveries. For now you can go exploring. Note, I have done some additional work on certain of these points, particularly the centaurs and 1992 QB1, so if you’re curious, start Googling around.

Pluto in the Age of Eris

This is an interesting piece that looks at how we might want to reconsider some of our ideas about Pluto in light of the discovery of Eris. Pluto and all that it represents is not “the end” or “the edge” any more. To go back to the beginning of this story, I suggest you read The Foggy New Edge of Neptune, my first article after the designation of Eris and Pluto as dwarf planets. This article includes the discovery chart of Pluto.

Eris: Facets and Fragments of Self

This is the first monograph (short book) ever written about Eris, which explores the new discovery based on its interaction with the sign Aries, where it’s a longterm visitor. In this monograph, I unfold the idea that Eris is a postmodern influence, the reigning queen of the identity crisis, and a factor that allows us to adapt to the constant changes of the current world.

A Call to Awakening — and Action

Dear Friend and Reader:

This weekend is the first exact alignment of the Uranus-Pluto square. We’ve been watching this one develop for a long time, both in the culture and as an astrological event. For those individuals born in the 1940s and 1950s, this astrology may be reminiscent of an exciting time in your life — a time when it seemed possible to change the world. For those born in the 1960s through the mid 1970s, you may be noticing your spirit called to awakening and action like nothing you’ve ever felt before.

Planet Waves
Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool, during the 1963 March on Washington. Photo by Warren K. Leffler / Library of Congress.

Sometimes I’m concerned that we’re giving this Uranus-Pluto aspect too much emphasis, though it’s something that’s influencing everyone personally to some extent, and many people to a great extent — especially those who have natal planets in early Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn. These are the cardinal signs, the ones that provoke change and progress.

Much like the Saturn-Pluto opposition of 2001-2002 was a setup for the decade to come, the Uranus-Pluto square is truly a sign of the times and is setting the tone for our current era. We live in a transitional phase of history: a time when many problems will come home to roost, and when we will need to be at our most cooperative and inventive. Enlightenment is not a luxury now. It’s a form of maturity that will allow us to keep a handle on our lives, and gently guide the human community to a better place.

While the qualities of the Uranus-Pluto cycle are well documented, each time it happens there are new surprises. That’s another way of saying unexpected events.

The Uranus-Pluto square will make seven exact contacts, starting with Sunday’s and ending with the square of March 16, 2015. Studying the sequence of these charts, a lot is going to happen between then and now, much of it seeming to happen around us, with plenty of developments seeming to come out of the wild blue. Because we are among a relatively few people on Earth with access to the deeper levels of astrology, we have another gift that Uranus grants: that of foresight.

That’s one of the properties of Uranus, the faster moving of the two planets involved. It’s essential that we apply this power of foresight starting right now, because we need to be able to look ahead and, even in an atmosphere of the unexpected, consider some of the possibilities and how to work with them constructively. Uranus also connects to developments in science and art, which is another way of saying that we can think in new and radical ways under its influence. Taken consciously, life is indeed part science and part art — with ‘consciously’ being the operative idea.

Yet in Aries, we have some cause for concern, because to access the better nature of this sign (which each of us depends upon in our charts) is going to call for the kind of self-awareness that doesn’t grow on trees. Lacking that self-awareness, there can be a kind of militancy or aggression. Uranus is the planet of revolution, and through history, most of those have involved weapons (even when Uranus isn’t in Aries). So we need to focus on the other kind of revolution, the one that starts within.

This is a matter of personal choice, upon which much depends. There may be a good few situations in your life that boil down to the choice between aggression and awareness, in particular, self-awareness. You could say this is about slowing down a bit and looking where you’re going when you turn a corner.

Let’s consider Pluto in Capricorn, which we’ve been experiencing since 2008, when the transit began. Capricorn is one of the signs about the past. We humans tend to drag around a ton of material from both our personal past and our ancestral history, without considering the effect that so much dead weight has on our vitality.

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The revolution starts with you. Photo by Eric Francis.

Pluto in Capricorn is about revitalizing the places within us that are stuck somewhere in ancient history, refusing to observe and engage with the present moment as it really is. Being stuck in the past, including the ancestral past (living out the hopes, pain and frustration of our ancestors) is a common condition on the planet. Speaking as an astrology consultant, I can tell you that bringing up the topic of family or parents with a client is often like lancing a boil that never seems to drain. Carrying these dead cells is a serious tax on our energy. Pluto in Capricorn is here to help.

Then there are the structural themes of Capricorn. We like to think of it as dependable ground we can stand on, though Capricorn is a cardinal sign. Like the Earth itself, which twists and thrusts and shakes, this deeper nature of Capricorn is being instigated by the unstoppable force of Pluto.

Now, put these two forces together: the revolutionary power of Uranus meeting the evolutionary drive of Pluto. Imagine this has been warming up for about three years, that it’s going to be exactly aligned for three years, and will have after-effects lasting at least another five years.

If you’re wondering why so many people are living through desperate times, that’s one side effect of so much tension and movement — and the threat of progress when these two forces — Uranus and Pluto — make direct contact. Anyone clinging to the past has a serious problem on their hands, and that could include anyone (not just ExxonMobil executives or crusty old senators).

There are lots of ways to describe this tension (for example, the drive for radical progress of Uranus in Aries versus the fear of cataclysmic change described by Pluto in Capricorn).

The square 90-degree aspect that we’re experiencing has its roots in a conjunction that happened in 1965 and 1966. By that time, there was obviously something going on. The Civil Rights movement was active through much of the 1950s, and the March on Washington that you see illustrated above had happened in 1963. Clearly, there was something in the air, but could anyone have predicted the turns of events over the next 10 years?

That’s about where we stand today. We know how precariously balanced our lives are, and what a fragile state the world is in. People are actually starting to notice that exceedingly few political ‘leaders’ and even fewer heads of multinational corporations are involved in solutions to any of the problems they’ve been so busy creating. Their game is to maintain the status quo, because it works for them, even as the system they’ve built threatens to crumble under their feet.

Planet Waves
From the Occupy movement of 2011. Photo by Beth Bagner or Eric. Probably Beth! It has that surreal look, but it’s real.

We actual humans are being invited to participate in a different experience: that of waking up. One of the first signs of awakening is noticing that you’ve lived unconsciously in the past, and one of the next is noticing how many people seem to be sleeping. Don’t stop there. Awakening is something that you have to do every day, and the continuity of thought and progress that you develop from day to day and year to year and moment to moment is called awareness, or mindfulness.

As we go through this, I would propose that we never underestimate the lure of go-back-to-sleep influences. The prescription pills, the mind-numbing work, the corn syrup and the gratuitous violence are still flowing freely. Many people go through lives gradually becoming their parents, pretending to be unaware of that fact. Many people say over and over again that they’re going to go for therapy, never receiving the incredible benefits that can offer them.

One last trap is awareness going no further than a slight tickle in one’s brain and the vague hope that ‘things will get better’, which can easily be numbed out by the fear that if you dare to make a move, life will get worse. Part of the Uranus-Pluto aspect involves noticing and questioning the role of fear in our lives. That’s another way of saying it’s time to pluck up some courage.

There’s a good chance that the Uranus-Pluto square is working directly on your chart. Nearly everyone has some significant planets or other factors right in line with this aspect, which become the focal point of evolution, growth and progress. Learn something about your chart and you can spot the places where you’re under the most pressure to make changes. The chances are you know it, too — and you’re getting direct information about what, exactly, needs to change.

Yes, it’s time to stop being poisoned and voluntarily poisoning ourselves and being ripped off and voting for people who steal from us. It’s time to stop passively watching the destruction of the Earth. It’s time to stop wishing we ‘had a life’ and actually get one.

And as you know, it’s time for a lot more than that.

Action is the fruit of knowledge — and I mean this literally, not as some philosophical metaphor.

Let’s go.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

Planet Waves

Cancer Birthday Reading is Ready!

Hello Cancer Sun, Moon and rising folk — and happy birthday to Cancer Sun readers.

The Cancer 2012-2013 birthday report is now available. This is a detailed reading of transits as they influence your sign, with a focus on career and relationships — and a special focus on home and security base. It accounts for certain factors going out as far as 2014 that begin to have an influence starting in July.

Planet Waves
Photo by Sarah.

This is an excellent astrological product covering the transits you’ve been reading about in Planet Waves, including the Uranus-Pluto square, the Saturn-Eris opposition, Mars changing signs and the conclusion of Venus retrograde.

I also include a reading with the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless — cross-checking the astrology with the Tarot with some surprising results. The product includes photos of the Tarot spread, the chart, and access to last year’s reading so you can both review and check its accuracy against the events of your life.

If you have never tried one of my birthday readings, we’re so confident it will be helpful that we offer a full guarantee of your purchase. My intention is to make this the most worthwhile $19.95 you’ve ever spent on an astrology product, and I put the best of my talent into the work.

Note, this report is substantially different from the 2012 annual (Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check.) written with six months’ extra perspective and covering many other themes.

Here is your link to order.

This report will be effective and timely for Cancer rising and Moon readers as well. For other signs, we have a page that lists all of my birthday products for the past year or so.

Thank you for your business. Please let me know how you like the reading.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

 

Planet Waves

East meets West: an Ayurvedic Conversation

This week’s featured interview from the United Astrology Conference (UAC), brought to you by Planet Waves FM, is a conversation with Nomi Gallo and Simon Chokoisky of The Ayruvedic Institute. Nomi and Simon shed some light on the nuances of bringing Eastern spiritual concepts to the West, noting both differences and universal ideas. They also emphasize the importance of preparing oneself to be healthy in mind, body and spirit, and to be well rounded, as necessary groundwork to becoming an astrology student. It’s an engaging, fun, illuminating conversation embodying the very simplicity of natural logic found in Ayurveda. Our UAC coverage includes well over 20 great interviews with astrologers, psychologists and other spiritual practitioners, and we hope you have fun exploring them.

 

Planet Waves

This week on Planet Waves FM: All Hail Northern Solstice!

Here is this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, recorded on the eve of the solstice. I cover the Gemini New Moon — the Moon in the that odd 28+ Gemini (which I covered in the article Here at the Edge of the World).

Planet Waves
Eric Francis.

We then take a song break, diving back to the late 20th century — my guitar teacher, Rusty Boris, made a CD and I play a track called “Thank You.” In the second segment, I talk mainly about Saturn opposite Eris — the seeming dichotomy of independence versus relationship.

If you would like to try to listen without any player at all, here’s a direct link:

http://planetwaves.fm/podcast/120620-podcast.mp3

Here is your program in the old player, where you’ll find the full archives and a downloadable zip file. Here is another version of the archives — organized with program descriptions.

We have LOTS of great Planet Waves FM editions planned for this summer — stay in touch!

PS, Note, here is the PDF about Eris that one of our readers mentioned in a comment on our main Daily Astrology and Adventure blog. I’ll put it on “free sale” today. I wrote this just about three months after Eris was initially named. Given how swiftly I moved after the naming, I’ve no doubt it’s the first full-strength attempt to delineate Eris, and it may still be. I’m curious to see how it checks out against your experience. If you do a Google search with my name, the word Eris and the word astrology, you will pick up dozens of other references over the years. Or, if you prefer, here is a compilation on Eris that includes some of my best work on the topic. We’ll be sending this out by email too.

 

Planet Waves


Monthly Horoscope for July 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You’re about to experience what you can think of as a progress-check on your journey to wellness. You’ve been through a long phase of reflection, many experiences of learning how to change your mind, and gradually devoting yourself to healing. Yet it seems like the real demonstration of your progress is going to come through your relationships in the coming weeks. Part of what you’ve been working through is how to handle anger and aggression. Along the way you may have noticed what a big problem this is for so many people these days. Where you stand today is at the point of connecting theory to practice. You’ve studied the map, you’ve studied yourself; now as Mars moves out of Virgo and into your opposite sign Libra, you get to dive into the territory. This includes how you handle your own Mars-related emotions (desire, anger, aggression, fear) and how you handle those feelings in partners. You will need to notice carefully when you go into reaction mode, as opposed to response mode; it’s essential that you be able to distinguish whose feelings are whose; it will not always be easy. Most significantly, you become the guardian of fairness and balance, and this will necessarily involve situations wherein you’re the judge of your own cause. On one level I could describe the aspect structure of the next month as an experiment in integrity, which is to say, both inner wholeness and the question of what your relationships reflect about your state of mind.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19- May 20)

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Self-esteem is the core issue for you now, though culturally we have so many problems with this topic that it’s like trying to describe air. By all rights, you should be feeling great about yourself these days, though inside that feeling there appears to be a deeper question. It might help to think in terms of ‘as if’. Faced with any decision or circumstance, how would you respond if you valued yourself more? By that, I don’t mean responding to your fear — I mean your actual affirmative value on yourself, which extends into your environment and your community, since you’re so deeply dependent on your surroundings for your happiness. Your charts suggest there’s something you may be struggling to let go of, and to the extent you’re stressed at all, consider this. When self-worth is compromised, people tend to compensate other ways. Some do this by getting rich or famous. Some exert their power over others, or by fostering an obsession with physical strength. Some substitute the need for public adulation as a substitute for being loved by their parents. I suggest that you be vigilant about when any form of behavior is designed to make up for a perceived loss or lack. If you pay attention you will notice when this is happening, and you may also get the hint that it won’t work. No substitute for authentic self-value will ever work. So forget the substitutes and go for the real thing. It’s right within reach, and you’ll know it when you feel it.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed) If you would like to hear your Taurus birthday reading, please visit this link.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may have been getting the message in recent weeks how crucial it is that you be honest with yourself — and various reminders of how easy it is to be less than honest. It’s not too late, and yet moving forward, it’s essential that you be scrupulous in your self-assessment and your dealings with others. Dishonesty is not always about telling outright lies. It also includes concealing your motives and intentions. It can slip in through being idealistic, exaggerating or denying certain facts. One thing that will help you is to consider your sense of proportion before you speak or take action. How important is something, really? How important is it that you get your way? In addition, Jupiter in your sign is offering you depth and wisdom, but its square aspect to Neptune cautions that you could dismiss what you know because you consider it inconvenient. This is another way of saying, don’t let your idealism get in the way of perceiving the truth of any situation. Rather, get under the surface and be honest about your motives — something that has not been easy for you lately. As the month develops, you could find yourself involved with a crusade of some kind, or at least, a crusading attitude. And if that turns out to be true, you’ll want your moment of commitment to be based on something authentic. Doing this well is first a matter of practice, then of preference. I suggest you start with the commitment to being all real, all the time.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Gemini birthday reading is ready! Click here for an hour of astrology plus a tarot reading by Eric.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You are starting to feel what’s missing, because it’s not so missing anymore. It’s as if you’re remembering your own presence among so many events and activities that surround you, though your awareness may occasionally drop below the surface before bobbing back up. When this happens, I suggest you ask yourself if you’re trying to deny the intensity of your own life, or your need for deep commitment to handle the many demands on your growth. One of them seems to be about playing a central role in the emotional cohesion of your family or circle of friends. I suggest you listen carefully to what children have to say, and keep your mind on their wellbeing — even if they’re not your own kids. See if you can remember your own observations about the world when you were much younger. There are things that didn’t make sense to you then, which still don’t make any sense to you today. What if you refused to pretend that they do? The things you held dear when you were much younger, such as the concept of ‘life’ itself, and your corresponding respect for existence, can be of significant help to you and the people around you. Nearly all of the problems the world faces emerge from the refusal to have even the most basic respect for life. You will be a lot happier if you don’t play this game, and you will set the example that it’s possible to focus on what really matters.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Cancer birthday reading is almost ready. It will include more than hour of astrology plus a tarot reading. Check your email later today or early tomorrow for access.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Give up any desire to control how people perceive you and it’ll be easier for you and everyone else to see you for who you are. Though you may have your doubts lately, the thing that your friends value the most about you is your sincerity. This quality about you will work with an almost mystical power through July and into the next year of your life. The thing to remember, and the thing so often forgotten, is that all you can really be is yourself, so you may as well do that exclusively. The example you set is one of the most likely to be followed; you have the privilege this year of being a kind of trendsetter, though it’s best not to think in those terms. Rather, remember the wisdom of A Course in Miracles, which reminds us that “everyone teaches, and teaches all the time.” If you’ve ever noticed that people tend to do a lot of imitating of others, it’s time to take that to heart. While words are a vital part of this process — especially over the next few weeks, with Mercury making an extended visit to your sign, what counts the most are actions. If you do use words, remember to use them wisely; there is a pattern developing where you may regret what you say, and have to correct yourself. That alone sets a good example, as so few people can admit that they were wrong, though it’s preferable to get it right the first time.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

 


Spring Checkpoint: Individual Signs Now Available

We will soon figure out that it’s actually 2012. The recent retrogrades of Mars and Mercury seemed to create a delay, but really this winter and early spring has been a phase of gestation. Over the next four weeks, the energy starts to pick up pace dramatically, and we will discover where we are and that something unusual, and beautiful, is happening.

Even as we approach the truly beautiful potential of the astrology that’s developing, many people are struggling with their day-to-day lives. There are more questions than answers; the economic and political situations seem hopeless; the pace of existence is going so fast that there seems to be nowhere to get in a little meaning, or seek some peace of mind.

Planet Waves

Here is where astrology can help. Astrology looks at the longer cycles, and the deeper themes — and can help you see your life in context of the present moment, no matter how chaotic it may be. Context means a sense of where you fit in that will help you see your potential and make better choices.

For years, I’ve been helping my clients prepare for making the most of the astrology of the 2012 era. Based on this experience, and many years of study, I’ve prepared a set of readings for all 12 signs (and rising signs, and Moon signs) that guides you through this astrology, step by step. I cover the most challenging and energized developments of this spring, which includes eclipses, Venus retrograde, the Venus transit of the Sun, and then a few days after the Sun ingresses Cancer, the Uranus-Pluto square.

Each sign gets a half-hour discussion. These came through loud and clear, with strength and meaning. I spent a week designing and recording them, and I am grateful to be able to offer them to you as a tool to help you guide your decisions, as you seek deeper meaning along your journey.

Spring 2012 is a kind of checkpoint along the way to wherever you are going. But really it’s a calling into the adventure of existence, a bold invitation to go beyond your past limits and explore something truly new about yourself.

Signs are now available individually for an amazingly low price, cheaper than the paper shopping bag costs at Jimmy Choo — order your reading here. The report is getting rave reviews from people who are currently working with it, including these words from a customer named Donna: “OMG — thank you thank you thank you — just spent this morning listening to my [Spring Report] info, and am so blown away by the accuracy (and relief!) in this experience. Thanks so very much for your part in supporting this work and for showing up in the way that you do!”. Here is the link to order.

Please drop us a note if you have any questions.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis


 

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mars has been in your birth sign since November, and on July 3 it heads for Libra. A review of this momentous transit is in order. Mars carries a rather different energy than Virgo, though the two are an essential combination. The point of this transit has been to teach you how to assert yourself. To do this, it helps to get clear with yourself and be coming from a unified position within your own consciousness. If you’re not in conflict with yourself, it’s a lot easier to stand up to the world. This transit has provided you with the opportunity to work out any misunderstandings with yourself that you’ve been carrying around. Next, when Mars is present in such a distinct way, it’s necessary to learn how to direct your will and your intention. Mars is a sharp object, and it has to be handled with both mental and physical precision; that is the role of Virgo. In sum, this transit has provided you with the kinds of benefits that a teenager gets from taking a martial arts class. Remember what you’ve learned during the past eight months of your life, because they are indeed valuable, once-in-a-lifetime lessons. Now with Mars moving into your 2nd solar house, you get to direct your will and intent into the management of your resources, including money. Mostly this will amount to an extended exploration (and use) of the concept of balance — the single most important skill when it comes to wise management of resources.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You’ve been learning a lot about fear the past few months — and soon the topic switches to faith. Fear tends to live in a self-contained world. That world follows its own rules and has its own internal logic, which is self-serving and, as it turns out, self-defeating for you. I suggest you make a list of everything you’ve worried about since late autumn and then note how much has actually come to pass. Fear is largely a creature of the imagination, of misdirected creativity. Faith works differently. It opens you up to a world beyond yourself. It is a power that comes through you. Apart from any difference in the subject matter, the energy flow is worth observing, because it’s a useful way to figure out what you’re actually feeling. Simply, stuck is of the nature of fear and moving is of the nature of faith. This idea is in harmony with something that Joe Trusso, one of my teachers, once said: the opposite of depression is expression. The next few months are all about you expressing yourself in a bold way. Per the characteristic of faith, that expression can have the sensation of something flowing through you. That something is ‘beyond yourself’ yet still distinctly recognizable as yourself. Among the seeming paradoxes we face in life, this is one of the most pleasant. We don’t often think of that thing beyond ourselves as part of us, though for sure this experience will help you recreate your understanding of who you are.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — The child in you is a revolutionary. I don’t mean a rebel — I mean someone with an agenda to set the world right. The challenge you have is to embrace the potential for change, healing and liberation with the youngest part of yourself, while at the same time bringing in the focus and maturity that is your prerogative as an adult. To this end, I suggest that you do a few things. One is to pace yourself. Yes, time is of the essence, and getting ahead of yourself is a good way to waste time. Take things in order, one at a time. Next, remember that while there may be revolution in the air, at least half of that equation is evolution; and this is a process of trial and error. Yet it can take vast leaps even when contained in an environment of orderly progress. Keep in mind that the unstoppable evolutionary force is in the sign that’s associated with how you think. So for you, as a revolutionary, the core theme is understanding your thought process, specifically for making corrections to what you can think of as your mental genetic code. Like any strand of DNA, this is based on ancient information — though you are clearly aware of the pressing need to bring this up to date. Your goal is to make sure that your thought process is current and not something akin to that of your ancestors who were roaming around the planet in 1895.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Relationships are said in many spiritual and therapy traditions to be a mirror. This is good in theory; somehow we all know it’s true. In practice, though, it’s easy to forget, and challenging to apply in a pragmatic way. Now would be the time, however. The first thing to remember about mirrors is that unlike a photograph, they present an image that is reversed horizontally. Plus, every mirror is a little different; at a certain point you choose the one you like the best. One particular mirror in your life is showing you the past. You can peer right into your own history, and make a decision about whether you resemble that person at all. Other mirrors represent your potential, and show you how much beauty and wisdom you’ve got available. The thing about those reflections is that you might not believe them. In fact, you’re more likely to believe the image that shows you who you were, since you’re more accustomed to it. I suggest you gradually cultivate your relationship to what you think is unrealistically positive. As you do this, you may notice certain emotional zones where you feel like you may be injured or fall short of who you want to be. As part of making peace with your potential, you get the opportunity to heal those parts of you that you might have decided are unworthy of love. This is a bold place to be; in a sense you’re confronting one of the deepest insecurities that people are capable of. It’s about time, too.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You are poised to take charge, though I suggest you work with a strategy. Step one involves something called power analysis. This is a conscious dissection of your goals (and figuring out what they are and why you have them); of who in the situation has influence over whom; and of your actual leverage in the situation. You need to place having a clear strategy above your tendency to react or respond emotionally, no matter how strongly you may feel about the situation. You’ve spent a long time analyzing the ethics involved, and examining your own psychological tendencies. Now that it’s time for action, I suggest you remember one thing. The scales of justice can be tipped one way or the other by a single gram. It is therefore vital that you use your influence wisely, and with precision. If you proceed in a reserved, understated way, you will gain the respect of others — particularly if you spend time listening. This process will also build trust. There will be many developments over the next month that seem to take on a life of their own — though I assure you that they’re reasonably predictable — and much more flexible than you might imagine, in case you want to sway things in another direction. The thing to remember is that exerting less influence is better than overdoing things. You want to be respected, not feared. And these days, fortune favors those who are capable of changing their mind — which is another way of saying capable of growing.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You tend to need a lot of reassurance before you take any kind of risk — and you have that now. Yet even if external validation is available, I suggest you emphasize what’s coming from within, because you are the person you’re most likely to listen to. Most of the time we think of achievement as something we reach for. It’s ‘up there’, away from us. The sensation of your charts is gently stretching your capacities from within. Think of it as being a bigger person, rather than a better one. Imagine that you encompass more possibilities, and that you’re friends with a diversity of potential outcomes, rather than being attached to any one. Contrary to popular folklore, Aquarius is one of the more conservative signs of the 12. This raises the question of your relationship to fear. You don’t really believe the worst-case outcome is the one that’s going to happen — though why do you so often conduct yourself as if you do? Now, life is encouraging you to take some chances of a sort that you have not experimented with in a long time. Yet you do have experience with stretching yourself in this way. You may feel like you need extra courage to account for the extra risk involved, though I would say that curiosity will serve you better. In its most valuable form, this would be curiosity about yourself — which will serve you many ways.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You’re looking right at the tendency in your relationships that you’ve wanted to work out very nearly forever. You now have the power of awareness not only to avoid making the same mistakes again, but better still, the courage to be free from fear if you do. Ultimately every relationship involves embarking on the unknown. At some point we have to decide that someone we care about really is being honest, and this is a feat that has its deepest roots in your ability to trust yourself. If you use what your senses and your intuition tell you, then you’ll be able to make clear decisions. I suggest you set a limit on the extent of using your past errors as a teaching device. You definitely need to understand where you’ve been, but more significantly you need to use your creativity to do something different. That’s to say, you cannot go forward merely by avoidance — you go forward by visioning what you want, setting a destination and then setting out in that direction. While you’re unlikely to arrive exactly where you planned to go, there’s a good chance you’ll end up someplace better, with unexpected rewards that come as a direct result of your willingness to take a chance and explore unfamiliar regions of yourself. One of the most exciting things about your chart is the strength of your inner presence. It’s as if a world is opening up within you, which will manifest first in your awareness, then in your home space, then in your immediate surroundings. Enjoy the trip.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Gemini New Moon — and the Solstice Cluster

Note to Readers: The July monthly horoscope will be distributed Friday morning, after the Sun has ingressed the sign Cancer. If you would like to review your June horoscope, here is the link. — efc

Dear Friend and Reader:

In yesterday’s edition of Daily Astrology, I explained the background on the past 11 years of stressful astrology — a long series of aspects involving Saturn, which have felt like one test after the next, without our ever finding out our grade. If you want to know a bit about what you’ve been through since 2001, that post may give you a clue.

Planet Waves
The fixed star Betelgeuse, associated with fame, success and ‘rare engines of war’. I guess that could mean success in war — for the winner.

Today is the second Gemini New Moon within 30 days. The first happened with the Sun in the first degree of Gemini — that was an annular (not annual) solar eclipse. It’s unusual to have two New Moon events in the same sign the same year, though it’s possible when the first one happens on the first or second day the Sun is in the sign.

Today we have a New Moon at the very end of Gemini, in something I’ve come to describe as the Atlantis degree — 28+ Gemini, properly known as the 29th degree of Gemini. As I mentioned, this degree is like the eye of a needle through which you can thread the charts for the Sept. 11 incident, the Boxing Day earthquake of 2004, WikiLeaks, the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and a number of other world horoscopes. I’ve been watching the horoscopes of news and historic events for a while and I would rate this in the top three strangest things I’ve ever seen. I’ve long pondered what it’s about — and I’ve done some digging. I cover the territory in this subscriber series article from 2011 — though here are some additional thoughts.

This time of year when we face toward the Sun in the direction of Gemini, we have our back to the Galactic Center (which is located directly across the sky in late Sagittarius). I believe the Galactic Center, the core of our little (300 billion star) spiral island in space, serves as a homing signal; it pulls us into the galaxy, toward our spiritual home. When we face away from the core, we’re looking out into the vast — and understandably frightening — expanse of intergalactic space. That can have a lonely feel. Some evening this time of year, get a feeling for how comforting the night sky is when we face away from the Sun and into the center of the milky cosmic clouds of our galaxy. That is the direction of home.

When we face late Gemini, we’re also facing in the precise direction of the fixed star Betelgeuse (a star within our own galaxy, located about 1,800 light years from our Sun). Bernadette Brady describes Betelgeuse as having an influence that can bring “unbridled success without complications.”

The question is, success for what, or for whom? That works both ways — successful happy ventures, and successful disasters. Brady, one of the fixed star masters of our day, also describes Betelgeuse as “everlasting fame.” William Lilly, the 17th century maestro, says the star represents “rare engines of war” — not a bad description of the Sept. 11 incident.

Planet Waves
The location of Betelgeuse, a reddish star near the famous Belt of Orion. Photo: Wikipedia.

So, with these options, I am going to put my chips on unbridled success without complications — though I am concerned about how this New Moon activates so many charts that have wrought so much trouble for so many. I think we can use it as a release point; as a thing we can go beyond.

Speaking of going beyond, today is the day that Mars leaves the degrees where it was retrograde much of the winter — it reaches the end of its second ‘shadow phase’ today at 4:18 pm EDT.

The New Moon is followed Wednesday by the Cancer ingress of the Sun, or the northern summer solstice (southern winter solstice). This is by definition an Aries Point event, as the Sun is square one of the tropics and thus in aspect to the spot where the zodiac begins. This zone of the zodiac (involving early Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) is like an intersection of private life and public life, something true not just in theory but also apparent in the study of many charts.

Then on Sunday, June 24, we have the first of the long-anticipated Uranus-Pluto squares. This is what I’ve been calling the 2012 aspect. There will be seven of these between Sunday and early 2015, so this is really the beginning of an astrological era that’s been warming up for at least two years; that’s how Uranus-Pluto aspects work. They take so long to develop (this one has its roots in a conjunction of the same two planets in 1965-66) that they are once-in-a-lifetime events. And they always arrive with turns of history, usually in liberationist style.

On Monday, June 25, Jupiter and Neptune form their one and only square for this cycle; Jupiter is in Gemini and Neptune is in Pisces. This is a slippery aspect, suggesting that one not be too idealistic — realism is the key. Investigate something until you know the truth of the matter. Misunderstandings can happen with the best intentions, so maintain a posture of gentle, persistent, non-accusatory inquiry till you figure out what’s really going on.

Next, Venus stations direct in early Gemini, after a six-week retrograde. That happens Wednesday, June 27. So will end the third inner planet retrograde of the year. As this happens, the Sun in Cancer moves into an exact square to Uranus in Aries and an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn, which will activate the still-exact Uranus-Pluto square. Notably, this is within hours of the first quarter Moon, which is to say that the Moon and the Sun pass through the Uranus-Pluto square within about 48 hours of one another, just as Venus stations direct.

This all leads up to the Capricorn Full Moon on July 3, which happens the same day that Mars ingresses Libra and jumps onto the cardinal cross, into the mix of Uranus and Pluto.

Now, if you think all of this is a lot, you’re right — it is. These events are closely concentrated, and happening one after the next. But we’ve already been through a lot; and there is some good news amidst the concentrated sequence of events. Venus and Mars are making moves associated with direct motion, which will release energy and help unravel complications. We can also be grateful that the eclipses are behind us.

Uranus square Pluto has been building up for decades like a thunderstorm that many of us wish would just finally happen — it’s been a long time coming, and this aspect is going to torture some people with dark agendas (or who are parked on a low density level) while it spurs on those who are seeking liberation. There may be some tension (as described by the aspect I talked about yesterday — Saturn opposite Eris, and the Jupiter-Neptune square), but at least we will get to play a good game. If you have to kick some ass, or tell it like it is, be a good sport.

All in all, I think the moral of the story is KNOW YOUR FACTS. Capital letters in italics. This is cautionary information from Jupiter square Neptune. Take things one step at a time. Allow things to develop, and guide your life gently. Remember — this is all part of one process. There’s one story arc involved, and that would be the path of your life. Remember too that what happens over the next few weeks is an extension of the events that commenced with the solar eclipse on the first day of Gemini.

Recalling a line from the Patric Walker horoscope, the stars in their courses may guide us, but it is we who must row the boat.

With love,

Eric Francis

Moonshine horoscope for June 2012

Dear Friend and Reader:

Today we have the Moonshine horoscope by Genevieve Hathaway, who wrote her column in transit back from the United Astrology Conference on her way home to Cairo, Egypt.

Planet Waves

The Moonshine horoscope is based on your Moon sign, which is a good thing to know if you find astrology helpful. It will open up a new dimension of your astrological consciousness (and there are many more after that).

If you’re curious what your Moon sign is, I suggest you go to Astro.com, get a free membership and enter your birth data. This will tell you what sign your Moon is in. Or you can go to Serennu.com and enter the data there (converting to Greenwich time) and check without having to get a membership.

Though they’re written based on the qualities and properties of the Moon sign, I’ve found them useful for both the Sun and rising sign as well. Try them on and see what resonates with you.

We’ve just been through a series of eclipse-like events, three of which involved the Moon (annular solar eclipse when the Sun ingressed Gemini, a partial lunar eclipse last week, and then the Moon making an occultation to Pluto right at the end of the transit of Venus). So the Moon is a bit sensitive right now.

We are following this in Daily Astrology & Adventure though today our emphasis on the placement of Jupiter, which is in Gemini. I think you’ll like that article.

Please share your responses to Genevieve’s horoscopes.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

Planet Waves

Our new zodiac glyphs are by Neisha Hirsch | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Earlier this year, a series of events brought into focus a re-evaluation of your mental and emotional health. You can think of this as an assessment of whether or not your mental processes, as they existed previously, supported your feeling good about yourself. Patterns of thought influence your feeling body, which translates to a direct impact on your physical body. Recently, you have covered much ground in clearing out old, outdated mental patterns passed down through the generations of your family. In response, a potent moment of creative expression is building this month; your mind and body working together are one of your most powerful tools. Like a sharp sculptor’s knife, you can carve, craft, shape and refine the world around you with this newly integrated thought-emotion dynamic. I suggest you think of your mind as the platform by which you can translate your inner vision to a physical manifestation. Your emotional body, when it’s free of guilt, shame, fear and circular mental patterns, provides information about what is congruent with your soul. Feeling good and right in an action or intention is a clue that you’re in sync with your inner mission. As you learn to coordinate the efforts of your mind and body with clarity, you will gradually master cultivating intent into manifesting your desires. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19- May 20)

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — A door is opening this month to let you slide easily through a series of changes regarding your perception of self-esteem. Said one way, you’re experiencing a synthesis of feelings and concepts surrounding your inherent worth. Said another way, you’re learning to feel good about being alive. The astrology in June accelerates the process and the pace of developments by an order of magnitude. You may be wondering how it’s really possible to feel so grounded and accepting of who you are. You can think of this as collecting the habits and tendencies that lead to this feeling. Really what you’re doing is settling a long argument that you were having with yourself. Once you remove the doubt and the contention, it’s easy to figure out that you possess a unique value to existence, one not tied to anything external. This is something you can’t buy or trade for or receive from someone else. Yet it’s the one resource that all other aspects of your life grow from. Proceed from a place of curiosity and openness to a space of self-discovery. You’re building strength that will last, where you can live every day feeling good about being you no matter what external conditions you may encounter.by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). If you would like to hear your Taurus birthday reading, please visit this link.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — As the events of this extraordinary month develop, I suggest you let go of old concepts dictating how you’re supposed to feel. You can start by making an inventory of all those ‘supposed to’ requirements. Your solar chart indicates a series of rapid changes to your psychic framework that are currently underway, and that you’ve no doubt noticed. This framework is the filter by which you experience existence on the most basic level. For a long time you lived with two seemingly different emotional spaces — one that was detached and mental, and one that was more feeling-based. An idea is pushing up from deep within you to aid you in synthesizing these two seemingly opposite modes of feeling. The melding of these two methods of interpreting your inner space changes the structure of your internal framework and thus shifts how you feel and perceive your life. As you orient on the new sensation of being you, I propose you not take it personally if people around you seem no longer to ‘get’ you. It may take them some time to catch up to who you are becoming, and you cannot wait for them. Any anger displayed from others is less about you and more about their uncertainty. If they think you no longer fit into the nice, neat box they placed you into, they may be having doubts about themselves as well. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Gemini birthday reading is ready! Click here for an hour of astrology plus a tarot reading by Eric.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Words are powerful tools. They define, shape and color a particular view of the world. Language specifies how you feel and places it in a box with measurable dimensions. What happens when an emotion in you expands beyond the limits of this box? You are in this moment, which may arrive with a sensation of discomfort or lack of ease as you stretch beyond your prior limits of expression and expand outward. In astrology, one of the ‘containers of consciousness’ is called the 12th house, and it’s been a busy place lately — fertile creative ground. This is spilling over into your emotional body, adding complex layers, dimensions and colors to your inner world. Naturally you will want to express these experiences with new combinations of words and ideas, as your prior ones no longer do the job. One way to do this will be to go beyond words and explore other methods of expression — such as visual, musical or tactile. This richness of emotional space will provide you with much in the way of ideas and inspiration to do just that. To fully access the new internal landscape, keep going when you reach a seeming limit (for example, if ‘words don’t work’). Curiosity and receptivity are two modes that will help you distinguish what you’re experiencing from the labels and constraints of the past. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Over the last few months you re-envisioned a number of concepts surrounding your emotional resources, differentiating those ideas from the patterns and attitudes inherited from your family. Simply put, you want more from life than they ever imagined possible. This process brought you into contact with one of your most important states of being: confidence about the work you do. During the eminently mysterious month of June, this new inner connection will help you raise awareness of your talents and how you apply them. A peak energy moment is developing, providing an opportunity to spread the impact of your gifts into your larger community. One key is to actually use your self-confidence rather than have it just be there. Conduct yourself like you’re already getting the job done. Express yourself in a way that sends the message that you’re here on this planet to make a difference, and connect that with your sense of fulfillment. As you share your best attributes, notice attempts by others to sidetrack you to their own projects — and take it as a compliment. Assess each individual’s motives, and look for the common ground you share. You don’t need help but cooperation is always nice — if you can get clear about the basic goals and values that you share. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

 


Spring Checkpoint: Individual Signs Now Available

We will soon figure out that it’s actually 2012. The recent retrogrades of Mars and Mercury seemed to create a delay, but really this winter and early spring has been a phase of gestation. Over the next four weeks, the energy starts to pick up pace dramatically, and we will discover where we are and that something unusual, and beautiful, is happening.

Even as we approach the truly beautiful potential of the astrology that’s developing, many people are struggling with their day-to-day lives. There are more questions than answers; the economic and political situations seem hopeless; the pace of existence is going so fast that there seems to be nowhere to get in a little meaning, or seek some peace of mind.

Planet Waves

Here is where astrology can help. Astrology looks at the longer cycles, and the deeper themes — and can help you see your life in context of the present moment, no matter how chaotic it may be. Context means a sense of where you fit in that will help you see your potential and make better choices.

For years, I’ve been helping my clients prepare for making the most of the astrology of the 2012 era. Based on this experience, and many years of study, I’ve prepared a set of readings for all 12 signs (and rising signs, and Moon signs) that guides you through this astrology, step by step. I cover the most challenging and energized developments of this spring, which includes eclipses, Venus retrograde, the Venus transit of the Sun, and then a few days after the Sun ingresses Cancer, the Uranus-Pluto square.

Each sign gets a half-hour discussion. These came through loud and clear, with strength and meaning. I spent a week designing and recording them, and I am grateful to be able to offer them to you as a tool to help you guide your decisions, as you seek deeper meaning along your journey.

Spring 2012 is a kind of checkpoint along the way to wherever you are going. But really it’s a calling into the adventure of existence, a bold invitation to go beyond your past limits and explore something truly new about yourself.

Signs are now available individually for an amazingly low price, cheaper than the paper shopping bag costs at Jimmy Choo — order your reading here. The report is getting rave reviews from people who are currently working with it, including these words from a customer named Donna: “OMG — thank you thank you thank you — just spent this morning listening to my [Spring Report] info, and am so blown away by the accuracy (and relief!) in this experience. Thanks so very much for your part in supporting this work and for showing up in the way that you do!”. Here is the link to order.

Please drop us a note if you have any questions.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis


 

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Take a moment and make two lists — one of your highest professional goals, and the second about what aspects of your current work situation actually bring you a sense of meaning and contribution to the world. These two lists, seen in contrast, will help you develop a picture of what you want to do, and remind you what you don’t want to do anymore. Sooner or later you have to shift the energy from the goals that no longer serve you to the ones that serve both you and something bigger, and this is the time to develop that emphasis. Then, create a vision of what your life would look like if you expressed your highest calling on a daily basis. Dynamic energy is building rapidly; a clear mental image will help you utilize this energy to manifest the work you desire. Any tension that develops is your inner guide clearing ideas that do not work. One theme to handle consciously is that of service. It’s easy for you to get drawn in, thinking the commitment is permanent. If your skills are called upon to help others in a way that does not directly facilitate your own objectives, consider this idea more in the context of helping someone move from point A to point B and less about an open-ended commitment or managing their actions. They are the steward of their own path and you are the steward of yours. When in doubt, remind yourself that. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Your unconscious landscape has been a busy place the last few months. Much in the way of information was coming up through your emotional layers into conscious awareness. It may not seem like it adds up to much, but have you actually made the connections? As you connect the dots, you may discover that you’re onto a whole new central organizing principle for your life. It’s not the small details that are changing — rather it’s your philosophy on the highest and deepest levels. You’re developing a perspective that propagates whole living. You’re incorporating the viewpoints and attitudes that can only come from an authentic inner search.
Think of this as integrity. Contained within this concept is the idea of being whole and integrated. As you feel what it’s like to live this way, notice when guilt or fear comes to the surface. As a kid you received programing that essentially said the only way to be happy and feel like ‘you’ was to be completed by another person. By discarding this idea, your conditioned ego may resist with various scary thoughts. Recognize these negative feelings and thoughts as just that — not as deep truths. Then feel your way through to the other side, where you’ll meet an emotionally grounded and balanced version of yourself. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Part of being alive is living with the range of human emotions — jealousy, love, anger, happiness, fear and many others. Living as an aware, conscious individual means being your own guide when noticing (and if necessary) processing these emotions. That step alone means you’re not their victim. Discerning where they come from, owning them as your own and not projecting them onto other people is a solid step on the path to enlightenment. You’re currently straddling two emotional frameworks in regards to an important relationship. It may feel a bit like a seesaw poised perfectly with both sides balanced off the ground. In one direction is an opportunity to creatively advance a partnership for greater intimacy. The other direction involves misplaced anger. It helps a lot if you know that these are your options. The anger you’re experiencing may not feel right, which is a clue that it’s not based on an accurate assessment. If you observe yourself when you’re feeling anything of this nature, you may notice that the feelings pass without much effort on your part, leaving you in a place where love and acceptance are natural. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Your Moon is in the sign of the eternal traveler. Freedom of movement is essential for you to feel happy and congruent with existence. This month, I suggest you consider how you can enter into structured relationships while still maintaining this feeling of freedom. One part of the solution involves less structure — or said another way, living more from day to day, without deciding how the future must be. This month you pass through a threshold. On one side is your old mode of partnership. On the other side, you may decide you feel more comfortable in a relationship model that allows for enough structure to meet your needs for closeness (summed up in the word ‘dependability’) while also giving both parties enough freedom to be individuals. The changes in your relationships reflect a significant internal change in your perspective. This has been developing for a long time; it’s just that you’re finally catching up with yourself now. Take the next step and imagine what your ideal relationship would feel like, and your life might change to embrace that person or people. Then, take the chance and actually live that way. You don’t need expectation — just a spirit of curiosity and experimentation. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Notice your daily habits and patterns. Do they keep your emotional well full, or do they drain you? You’re in the midst of a process that is changing the very fabric of your emotional structure — rooting out deep, unhealthy material going back generations, and making room for something much softer and friendlier. It’s like you’re passing through the dark labyrinth beneath an old Gothic cathedral, and are emerging into the clear light of day. As you open up space within yourself, you’ll transform that heavy building into an airy, open and useful structure. You may think this will involve taking apart the original building brick by brick, reshaping the pieces of stone and then rebuilding. But it’s really much easier. It starts with seeing the purpose of the structure in a new way. Treat your physical body like an extension of your emotional self. Eat well, sleep well, drink plenty of water, love yourself more and build a nurturing space to spend time in each day. Give yourself grace and forgiveness when you make a mistake or fall short of perfection. I suggest you find a way to incorporate beauty and art into your regular routine. Even if you don’t feel like an artist, this is more about you being nurtured and inspired by the process. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Over the next four weeks you will receive a lightning bolt of sexually charged energy. This has two dimensions — experimentation and healing. Let openness to all possibilities guide you. I suggest you quickly let go of past preferences and ideas about yourself and your sexuality. Instead, operate from the place of being a blank slate. Perhaps think of yourself as an erotic journalist, collecting information regarding what stokes your inner fire. Your pleasure angle has a distinctly mental component, so keep those erotic thoughts flowing from one to the next. Imbibing high-quality erotica can be helpful in this, though you have plenty of your own ideas and theories. By removing the constraints that held you back from enjoying your full sexual potential you will undergo a depth of emotional healing that may surprise you. What has held you back are the same feelings that hold everyone back — fear, shame, guilt. They have blocked you from engaging in all facets of your sexuality, and thus facets of your authentic self. As you meet these parts of yourself, notice what they contain, and what they imply. You will learn important information about who you are. Yet this isn’t all about learning or communication — sex is about having fun. by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Living with such a permeable psychic body can be quite challenging at times. You encounter situations where you don’t know what stuff is yours and what belongs to others. This, in turn, can lead you to believe that you can change the conduct of others by changing yourself. Along these lines, you will be remembering some of what you try to forget in order to fit in better with those around you. For a while, living this way has helped you to feel better about yourself, though that was mostly because you fabricated the feeling of acceptance. While this isn’t real and can’t be maintained, fortunately there is an alternative: actual self-acceptance. You’re now breaking through from one to the other. I suggest you drop your guard and let the cracks in your façade open up, behind which you will meet your truth. This is the beginning of something truly special, which will lead you from one personal discovery to the next. What you are encountering is solid, grounded inner strength, the kind that can only come from being real. From that place, you will be able to set clear boundaries that allow you to treat who you are with respect, at the same time you treat others with sincere regard for their individuality.by Genevieve Hathaway.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Gemini 2012

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 #930 | By Eric Francis
You’re starting to see the light about a relationship or partnership situation that’s been a persistent mystery. You’ve figured out this situation in layers. Yet how exactly did you miss the obvious for so long? You’re in a good position to figure that out as well; this is the piece that’s 100% about you rather than being about anyone else. It involves your need for security, which has a way of leading you into situations wherein you don’t exactly end up being so safe. The safe place is not a situation; rather, when you find it, you will discover that it’s your inner orientation. This seems difficult or even impossible for many people to learn, though every factor in your chart is pointing to precisely this fact. Once you understand what projection is, it will be easier to see how your confidence or sense of belonging outside yourself not only distracts you from where that confidence really resides; you also miss opportunities to share with others as a result of making them into something they are not. This is no longer necessary.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Dec. 7, 2012 #929

There are many levels of honesty, though they contain one another. The one to monitor now is emotional honesty. This is to say, are you feeling what you feel, and are you admitting to yourself what you feel? I mention this in connection with a particular relationship situation, which is trying to get your attention — though you may not be hearing the bell through the fog. I suggest you listen, and feel. You need the information that is trying to come through to you now. If you find yourself doubting anything, or pretending it does not matter, that’s the time to pay attention. But this is subtle, as you have to notice when you’re not exactly noticing, which is a form of double mindfulness. In the moment you wake up, you will make a discovery about someone that can change the course of your life merely for being willing to notice, and reveal a potential in you that you have long denied — and will be unlikely to let slip away ever again.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 #928

It is often said that the truth hurts, though it’s much better at healing. The issue that often arises, though, is what you do with your fear of hurting someone because you tell them what you really need, feel or want. If you’re in a position where you need to do this, I have a few suggestions. One is remember that ultimately, you don’t need anyone’s permission or understanding. However, the benefit of a consensus is that it protects the integrity of the relationship. Real consensus is reached by a meeting on the level of the underlying values, not just the matter at hand. Also, I suggest you factor in the social conformity piece of the puzzle, which may be a central influence within the situation. The idea of ‘hurt’ may involve the fear of not being accepted. Yet there is a deeper layer: I suggest you be keenly aware of the unresolved pain that others may be carrying, even as you embark on your own commitment to a new level of healing. You don’t have to be a slave to that pain, or fix anyone — just be aware of your environment.


Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for December | By Eric Francis
Standing in for Weekly Horoscope #927

Actively cultivate your vision, both for your own life and for the world. Then hold that vision gently, and take a conscious step every day in the direction of expressing it. To do this, it will be necessary to look beyond what you think of as the potential in your current relationships. Whether you think of that potential as limited or extraordinary, whether your relationships are inspiring or distracting, there is something more that you have access to. At times this thing I’m calling a vision feels so subtle you can barely bring yourself to admit that it exists, much less to accept that you can manifest it. Other times you may engage directly in the controversy and sense of difference that seizes the world. And at yet other times you can feel the actual power contained in your vision, including the subtlety and the controversy. They are all part of the same thing. What I am saying, though, is that to bring this in fully, you need to look beyond the parameters of your current relationship involvements, whether personal or professional, friendly or hostile. Those relationships may, at some point, factor into what you do, and they may provide you with suggestions about what you want or don’t want. To attain your potential, you must be willing to take leadership, and for a while, that may mean accepting being misunderstood, or perceived as a threat to the security that others usually enjoy in your presence.


Planet Waves Inner Space Monthly Horoscope for December

I suggest you do an inventory of what you have said and committed to in the recent past. You’re about to experience a surge of what looks like crusading energy — and now is your chance to keep all your promises. Or at least it’s your chance to keep the ones that you want to keep, though I suggest you politely acknowledge the ones you don’t want to keep. The idea is to focus your energy on a few projects rather than many. It would be asking too much of a Gemini to get your ambitions down to one thing. Therefore, do what you must to condense your energy and rid yourself of unnecessary distractions. I suggest you do this as a conscious project. One clue for where to focus may arrive in the form of an unusual creative collaboration.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Nov. 16, 2012 #926

You seem to be making a profound decision about yourself, though I suggest that as a metaphor you imagine that you’re putting on a glove. That’s the feeling — it’s a choice, and something that you slip into, contoured to who you are and what you want. It facilitates your dexterity rather than getting in the way. You can apply that image to everything you’re trying to work out in your life right now. The slipping in and the dexterity are emotional rather than physical — though the most physical aspect of the experience involves your use of time, and the way you fit your priorities into time. The conscious use of time is one of the distinguishing factors of maturity and adulthood. Factors in your chart are informing you that the time has come to get a handle on this aspect of your life, which also translates to knowing your priorities and then being in emotional harmony with them. The emphasis is indeed emotional; the hand slipping into the glove is your emotions fitting snugly into your mind.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 #925

Are you being driven by a false sense of survivalism? It may be disguised as defending your values, though I suggest you question whether you’re motivated by fear. This may be pushing you (for example) to believe the side of the story that goes against your interests. In any event, you need to be more skeptical of your point of view, at least for a few weeks, and be open to what facts come your way. Give everything and everyone a fair hearing, and allow an opportunity for reconsideration. Your tendency at the moment is to believe what sounds convincing rather than what is true. You may even forget that there’s a difference — and when that happens, usually there is something behind the scenes driving the impulse. This might be wishful thinking. You might be resisting looking within. You might prefer your fantasy over reality. In the end, there is no power in illusions.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 #924

There’s no predicting the way a partnership matter will turn out in the end, though one thing is clear. It will take some focus to sort out the truth. As well, you will have to use scrupulous honesty to sort out your own involvement, and to assess the accuracy of your perceptions. Until you do that — and it may take weeks, rather than hours or days — I suggest that you refrain from saying or doing anything that might complicate the situation. Now is the time to pull back and observe, and most of all, observe yourself. You may believe that others are presenting you with an uneven playing field or a moving goal post. Yet it seems to be you who must focus your real objectives, desires and needs, and be realistic about whether your current circumstances can provide you with anything that might fulfill them. For a while, I suggest you consider anything you might say about someone else to be true for you. That will have the gradual effect of ensuring that you will say less, and that when you do, you will speak carefully, clearly and with a true measure of objectivity.


Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for November 2012 #923

Maintaining one’s independence is challenging in relationships, especially in a world where we seem to have two options — taken and not taken. Taken often involves signing a 100-page contract, and not taken can come with the sense of being a non-person. You’re finally seeing the futility of this, yet there doesn’t seem to be an easy way out of the paradox. It would be a cruel world where intimacy came only at the expense of a hostage situation, though for too many people this is what happens nearly all the time. You seem intent on going beyond this limited reality, or what could less politely be described as an emotional trap where your own needs and desires are used as bait. If you’re seeking your freedom without the corresponding sacrifice of closeness, make sure you notice those moments when freedom seems like a dangerous, unstable state of existence. Those are your best indication that the door is actually coming unlocked. Usually, an overwhelming sense of responsibility and the daunting prospect of failure, contribute to the sense that the fewer options one has, the better. Lately, however, you’ve become aware of a fact that verges on metaphysical: you are a distinct entity in the universe, responsible for the course of your own existence. You may be feeling it as a struggle for survival, and I assure you that your quest is precisely that. Don’t let anyone convince you of what is not true, but more to the point, don’t convince yourself.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 #922

It’s essential to know what you want from your relationship experiences, and what you want to offer. The emphasis is now on exchange. It’s also on taking certain factors seriously that you have neglected before: particularly the essential element of sexual healing that is such a strong theme in your relationships. It’s usually easy to pretend this one doesn’t exist — though not with Saturn in Scorpio pushing this to the point of immediate necessity, particularly since the Sun is about to arrive on Monday. It’s time to note certain facts of existence, and begin making decisions about how to approach them. Until then, I suggest you take advantage of a rare aspect which will help you find people in your environment with whom you’re in affinity. This will work on nearly any subject, though you have an opportunity to put it to use to make contact with others on this singularly avoided topic — the necessity for sexual healing. This theme will extend into your circle of friends as well as your family. If you’re feeling inhibition, get over yourself, and do what you know it’s time to do.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 #921

You seem to be struggling to understand someone else’s point of view, in light of recent unexplainable decisions they have made which have impacted your life. I think you already know where they’re coming from, and what you’re really trying to do is make sense of what appear to be contradictions between what they’re saying and how they’re treating you. This is not a situation you have to obsess over, and you could do yourself a favor by taking what you’ve learned to heart and moving on. Sooner or later, however, you’ll have to deal with your own difficulty trusting. There are days when it seems that every time you take a chance, you face some unexpected consequences. You would be surprised how much of this situation could be addressed by initiating a personal policy of direct communication. Make clear statements, ask when you have a question, and take account of what you learn. You’re acting as if you have secrets to keep, or as if your own motives are under a veil of some kind, when this is hardly the case.


Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 #920

Your survival instincts are pretty sharp right now, but don’t outsmart yourself. You would be premature to determine that someone is acting in bad faith, but on point to admit your doubts and seek out more information, as needed. It takes a wise person to know when they don’t know, and I suggest you cultivate this skill and the easy willingness to do just that. This is particularly true when it comes to assessing the motives of others, particularly now. You’re usually pretty good at this one, though at the moment it’s as if there is a cross in communication, a mistaken impression or a blind spot. This makes it especially hazardous to presume intent right now. Listen to what people are saying to you; I mean listen to their words and consider the context and inferences. Take everyone at face value until you have a reason not to (and one potential reason would be aggression). If you don’t understand something, ask, and if you need additional details or if you require someone’s help unraveling their thought process, ask for that.


Monthly horoscope for October 2012 standing in for Weekly Horoscope #919

One role that Jupiter plays within our solar system is to absorb stray asteroids and comets, and as a result there are fewer that might strike the Earth. Currently Jupiter is in your sign — and there’s boundless energy coming at you from your opposite sign, Sagittarius. You’re subject to these incoming influences, which will arrive in a diversity of forms, and what they have in common is high energy. Some will be obvious and bold; others will be subtle, and change you in ways that you would never have predicted. As for the obvious, this may come in a diversity of offers to play, to engage with different beliefs and to wage a social crusade or two. As for the less obvious: pay attention when others are inviting or enticing you to compromise your ethics or to rearrange your moral structure. Such may come in the form of “well, now that I’ve had you do this [against your ethics], you may as well do this [even more against your ethics].” Remember that you become like the people you have sex with (this is based on a direct transfer of energy), so if you’re wondering why you’re becoming the way you are, pay attention to who you’re waking up with. The thing to remember is that for the next two months, you’re going to be deeply susceptible to influences that come from outside yourself. The key to managing this is choosing which of these influences to accept, and which to reject — at the first possible opportunity.


Planet Waves Inner Space Horoscope for October 2012

Your sign is associated with the health of the lungs, though I would take the story a little lower on the totem pole — your pelvis and any function associated with it: for example, your reproductive health. We live in an era when this topic has become a political bonfire, but it’s distinctly personal. It relates to how you feel about your body; what you do with and how you take care of your body; and what you tell your children. Now is the time to take care of all necessities related to reproductive health, as well as sex education. Start with educating yourself, going deep enough that you get answers to all of your pending questions. Then, make the information easy enough to understand so that you can relate it to your partner(s) and any young people who need to know.


Friday, September 21, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #918

In order to understand the nature of a problem, you will need to take a chance. That may mean considering possibilities that seem risky, or point to potentials that you don’t want to consider. When it comes to understanding psychological and emotional dynamics, many people will avoid an idea because they don’t like what it implies. I suggest you treat anything like this that you encounter as opportunities, and even as low-hanging fruit. Meanwhile, I suggest you ditch the notion of a ‘happy childhood’, if such a thing influences you. Childhood is extremely complicated, we tend to forget most of it, and in truth, it’s never easy. Embrace the complexity of what you went through, and the contradictions involved, and recognize the fact that there are parts of you that are still aching from some of what happened. You’re also very likely to be carrying the pain of your parents, and at the moment, what your mother passed along to you is high on the agenda to be looked at, understood and resolved. Said another way: you are ready.


Friday, September 14, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #917

Get ready for the pace of your life to pick up — and for an adventure that will take you through next week. This may translate to a wild ride, though in order to keep some control over your affairs, I suggest you stay a step ahead of yourself. Nearly anything or anyone that you’ll encounter is already in place, pretty much where you expected it to be. If you think things through, you’ll be able to eliminate most of the elements of surprise. That will leave you clear to consider your responses. I suggest that you err on the side of saying less rather than more; and that you take fewer chances with what you say and do. That’s going to be the challenging point, as you may be inclined to take bigger risks than are appropriate, given the challenges associated with the situation. I suggest you proceed slowly, taking one step at a time — and responding rather than reacting.


Friday, September 7, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #916

You may be wondering what you have to give up in order to make someone happy, though I would ask whether any such arrangement can succeed at making anyone happy. I suggest you also do a little self-investigation and see where this is coming from. Everything has an origin, and this particular thought form is not an exception. One way to consider what you’re experiencing is an investigation of your relationship to authority. Any sense that something must be so, that is, the idea that anything is compulsory or will be enforced, relates to how you perceive authority. On this topic, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion coming through, seemingly from outside sources. If that’s true, I strongly suggest that you focus on your own needs, feelings and creative fire. Temporarily subtract everyone else and their agenda (or what you think their agenda is) from the picture, and see what you’re left to work with.


Friday, August 31, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #915

You’re on the verge of a professional breakthrough, though you may not feel that way. You also may not recognize it when it happens. Indeed, you may have the sensation that you’re making far too little progress rather than taking a step forward, so I suggest you be extra vigilant about what you experience. I’ll give you three examples of how this might manifest; if none of them are specifically accurate, consider them metaphors. One is that your sense of weakness or lack of confidence manifests in an unexpected way. This might involve making emotional contact with someone you thought you had to impress. Another expression could be how revealing a vulnerability resonates with people you work with and deepens your relationship, opening up a sense of mutual respect. One other possibility is how being present for your own feelings, and unusually honest with yourself, stokes your confidence and allows you to do something you thought was unlikely or even impossible. To sum up, make friends with what you think of as your weaknesses, because they contain some of your greatest potentials.


Moonshine Horoscope by Genevieve Hathaway, standing in for Planet Waves Weekly 914 for Friday, August 17, 2012. Edited by Eric.

Your emotional perspective, the filter by which you experience and interpret situations, changes like a photographer changing lenses — often. This makes for an interesting way to live for you, keeping your mind and emotions engaged, but at the same time it can be challenging for partners to understand how you will respond today since it may differ wildly from yesterday. Motivations for slipping from one emotional state to another may feel obvious to you, but those around you struggle to see your reasoning, a fact you may not notice. Helping partners understand you better will lead to deeper emotional intimacy in your relationships. Step one is to understand yourself before sharing your intricacies with someone else. I propose an exercise: sit down and talk into an audio recorder expressing your different emotional viewpoints and states. Play the recording back and take notes on the overlaps and points of contact between the seemingly different perspectives expressed. The commonalities will indicate some of your deepest needs; aiding you in verbalizing to a partner why you react certain ways in situations and what you are looking for from them. An already strong partnership will grow deeper from these efforts on your part. — By Genevieve Hathaway


Friday, August 10, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #913

Mercury has finally stationed direct. I experienced it like the lid being lifted off a boiling pot; the drop in pressure and temperature was palpable. I trust that the transition has given you the opportunity to take notice of some basic facts that you may have been denying. You will now have the ability over the next three weeks to revisit your observations, and reconsider some of your decisions, as Mercury will make several aspects for the third (and last) time of this cycle. You may not reverse yourself, though one way to know if you’re paying attention is that you start to see things differently. Your perspective is different from what it was even two or three months ago, and as Mercury makes aspects to Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, if you’re really looking, the world around you will look and feel different. This is because you are making deeper contact with yourself. Be especially mindful, however, if you find yourself trying to convince yourself of anything.


Friday, August 3, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #912

As a Gemini, it’s difficult for you to get your life, or your mind, onto solid ground — and the current astrology is throwing one curve after another. However, the place where you can anchor yourself is with your words. This is always true for one born under your sign, however, now that language is being reduced to either biased spin or two-sentence chirps, I can not say this more emphatically. For the next week, Mercury will be slowing to a station, holding a long, exact aspect to Neptune. This rare event is a personal message to gather your thoughts and your creative vision, and to focus your mind — in writing. I don’t care how little time you think you have. Stop several times a day and write in your journal, and/or your blog, and/or develop a short-term plan of action (preferably all of the above — and if you don’t have some way to express your ideas to the community, now is the time to create one). You will feel better, your mind will relax and you will orient yourself on a new flow of income.


Inner Space Monthly Horoscope for August 2012

Once again you’re getting a sense of the value of words. Yet I think you may need to increase your perception of that value, equating it with your entire reputation. Promises, spoken commitments, inquiries and statements of fidelity — in many ways your life hangs in the balance on these things. You are indeed judged by your ability to tell the whole truth, and to both speak and write with a measure of objectivity. This all might mean less were you not a Gemini, whose main form of focusing power and transacting life force comes through what you speak and write. That we live in a society where it’s considered normal to lie, not just in advertising and political speech, but also casually in conversations with nearly anyone, emphasizes the point. This is not your karma. Yours, rather, is to embody the truth that you’re as good as your word, and that your word is gold.


Friday, July 20, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #911

You seem to be brooding over something when, by all rights, your life should be going pretty well. The central issue seems to be a struggle over something that’s shaken your confidence in yourself. I would ask, however, whether it was your actual confidence that was shaken — or your false confidence. I know that it’s not typical to think, Wow, that sequence of events really took a toll on my false confidence, but if you ask me, that’s the basic scenario. One aspect of this is doubting how smart you are, or how useful your knowledge really is. You would go a long way through clarifying those questions. You will go further by developing and deepening your mind. By this I mean reading and writing. Modern society’s concept of intellectual nutrition is the equivalent of high fructose corn syrup. This isn’t good for anyone, but you in particular need more — and you need it now. You need to read, you need to write, and I suggest you do so daily: not about yourself, but about the worldly subjects that interest you the most. Then, you’ll figure out how smart you really are.


Friday, July 6, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #910

It’s time you recognize the value of your words. Indeed, I suggest you consider that what you say and how you say it are your most precious assets. If you were to keep that firmly in mind, you might say less, and you would ensure that any promise you make is something you’re fully prepared to honor. While Mercury is retrograde for the next few weeks, I suggest you consider any commitments you have that you haven’t come through on yet, and make a plan for what to do about them. You can renegotiate rather than renege; the most vital thing is that you have a clear understanding with whomever you have an arrangement, or with anyone to whom you’ve made a promise. If you go through your life systematically and settle your affairs with people, you will proceed differently when making commitments in the future. And remember — everything you say is a kind of promise.


Friday, July 6, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #909

You’re at a peak of sexual power right now — which may be granting you some unusual charisma in every other area of your life. Your chart suggests you can have any fun you want, including access to people you might never have imagined possible. There’s just one caveat: impeccability with your words, and how they express your feelings. It’s not enough ‘to be honest’. What you want is to be precise. Your charts are so potent right now that you run the risk of not caring what other people might feel, how they might respond to you, or whether you will have exactly the influence you want. Yet if you honor the need for that precision, you will avoid most or all of the negative effects that can arrive when sexual energy is exchanged, or political power is used. Your longterm reputation is at stake, which is not a caution against having some serious fun; rather, it’s about making sure that fun is beneficial to everyone.


Inner Space Monthly Horoscope for July 2012

Jupiter is now in your sign for the next year — and that suggests some bold adventures are coming your way. The key idea to work with is different. If you have a choice between options for what to do, try the unfamiliar one. If you want to read, try an author you’ve never experienced. Stretch the bounds of your mind, approaching problems from new points of view. You have a lot to learn from older people who are not your parents; they have different information, a different agenda and no power over you except for what feels authentic and persuasive. Yet the thing to remember is that all roads lead to a spiritual question. That question involves the nature of your existence and the extent to which it’s possible for others to dictate who you are. You no longer need that kind of influence, correct?


Friday, June 29, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #908

You can now receive the benefits of something that you’ve been in possession of for a while. It may not be a thing, however — it more resembles a value that you hold close to your heart, a promise you’ve made to yourself or an idea about existence, which you’ve now decided to take seriously. You have every reason to be positive about whatever you’re committing to, or embracing your commitment to. It’s true that you have not fully let go of certain old tendencies, and you’re being reminded of certain qualities you possess that involve your ties to your parents. However, the center of gravity is leaning in your direction, and the faith that you possess is the thing that will get you past any of your doubts or perceived weaknesses. Therefore, you’re correct: this is the time to make all the progress you can, which by the way is more than you think.


Friday, June 15, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #907

Some of the year’s most significant astrological events take place in your birth sign, the latest of which is Jupiter arriving earlier in the week. The Roman incarnation of the chief Olympian god, Jupiter is a complex influence, but I can say a few things. One is that this will provoke you to be more creative, to go deeper and to reach further with your mind than you have in a long time. You need to expand your sense of who you are, and Jupiter is here to help you with that. By that I mean this is the year you realize you are more encompassing, with more influence, and in some ways the center of your community. At the same time Jupiter will seem to magnify some of your issues, which you can count as a helpful influence because you need to see them in order to set yourself free from them. Remember that, because every other force in the cosmos seems to be offering you something similar: the gift of resolution.


Friday, June 8, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #906

How much do you want to be influenced by someone else? Keep that question in mind; once you imbibe any influence at all, the effect could be a total and unexpected transformation. If you’re encountering someone you perceive as famous, you might want to consider your relationship to their notoriety. Does it serve as an example? Is it useful? Are you starstruck? Or are you able to set it aside entirely and meet them on mutual ground? That would be the best possible scenario, though this may require you to project yourself into the future a bit, and to imagine the person you’re striving to become. No role model is ever 100% what we want to be, and other factors indicate that you’re feeling more deeply than usual about your own goals and values. The most useful modeling you can do right now involves adapting learning methods that help you focus on what is most important to you.


Friday, June 1, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #905

No doubt you’ve noticed that the pace of your life has picked up considerably since the eclipse in your birth sign that happened nearly two weeks ago. Events as they are developing will only concentrate the flow of experience, even to the point of putting you into a kind of time-warp. Tuesday’s Venus transit of the Sun happens in your sign, which is another way of saying it has personal meaning for you unlike for anyone else. It may even be occurring within a few days of your birthday, though in any event, what develops in these very days will influence your life for many years to come. There’s something here about recognizing yourself in your whole, undivided state, at one with yourself and your desires. There’s also an eclipse of the Moon in your opposite sign Sagittarius a day before the Venus event, which suggests that you have the ability to see past your attachments to others in a realistic way. This will allow you the freedom to take on the challenges of living in a way that is unencumbered by the past — or which, at least, keeps the past in perspective as something that has already happened. Many, many exciting and unusual things are to come — all of them supported by the cosmic gift of self-awareness.


Friday, May 18, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #904

The Sun enters your sign on Sunday with some real fanfare — a solar eclipse on the very first day it’s there. This is hinting at a year of rapid advancement and many changes. While it’s too early to make specific plans, you can help by getting clear with yourself what you want. Once you know that, you will have a basis for making every other decision. Remember your desires don’t have to be ‘finalized’ in any way — you just need to be aware that you want some things and you don’t want some others. Other factors indicate that any secrets you’ve been keeping from yourself are about to come out in the wash. Those could include what you really want, versus what you thought you wanted; how you really feel, versus how you thought you felt; and ideas that might have occurred to you but that didn’t get a second thought. Self-knowledge is your best friend right now. Collect what you learn over the next few days — it will soon come in handy.


Friday, May 11, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #903

The sky is warming up to a series of rare, amazing and most of all beautiful events in your sign, and your opposite sign Sagittarius. Have you felt the vibrations approaching, and the pace of events accelerating? I suggest you not worry if certain elements of your life seem unstable, uncertain or on the brink of some unexpected change. That said, you may just be feeling the approaching astrology as a sense of adventure. My suggestion as we approach these events is that you hang loose. I suggest you remain as flexible as possible, and surround yourself with people who make flexibility a way of life. There’s no way you can really plan for what’s coming, and in times like that your superior skill of human adaptability is your best asset. Keep looking at things — as in people, events and most of all, yourself — from as many viewpoints as you can. Move forward using curiosity like the bright headlight on a train, and know that nothing can stop you now.


Friday, May 4, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #902

Loyalty is only worthwhile to a point. The thing to ask yourself is, in being loyal to someone else, are you betraying yourself? This could be about anyone, though your charts suggest that the situation involves an authority figure, or a parental figure, of some kind. Consider this question carefully, because it illustrates a distinction that’s often blurred or even obscured entirely in the global crisis of self-esteem. I suggest you question the matter of authority, to begin with. If someone has this distinction, how did they get it? Did you grant them any power, did they take it, or was it in the fine print of the relationship agreement? It’s not too late to get out your magnifying glass and read the text carefully. And you’re right on time to make sure that even when you encounter or engage with someone who seems to be more powerful, or in a high station in life, you maintain your position as a fully-fledged human being — but only if you say so.


Friday, April 27, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #901

Gaseous elements cannot be touched, felt or examined without special equipment. But if that gas is brought into solid form, you can hold the material in your hand. This is happening to a number of ideas that have been just beyond the reach of your awareness. Like the process of centrifuge, this material is getting stirred up so fast that the critical pieces of information are able to crystallize into solid form. What is taking shape are ideas surrounding your calling in life and others’ roles in the development of that process. Your life is your own, though others are available to help you. For you, any discussion of an idea involves more than one concept or perspective; your mind works best by seeing things from multiple points of view at the same time. I suggest you work with this multiplicity of your highest goals and achievements and not see them as mutually exclusive. Not only can they co-exist in your life at the same time — they support one another. — by Genevieve Hathaway


Friday, April 20, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #900

Over the next few days, you may get the feeling that you understand your fears better than you ever did. These may arrive in waves of psychological insights that shed light on certain factors from the past. When this process is flowing, you’ll be able to make connections to certain elements of your experience and your behavior patterns in this era of your life. Looking at your solar chart, I would propose a few questions. To what extent are you carrying around someone else’s sense of loss, disappointment or grief? Can you see how this has shaped your life? Your life is about what you have to offer. The more you offer what you have, the more you will discover what you possess. One of the few ways to feel safe is to experiment with the feeling and see what happens. I know this may seem like doing things backwards; you might think that one acts safe when one feels safe. Feeling secure is a matter of experience.


Friday, April 13, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #899

I’m looking at your chart thinking: this has to be an interesting time for sex, or at least your ideas about sex, and discovering what you want. That’s something you’re fortunate to have available, and I suggest you use it to your maximum advantage. Yes, there is an uncomfortable edge, as if you’re having to stretch in a direction you’re not totally sure about: in particular, how it feels to respond to the erotic power of someone else. There may be an element of simultaneous attraction-repulsion. If you’re experiencing that, look no further than yourself for understanding. Your responses are all about you, no matter who else may be involved. Any sensation of approach-avoid can indicate the presence of hidden guilt. You may be worried about what ‘someone else’ would think if they knew what you wanted, or were experiencing with such pleasure. Go past that and see what’s on the other side.


Friday, April 6, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #898

You may have all the pieces of your plan in order, yet may be lacking the confidence to make your first moves. You have time to collect the various elements of what will constitute solid emotional ground, just remember — even when you have them all, you may not feel like you’re standing on concrete. What you’re seeking is motivation, and you’ll get there more efficiently if you figure out why you’re hesitating. It’s not because your plan is bad or poorly thought out. Rather, you seem to have an attachment to something in the past, and this is acting like a snag. You’ll know this is true if you’re involved in what feel like endless emotional details. This kind of obsessive thinking can eat most of your energy and all of your gumption. Make sure you understand what happened in the past, and take the steps to resolve it if necessary. Those events have nothing to do with what you’re developing now.


Friday, March 30, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #897

You may not know why you’re feeling uneasy, though that doesn’t mean there’s a good reason for it. Still, you have little to lose by being just a little extra cautious over the next week or so. Apply that to all the usual modes of honoring the precautionary principle. If you notice a smoke detector has a low battery, put in a new one. Regard the low-energy nightlight as one of the great electrical inventions ever. Rest when you’re overtired, especially if you’re driving or doing anything potentially hazardous. These are just good habits to be in, but there’s something else offering benefit, which is being mindful of your environment. I suggest you do this as a zen-type exercise. Notice everything. Clean or put back into place everything you touch. Patch leaks and tighten up anything loose. Finish up any projects that you left for a later date. Do this for its own sake, though I assure you, you will learn more in this process than you ever learned from a book.


Inner Space Monthly Horoscope for April 2012

Mercury is retrograde through April 4, and the few days surrounding that date may come with some turbulence, particularly in leadership situations or your professional life. Two suggestions may help you navigate these waters. Don’t push; rather, turn gently, and feel the movement of the currents around you. Second, insist on total honesty with yourself, and settle for no less from the people around you. In the spirit of ‘not pushing’, you may simply need to disregard the views of anyone who you discover lying. Or you may need to gently call them out. If the situation involves someone in a position of authority, be clear, be direct in a gentle way, and note how the perception of your authority or responsibility is influenced by your actions, though without that as a specific goal. Summing up in two words: Listen carefully.


Weekly Horoscope # 896 for March 23, 2012 — by Priya Kale

“People are strange, when you’re a stranger. Faces look ugly when you’re alone,” sang the Doors. People are strange indeed and although your world is expanding now there is a part of you that doesn’t entirely trust a situation that seems to be taking more than it is giving. An unexpected development calls for deeper confidence on your part, to move boldly forward even when another part of you is retreating. Current developments will work in your favor if you use them consciously rather than taking events passively. There is more freedom here for you than any sacrifices you fear you might have to make. You may have your doubts about a friendship or situation that touches a little too close to home, but this is no reason for you to feel alone or afraid of what is unfolding. As crazy as people may act, take them at face-value and let your sincerity and best skills lead you, as you grant others the trust, acceptance and freedom they need to be themselves. Expectations are a disappointment waiting to happen. The opposite action would be to have faith in people and see what they do when given the chance. — by Priya Kale.


Friday, March 16, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #895

You cannot control how people perceive you, so you might not want to put too much energy into pretending that you can. You can have a lot more fun being yourself with no particular attempt at spin or image control, and noticing how other people respond. Push the bounds of what’s considered appropriate. Say what you don’t usually dare to say, and go one layer deeper. You may find yourself in unusual company, as in among people you don’t usually hang out with, and also entirely different kinds of people than you’re accustomed to. The truth is you’re a lot more like them than you may think. You are one of the slightly odd, eccentric, creative critters that people look up to because they have that extra edge of freedom. What your charts are suggesting is that now is the time to embody that in a bold way. There is indeed freedom in not caring what people think, but at the same time learning something from how they respond.


Friday, March 9, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #894

Now is the time to be a politician, and I mean that in the best sense of the word: someone who can work any situation for maximum benefit, who can work the crowd and who is in control of their image. I suggest you boldly advertise what you think is your best idea, and give those discussions time to propagate. Gradually certain specific goals you have will gain popularity, and those will in turn fit a larger pattern that will follow the scheme of bigger plans. If you’re working with others, don’t delegate the part of your plan that involves public contact. You’re the one for that; you’re the one with the charm and the charisma. In particular you have the gift of being able to engage anyone in any conversation, which has a way of building trust. More to the point, you’re the one with the idea. Even if someone tries to persuade you to have second thoughts or give equal weight to alternatives, trust where you’re going. The so-called alternatives will make handy places from which to adapt improvements and enhancements to your far-superior plan.


Friday, March 2, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #893

You can safely let the tensions of the week go. It seems like people around you were feeling a bit revved up and expressive at the same time, and their reactions may have left you feeling some shade of insecure. Or rather, they may have affirmed certain pre-existing insecurities you’ve been experiencing, which in turn date back to old material. It’s strange when something someone says in the middle of your adult workday relates to some feeling you had when you were five years old, but it happens. There’s a significant relationship between what you have experienced in the past and what you’re experiencing today, though it’s here for a reason — so you can work it out and get yourself free from any snags that have persistently held you back. I will give you one clue from your chart — you don’t need to be popular to be successful. But you don’t need to be unpopular either. It would help immensely if you feel good in your skin.


Inner Space Horoscope for March 2012

This is a magnificent moment to both shine and do so in a way that is actually unique, meaning unique to you alone. You have no obligation to conform to anyone — you never did, but the temptation is always present. I don’t suggest you be different for its own sake, but rather that you have a license to celebrate and pursue your dreams while honoring your integrity as an individual. This shows up many ways, but most vividly in your freedom to have your own viewpoint of a situation, which may differ from every single person you know — and especially in pursuing a quirky, unusual and rather daring dream that you’ve been keeping to yourself for a while. The beauty of the moment is that you are already the person you wish you could be; now all you have to do is get out of your own way.


Planet Waves Weekly Horoscope # 892, for Friday, Feb. 24, 2012

An extraordinary New Moon in the angle of your chart associated with career and reputation is setting you on a journey of discovering your dream mission in life. You may feel like a goal you have is rather elusive. But rather than set your sights on success, go deeper to investigate what feels good to you in your soul. If you chase your 15 minutes of fame, you will likely get it, but then be disappointed. Clarify your ambitions and consciously let go of illusions of success or superficial, shallow ambitions, ideals of glamor or maintaining some kind of public image. Then you can sharpen a vision and focus your energy on a goal that truly has substance beyond what is currently apparent. This is also something that can have a greater real impact than you imagine, and this New Moon is bringing you a sense of this. You have benevolent support for your most soulful ambitions, and even from partners who may seem distant or too far to reach. But ultimately you are the captain of your ship and only you can decide what is worth your energy. You may have had your fair share of disappointment and what you consider to be “failure.” But these have all been a process of learning, and you don’t need to let your past stand in the way of who you are becoming. As long as you are anchored in self-awareness you can chart your course and navigate your way toward the success you’ve dreamed of. — By Priya Kale for Planet Waves


Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #891

Your current focus on your professional life is about to intensify — and you’re about to see whether your hard work has finally yielded any actual results. I have two suggestions. One is that you not only act and dress the part of success, but stand fully in the character of success. This is not merely about changing your affect; it’s about an internal shift where you orient on your goals. That said, there is a certain element of stagecraft that will come into play over the next week or so, where appearances will count for more than they usually do. You will be in a spotlight of some kind, and it’s essential that you work with this factor. It will count in both your visual appearance, the way you present yourself in spoken words and in writing, and most significantly the vibe that you put forward. Certain aspects indicate that you might be inclined to bend the truth or present two sides of a story; this is not the time to play any games at all with your integrity. Be clear and make sure there are at least two people close to you with whom you can reality check.


Friday, Feb. 10, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #890

As you’ve figured out by now, most spirituality has nothing to do with spirit and most religion has nothing to do with anything Divine. The substitute or the excuse is not the reality, though there are many who would — and do — confuse the matters. You cannot afford to be confused, though at the moment it could happen easily. The most likely entry point for misunderstanding is going to be false belief, so I suggest you subject what you hear and what others try to persuade you to an extra high level of verification. This would count for anything that you find is emotionally disturbing or where you get the sensation that you’re shutting down because you’ve encountered some information. That shutdown sensation may be precisely the clue you need to know that something is simply wrong. But doing nothing about it is not a useful option. At the very least, a clear decision is called for.


Friday, Feb. 3, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #889

Neptune now joins Chiron on the angle of your solar chart associated with achievement and reputation. For most people this would be challenging, because Neptune is difficult to grasp. But you’ve always had Pisces on this angle, and Neptune and Pisces are good friends. Chiron is currently on this angle as well, and Neptune and Chiron function well; you can think of Neptune as the paint and the idea, and Chiron as the discipline and refined talent that will help you express what you want. There is a catch, however. Some of the most amazing energy is focused in an aspect of life that you may not normally feel so ambitious about. Perhaps it occurs to you that you may create something special or leave your mark on the world, but in truth, do you? Now you have two compelling, longterm influences in this house. To accomplish anything, you will need to work diligently over a number of years. You will need to respect your own ideas. Most of all, you must be the very example of ethics.


Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #888

The issue of whether you feel safe on the planet is the essence of the forthcoming Mars retrograde for you. In our time of history, when it’s impossible to feel too threatened and when there’s no such thing as a long enough password, and when (as The Onion put it recently) 98% of Americans are afraid of 98% of Americans, feeling safe is an act of faith. Fortunately, that’s the very door that’s opening for you right now. Ultimately, all the reasons you can give yourself for not thinking you have enough, or contemplating all that could go wrong if you take action, or all the seemingly external pressure you’re under, add up to very little. You will end up trusting your situation because you don’t have any other choice. Now, if you can work backwards from there, you will see that you have more reasons to trust what is actually true than to trust your anxiety, which only misleads you.


Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #887

Powerful changes are taking place beyond your control, particularly in a financial situation or sexual relationship you fear you cannot live without. Confront any fears you may have honestly and investigate your values surrounding sex, marriage, money and commitment. You can then consciously uproot those that prevent you from going deeper within a commitment and exploring the beautiful opportunities beckoning on the horizon. Our world can be harsh, but as long as you play fair and are conscious of your own motivations, you don’t need to fear being taken advantage of or losing anything or anyone precious to you. If you are feeling a sense of loss right now, trust this is creating space for something rather heavenly to enter that can enrich your life, lifting your spirits and heart. Financially as well as emotionally you’re on solid ground. Loosen your grip and you can be liberated to discover just how blessed, loved and safe you truly are.


Friday, Jan. 6, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #886

At the moment, you seem to be at the mercy of what a partner is going through — and you probably think you have little influence over the outcome. The more appropriate thing to be wondering about is whether you want any influence, and if you did, what exactly it would be. The situation seems more clearly designed as something you will have to adapt to, which is another way of saying you’re dealing with a force much larger than yourself. What you experience may seem on one level like you’ve reached a turning point in a relationship, but what’s really happening is that you’ve arrived at a point of no return in your own life — and the relationship is just a reflection of that. Remember the Serenity Prayer, and remember that the most important part of that is ‘the wisdom to know the difference’ — and I would add: then you have to use that information well.


Through an Arch or Doorway

Planet Waves
Photos of this week’s transit of Venus, taken by Anthony Ayiomamitis in Athens. Technically this is called the moment of third contact — the third time that the rim of Venus touches the rim of the Sun. Fourth contact is when the other side of Venus touches the rim of the solar disk and the transit ends. The scattered black dots are Sun spots, which are associated with ejections from the Sun. See additional photo by Anthony below in the CREATE section of this issue, illustrating our tribute to Ray Bradbury.

Dear Friend and Reader:

One thing to keep in mind about an event like the transit of Venus is that you will see most of its influence in the long run.

Planet Waves
NASA image of the transit of Venus, as Venus makes contact with the solar disk earlier this week. This image was created from the live video feed provided by the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory.

While many are experiencing turning points that would be appropriate for the solar and lunar eclipses that we’ve just experienced the past few weeks, it may take some time to gain the perspective necessary to see the transit of Venus for the watershed event that it is. It’s a little like passing through an arch or doorway, which leaves you at the beginning of a new phase of exploration.

That is part of using astrology well — noticing how these things work in hindsight, then using future events as visioning tools. However, another view is that we’re running out of runway when it comes to getting ourselves together, when you factor in the many larger and deeper missions, personal and collective, that we know we need to act on. More on that in a moment.

Many of our readers made the effort to see the event, seeking out university astronomy departments, science museums, friendly amateur astronomers and other places where telescopes were set up. A few used pinhole cameras and some just seemed to look up at the Sun. The subtle influences of such an event run deeper than whether you see it or not. One of the gifts of personally witnessing a rare astronomical event is a sense of perspective, by which I mean a sense of our place within the solar system, and observing personally that it’s real.

It’s one thing to see planets in the night sky where they often appear, amidst the stars. It’s another thing to see a planet in daylight, in the context of another nearby body, the Sun. Most of the time we don’t feel like we live within a solar system. Watching Venus go by, it’s difficult to miss.

Planet Waves
Photo of transit of Venus, seen with a pinhole camera, taken “in the middle of somewhere with a group of butterfly fanatics” in China. Photographer is A. Dong, provided by Planet Waves reader Sam.

As for my own viewing experience: I felt a bit like Basho, the 17th century Japanese poet, who would walk for a month to witness the Full Moon rise over a particular temple site, only to arrive on a cloudy evening. I’ve been tracking the approach of this event carefully since 2004. Due to my travel schedule associated with UAC (last week’s astrology conference in New Orleans), I decided (with many appealing options) to conserve my energy and stay close to home.

It turned out that there was dense cloud cover over much of the Northeastern U.S., though I hear a few people in Brooklyn did get a peek when the clouds parted. Where I was, looking west over our old mountains here, we never caught a glimpse of the Sun.

From an astrology standpoint, I believe it was more meaningful to tune into the transit of Venus energetically rather than to see it, though of course, the visual always helps bring things into a real-world, physical context, rather than merely conceptual.

If you’re looking for the influences this event is having on you, remember that we’ve been talking about an event with a wide orb. This week was the focal point, though on many levels of personal and collective experience, the transit of Venus reaches into the past and the future, with this week as an epicenter. The changes that are centered now will ripple into the future, and if you’re observant you will be able to trace them back to 2004, when the first Venus transit of this pair happened. Consider what was going on in June of that month and see if you can discern the turning point, and the connection to what you’re doing, or what is happening to you, now.

If you’re observant about changes of course in your life, you may have a sense of your relationship to this astrology. It might be obvious, though I suggest you consider carefully the factors of context that actually evoke meaning. Even as you may be making certain decisions under a microscope, also use the widest possible lens to look at your life. We are still at the fulcrum of this event. While the transit itself has passed, we remain close to it, with much of the leverage that it offers.

Planet Waves
Planet Waves reader Kristina Holmes gets a look at the transit of Venus at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The transit of Venus is what I call a threshold event; it’s not the kind of thing that wears off. Rather, it’s a point of initiation or crossing into another phase of existence. Consciously or not, we’re rooting our changes and developments here, usually in the form of decisions. The more consciously you do that, the stronger your tap will be into the creative energy associated with the transit. If you’ve been working with the process of this transit, don’t stop! You can deepen your experience by looking at your astrology chart and figuring out where this is influencing you the most, or the point of deepest contact.

Then there are forms of inner progress that you may be feeling, and these too will take time to grow roots and establish themselves. Like nearly all forms of growth, this is often more fragile than we usually imagine. At the same time, as is the tendency in orthopedic surgery, we have to stand up and walk on the newly repaired part of ourselves to build both strength and confidence. If you have not noticed, much of what we think of as ‘growth’ and ‘healing’ and ‘spiritual training’ rarely ever leave the realm of theory — and it can take some constant encouragement to actually start taking the risks necessary to make real changes.

Conscious readiness is often a meaningful factor in taking action, though I’m sure you’ve noticed how much time you sometimes spend hesitating or waiting for something to happen. That’s a great habit to squirm out of — you have much better options.

Every facet of the current astrology is helping with that. We have just experienced a cluster of four eclipse-like events (solar and lunar eclipses, the Venus transit and the Moon’s occultation of Pluto nearly simultaneous with the transit). If you think of the cosmos as speaking with this concentration of events, this is a sign that it’s really trying to get our attention. Said another way, many cycles are going off together — like the alarm clock, the phone and the doorbell ringing at the same time.

Planet Waves
Schwoebel family and friends watch the transit using their hands and the back door as ultraviolet filters.

While in some ways there is a revolution of consciousness going on, and gradual change is undeniably happening, you may be aware that necessity is currently outstripping progress. Much of the United States was turned into a fracking project long before most people had ever heard that word (and if nobody prevents it, Europe and China are next). Our government became a theocracy while we were distracted by our leaders bombing Islamic countries. We are living with “Christianity” as a religion of judgment, cruelty, privilege and control.

As of today, none of our cultural systems seem able to handle the changes and necessity for awareness that would get us to organize and take action on the many situations that are calling for it — and also the calling you may be feeling to get involved. We are just starting to make the connections between personal healing and planetary healing, still uncertain whether to trust that process.

We are still staring right into the sold-out political system; many courts, including the Supreme Court, stacked with reactionaries whose pretense of public service is laughable; banks functioning as little other than parasites, and the system remaining on the brink; Monsanto suing organic farmers for “patent infringement” when organic fields are contaminated by Monsanto’s toxic pollen; and the minds and emotions of most people embalmed by the images in television advertising. Speaking of, Scott Walker was able to buy about $25 million worth of that and convince Wisconsin voters that they really do want to end labor unions.

We could ask what it would take for a mass awakening to happen. The better question is what is provoking you to wake up, and what is your point of involvement? At what moment do you decide you have to live differently, reaching from what you know is your true purpose? At what point do you (or did you) commit yourself to what you truly value?

Planet Waves
Over Brooklyn, the clouds parted for a few moments, allowing a view of the transit of Venus. Photo by George Hirschfeld.

It would help on every front were we to awaken to the concept of mutual interests. As A Course in Miracles notes, healing begins the moment you don’t see your interests as being separate from those of others.

There’s a reason so-called conservatism pushes its ‘every man for himself’ way of life — if people are competing or self-absorbed, they won’t join together against the bigger forces that are doing things to them, their children and the whole planet. There is still the illusion of competition between what works for one and what works for all. Separation and the obsession with separate interests leads to conflict and chaos. Messengers to the contrary are trying to seduce you into being an egocentric fool.

Humans are naturally tribal. We need one another, and it takes the most impressive, expensive disinformation campaign in history to get so many people to think otherwise. I suggest that you make peace with the fact that in whatever you’re doing, whatever your plans, whatever you want to accomplish, you will need the support of some kind of community — and in turn, you will be offering your efforts to something larger than yourself.

At the same time, you have to take full responsibility for your own creative spark, and not depend on others to get you going or provide you with the solution. This may seem like a paradox. It’s simply the fact that your journey starts with you and branches outward from there.

It will be relatively easy to see how this week contained a personal turning point. The collective level is a different story. In hindsight, we will be able to look back and see if this moment contained the seed of an awakening or a missed opportunity. For now, 2012 remains up for grabs.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

 

Planet Waves

Weekend Astrology & The Next Burst

As Len noted yesterday, both Mercury and Jupiter are changing signs in close proximity. Together these two planets rule a third of all the signs in traditional astrology — Gemini and Virgo ruled by Mercury and Sagittarius and Pisces ruled by Jupiter. That’s to say, they rule all of the mutable signs. So when these two planets change signs, a lot of people go through changes of pace, direction, emphasis and theme.

Planet Waves
David Arner performs his tribute to Hermes at RPI in Troy, NY last month. Photo by his astrology student Eric Francis.

Mercury has ingressed Cancer, and Monday, Jupiter ingresses Gemini. Mercury moves much faster than Jupiter and it will be in Cancer until June 15. Jupiter will be in Gemini until late June 2013.

Friday, the Gemini Sun (gradually separating from its square to Mars) opposes Pholus in Sagittarius — the centaur-class minor planet with the small cause and the big effect (ain’t that life?). Actually, the Sun has been and still is skating past a whole diversity of the newer points in Sagittarius — including experiencing the transit of Venus opposite the Great Attractor, a massive nucleus of some kind in deep space, which is pulling galaxies toward it like a magnet draw bits of iron dust.

Also in Sagittarius are Ixion (issues of right and wrong, as well as second chances), Narcissus (who melted into his own reflection), and Quaoar (creation myths; family patterns). Then there’s the Galactic Center — the black hole core of our big gorgeous swirl of stars, where we reside on the outskirts along a side road.

Gemini offers one last act before the Sun swims to solstice — a second New Moon (the first was an eclipse, with the Sun in the first degree of the sign). When that happens, we get a perk from the lunar cycle being shorter than the solar cycle.

It takes the Sun about 30 days to go through a sign, and the Moon goes round the whole cycle in a shade over 28 days. So a New Moon on the 1st day of Gemini leads to another New Moon in the 29th degree of Gemini. It turns out that this degree has been making guest appearances in the charts for a diversity of intense, weird things that happen on Earth, from Sept. 11 to WikiLeaks to Fukushima (and even the Titanic). All these charts and several more in their class have one common feature.

One way to look at this is to say that it ties all those charts together by having that one degree occupied by a prominent point in the horoscope (the Moon, for instance). And speaking of, we’re about to have a New Moon in this degree, ringing all those charts. That would be happening on June 19, and it’s both the latest ‘gee whiz’ chart and also the beginning of another cluster of world changing-type events.

Next in order is the solstice on June 20, followed by Uranus square Pluto, the first of seven passes, on June 24, and then Venus stations direct on June 27. All of this is shortly after Venus makes its heliacal rise (it appears in the sky as the morning star) — its incarnation as the star of love. As they say in showbiz, timing is everything — and Venus couldn’t be better with hers.

 

Planet Waves

Let the Sun Shine (or Leave it to the Germans)

Planet Waves
Solar Village in Germany built by German solar architect Rolf Disch. Photo credit: Solarsiedlung.de

In an announcement sure to give environmentalists (and anyone who sees the Fukushima disaster for what it is) some heart and useful hard data, Reuters is reporting that German solar power plants produced a world-record 22 gigawatts of electricity — equal to 20 nuclear power stations running at full capacity — through the midday hours on May 25 and 26, according to the head of a renewable energy think tank. Following the Fukushima disaster last year, the German government decided to close eight plants immediately and shut down the remaining nine by 2022 — effectively abandoning nuclear power completely. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and bio-mass will fill the country’s energy needs. The 22 gigawatts of solar power on May 26 met nearly 50 percent of the nation’s midday electricity needs on a non-workday (the total the previous day equaled about a third of the workday need). There’s still plenty of sunshine where that came from. Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry in Muenster, noted that this spike in solar production shows that gas- and coal-fired plants are also needed in fewer numbers.

 

Planet Waves

Gemini Astrology Emphasizes Relationship to Self

This week’s Gemini astrology emphasizes the healing of your relationship to yourself. Astrology is all about studying polarities (and Esoteric Astrology emphasizes the study of triangular relationships). Yet Gemini speaks to the inner relationship, the one that’s considered the most taboo and a topic we don’t usually want to talk about. The current astrology is about our different inner facts coming into a state of harmony or unity, which is more about consciousness than it is about anything else. Each of us is actually a whole being, and it’s only an idea that can make us feel separated from ourselves. The transit of Venus was the solar system offering a vision of how it feels to connect with yourself and what can happen when you do that. Though most of our lives have been a mix of the usual and the unusual this week, below the surface there is deep alchemy happening, and a clear invitation to relate to yourself in a clear and direct way. This can cause some turmoil in the world around you as partners in any codependent relationships you may be involved with resist losing that part of you that they thought was part of them.

 

Planet Waves

LDS on LSD? Mormons Embrace LGBT

Marisa Black, my friend and fellow writer for Dodson and Ross (and a recovering Mormon with a lot of interesting stories to tell), has been updating me on how Mormons in Salt Lake City are finally getting hip to the idea that it’s normal to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. First she sent me this video produced by students at Brigham Young University (scroll down a bit for the video). It takes nine minutes to watch and will convince you the world is changing. Then a little while later she sent this blog post, from Monday, about the Mormon church expressing what is in truth unprecedented and (to me) rather stunning tolerance, with its members marching in the pride parade. Mending divisions — whether cultural or those in your own psyche (they tend to mirror each other, by the way) — does not often happen overnight. Using whatever insights you’ve glimpsed this last week or two, see what you can allow or shepherd along these lines.

 

Planet Waves

Manning’s Lawyers Move to Dismiss 10 Charges

Lawyers for Bradley Manning, the alleged Army whistleblower accused of leaking a massive collection of governmental material to online whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks, moved to dismiss 10 of the 22 counts against him. Manning appeared in court Wednesday on the first day of a three-day pre-trial hearing. His defense team says the counts are either unlawfully vague or fall short of amounting to a prosecutable offense; his military trial is scheduled for September. Manning, who had been kept in solitary confinement for more than 11 months, was moved from Quantico Marine base in Virginia to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas in late April, where he was finally able to move freely around other military prisoners.

 

Planet Waves

Scott Walker Survives Recall Election

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker survived an historic recall election, prevailing over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Walker won the recall by a margin slightly wider than he originally won office — 53 to 46 percent. To do that, he had to outspend Barrett by a seven-to-one margin, so were this election graded on a curve, Walker actually lost. However, that’s now how the votes are counted, so Walker became the first governor in the country to survive a recall election.

Planet Waves

He came into office with the Tea Party sweep of 2010, heavily funded by the Koch brothers — the oil and chemical guys who are buying up all the political franchises. He wasted no time implementing his fiscally “conservative” agenda, most of which involved getting legislation passed that stripped public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights.

Do you remember the massive protests and occupation of the Wisconsin state house after Walker made that move? Remember all the Democratic state legislators fleeing across state lines so that a vote on the measure could not be forced? All of that momentum rolled into a massive recall movement many anticipated would be hard to stop.

What got in the way? In a word: money. Lots and lots of money, the flow of which was opened up by the 2010 Citizens United decision.

John Nichols, a correspondent for The Nation, told Democracy Now! on Wednesday, “We always like to tell ourselves that if the people get organized enough, they can offset any amount of money. But in Wisconsin, we got a pretty powerful lesson about this new era we’re entering into with unlimited cash … It’s something we should be taking a good look at — not merely for Wisconsin, but for the whole country.”

Nichols also criticized the Democratic National Committee and President Obama for mostly staying on the sidelines: “The comparison between tens of millions of dollars and an all-in effort by the RNC and by national Republicans [versus] a tweet from President Obama, I think, sums it up a little bit painfully.”

Our own DC-based astropolitical analyst, Astrodem, had this to say on the Planet Waves blog this week: “Exit polling analysis shows that large numbers of Wisconsin voters didn’t think a recall was legitimate in this situation. Recalls, in their view, should be reserved only for official misconduct. The fact that most voters in a fairly progressive state don’t consider stripping union rights to be official misconduct tells you all you need to know about the future of the labor movement.” (That said, you can read more about Walker’s apparent misconduct here — scroll down to see the stats.)

Unfortunately, a dwindling labor movement is just one of many signs that if those who consider themselves at all progressive don’t truly organize and activate to provide a counter-balance that’s further left than the current Democratic party, the Dems are likely to be sucked further and further right by the vacuum in the wake of the Republicans’ movement into the realm of the criminal. This isn’t about politicians playing games; this affects the roots of our socio-economic health as a country.

You can read more of Astrodem’s thoughts on the issue here.

 

Planet Waves

Planet Waves
Sunrise over Athens, with the transit of Venus barely visible. In the U.S., we got to see the beginning of the transit toward sundown if skies were clear; in Europe, they could see the end of the transit at sunrise. This photo was taken by astrophotographer Anthony Ayiomamitis, who also took the series at the top of this page. Editorial comment: with transits of Venus dating back forever (and calculations predicting the events going back thousands of years), people didn’t realize the Earth was round?

Ray Bradbury Summoned by Venus

In the midst of this week’s unusual grouping of planetary alignments, Ray Bradbury departed the Earth. He was 91 years old. The beloved and prolific writer who had written so much about Mars died during a rare event involving Venus. If we were to have a clue that this week’s astrology is more evocative of science fiction than science or astrology, this was it.

Bradbury offered the world such classics as The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Veldt (which you can read on Planet Waves) among others. He learned to write by devouring books in libraries, and paying for time on the public typewriters there in dimes he had collected, writing as fast as he could before the thing shut off.

There is no greater tribute to Ray Bradbury than to keep reading his glorious array of books, stories, and articles. He was more than a ‘science fiction’ writer and can hardly be pinned down to a genre. His great genius was in never forgetting what it is to be a child, to look through a child’s common sense eyes at the illogical behavior of adults, to thrill at the mysteries awaiting behind every cloud and tree.

His stories always manage to evoke the child’s sense of wonder as well as the fears and griefs common to us all. His own words say more than I can conjure in celebration:

As a boy of ten years I could imagine nothing finer than running to the library on a windy October night, pushed by the cold wind and traveling with autumn leaves to arrive at the wonderful place, the library, where I would stand for a moment in the wide open door and call into the deeps: ‘Are you there?’

And all the silent voices of the ghosts of my most loved authors would answer from buried years, naming themselves Poe and Hawthorne and Dickens and Verne and Burroughs and Wells, and their whispering, promising answer was: ‘Yes’.

And I would step in to join the shadows.

He has joined those shadows forever now — partying over the sherry with his best-loved authors and answering “Yes” when we call from the library door.

 

Planet Waves

Find Your Current Monthly Horoscopes Here — and Schedule News!

The Planet Waves June monthly horoscope and an extensive article about the Transit of Venus were published Wednesday, May 23. Note, the week of the long monthly, there is not a regular Friday edition in order to give us a chance to catch up with ourselves. Inner Space for June was published on Tuesday, May 29. We’ve delayed the Moonshine horoscope by Genevieve Hathaway until next week. The most recent Moonshine (for May) was published on May 8. The next Planet Waves monthly is for July and will be published the evening of Wednesday, June 20, the day of the Cancer ingress of the Sun. Note, we always begin publishing monthly horoscopes for the new month after the Sun has changed signs. — efc

 

Planet Waves

Planet Waves FM recorded mid-transit of Venus

I recorded this edition of Planet Waves FM before learning that Scott Walker had won his recall election in Wisconsin Tuesday — the first governor to do so (two past U.S. governors have been recalled). In this edition I describe some of the astrology surrounding the transit, and talk about my appearance on Coast to Coast AM. This edition was recorded somewhat off the cuff but I’ve hardly ever received more email from my listeners; it seems to have resonated with the moment.

Planet Waves

Planet Waves


Friday, June 8, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #906 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Gemini Birthdays: Living As If

If you discovered secret information that you were now aligned with your purpose or deepest calling in life, how would you live? What if that information came with the provision that you might not spontaneously feel any different, or have anything ‘happen to you’, but rather that you’re free to make your choices as if you know exactly what you’re doing? The message of your astrology is that something within you has come into focus, though you have to live this from the inside out. That requires taking a chance, because there may not be sources of outer reassurance that you’re ‘doing things right’. In fact you may be encountering resistance or doubts, and the only answer to those is to focus inwardly and remain in contact with your purpose as you make each decision. You are the one who will get to moderate between the various facets of your psyche, which may offer a diversity of opinions on the most significant issues in your life. As you do this, you will discover that those facets, and their various viewpoints, are aspects of who you are, but not YOU in the proper sense of that idea. As you gain practice with this, you will discover that actual you, which will gradually have a stronger voice in guiding the direction of your life, and finally, have the only voice. Here is a clue: in the past few days you’ve learned something significant about who this is.

ATTENTION ALL GEMINIS — This week I finished your Gemini birthday reading. The themes include deepening your relationship to yourself, gaining the ability to observe life from the viewpoints of others, and thereby opening up a new phase of your relationships. In your professional and creative aspects of living, I offer some ideas about how to focus your visions for the longterm and put your highest ideals into useful service.

This reading includes two segments of astrology, which cover the transit of Venus, Jupiter ingressing your sign, Chiron and Neptune in your career angle, and the Uranus-Pluto square. There’s a third short (experimental) section of audio that interprets Mercury retrogrades for the next year, and finally, a tarot reading using the Voyager tarot by James Wanless. Thanks for your patience with this report! I trust you will decide it was worth the wait. You may purchase access at this link. Note, this appears on a Flash player and we provide a downloadable archive so you can get it into iTunes if you have an iPod, iPhone or some other Apple device.

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Your actions (and even your thoughts) could have unintended consequences, so I suggest you make gentle, careful moves over the next few days. Be mindful of situations where ‘one thing leads to another’, i.e., where something said under the influence of alcohol can take on an unintended life of its own. In particular, be mindful of when you’re acting on belief and when you’re acting on good information. The two will have a tendency to disguise as one another, and it’s vital that you be able to spot your biases. Subject all your suppositions to fact-checking, and be careful when you notice you’ve made up your mind before the data is in. Intuition is often trustworthy, though right now you need a few layers of intellectual safety net below you. And, notably, any seeming need to rush to a conclusion or a decision is probably a false alarm. Take the time to think.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19- May 20)

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Don’t try to judge your own progress. There are too many wheels in spin for you to predict where you’re going to emerge from your current adventure, or is it odyssey? Meanwhile, you can learn plenty from studying people’s reactions to you. They might be stronger than you’re accustomed to; if some people express adulation and others extreme irritation, taking the average won’t help you determine the truth — rather, experiment with not taking opinions so seriously. You could find yourself diving into situations beyond what you think of as your better judgment, perhaps inspired by someone who lacks your usual resistance to risk. You tend to overthink things, something you may find yourself bypassing these days. You can afford to live in a way that, for you, seems daring — your luck is better than you think, as long as you stay in the moment and don’t make any promises.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed) If you would like to hear your Taurus birthday reading, please visit this link.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — How much do you want to be influenced by someone else? Keep that question in mind; once you imbibe any influence at all, the effect could be a total and unexpected transformation. If you’re encountering someone you perceive as famous, you might want to consider your relationship to their notoriety. Does it serve as an example? Is it useful? Are you starstruck? Or are you able to set it aside entirely and meet them on mutual ground? That would be the best possible scenario, though this may require you to project yourself into the future a bit, and to imagine the person you’re striving to become. No role model is ever 100% what we want to be, and other factors indicate that you’re feeling more deeply than usual about your own goals and values. The most useful modeling you can do right now involves adapting learning methods that help you focus on what is most important to you.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Gemini birthday reading is ready! Click here for an hour of astrology plus a tarot reading by Eric.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You have many opportunities for exchange open to you. Don’t worry if at first they don’t seem like the kind of plunge into the impassioned abyss that you’ve been longing for. When you’re wading out into shallow water, remember, it can get deeper suddenly and unexpectedly — and it’s likely to do so. Yet you won’t be out of your depth as long as you stay in communication with yourself and anyone with whom you’re closely involved. Communication begins with the prefix co, which means it should go both ways. Be responsive to what your own psyche is telling you. Be responsive to your environment. And notice what the people in your environment are telegraphing as individuals and as a group. The group dynamic is the one to watch with utmost attention — there’s a lot going on there, and you’re a more significant influence than you may think.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The chances are that by the time you read this, you’ll already be moving ahead with your plan. I suggest you treat this a little like surfing or hang-gliding: a somewhat dangerous but compelling activity that utilizes forces more powerful than yourself. That’s the thing to remember and respect — what you’re doing goes beyond your own personal power. In such situations, the thing to look for is how you can influence the developments rather than take control. Your influence is real, and it can be potent; control is an illusion, and it will likely backfire. Therefore, lean in the direction you want to go. Trace the trajectory of your recent movement, and see if you can figure out what direction that indicates you’re traveling. Think in terms of your immediate, intermediate and long-term objectives. Any correct choice you make now will have the quality of supporting all three.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

 


Spring Checkpoint: Individual Signs Now Available

We will soon figure out that it’s actually 2012. The recent retrogrades of Mars and Mercury seemed to create a delay, but really this winter and early spring has been a phase of gestation. Over the next four weeks, the energy starts to pick up pace dramatically, and we will discover where we are and that something unusual, and beautiful, is happening.

Even as we approach the truly beautiful potential of the astrology that’s developing, many people are struggling with their day-to-day lives. There are more questions than answers; the economic and political situations seem hopeless; the pace of existence is going so fast that there seems to be nowhere to get in a little meaning, or seek some peace of mind.

Planet Waves

Here is where astrology can help. Astrology looks at the longer cycles, and the deeper themes — and can help you see your life in context of the present moment, no matter how chaotic it may be. Context means a sense of where you fit in that will help you see your potential and make better choices.

For years, I’ve been helping my clients prepare for making the most of the astrology of the 2012 era. Based on this experience, and many years of study, I’ve prepared a set of readings for all 12 signs (and rising signs, and Moon signs) that guides you through this astrology, step by step. I cover the most challenging and energized developments of this spring, which includes eclipses, Venus retrograde, the Venus transit of the Sun, and then a few days after the Sun ingresses Cancer, the Uranus-Pluto square.

Each sign gets a half-hour discussion. These came through loud and clear, with strength and meaning. I spent a week designing and recording them, and I am grateful to be able to offer them to you as a tool to help you guide your decisions, as you seek deeper meaning along your journey.

Spring 2012 is a kind of checkpoint along the way to wherever you are going. But really it’s a calling into the adventure of existence, a bold invitation to go beyond your past limits and explore something truly new about yourself.

Signs are now available individually for an amazingly low price, cheaper than the paper shopping bag costs at Jimmy Choo — order your reading here. The report is getting rave reviews from people who are currently working with it, including these words from a customer named Donna: “OMG — thank you thank you thank you — just spent this morning listening to my [Spring Report] info, and am so blown away by the accuracy (and relief!) in this experience. Thanks so very much for your part in supporting this work and for showing up in the way that you do!”. Here is the link to order.

Please drop us a note if you have any questions.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis


 

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Be careful not to take on all the troubles of the world — or to take personal responsibility for starting the revolution. Rather, allow yourself to be revolutionized, and give yourself permission to participate in the ways that work for you. What works will be what takes you out of your safe zone, particularly of your ideas. At the moment you lack the ability to isolate yourself from challenging ideas by making them abstract. Indeed, you have the ability to take everything personally. That’s why I suggest you emphasize learning and participation rather than taking on anything larger than yourself as a huge burden or mission. If you’re actually called to take action in a larger way, you will be the first to find out about it — and you’re unlikely to be alone. The salient message of your astrology is to observe, learn and engage yourself in ways that are nourishing to you, then gradually embrace your leadership role with that as its basis.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You have room in your life, and in your mind, only for what is authentic and valid for you. You could say that this is about believing only what is true, though in support of this, I suggest you consider the possibility that ‘belief’ is not actually a value. Rather, it’s more like a substitute for one. Base your viewpoints and opinions on what you observe and can document, and make sure you question those things on a regular basis. This is less about questioning your assumptions and more about figuring out when you’re making them at all. This will help you foster radical discernment, and inspire you to dismantle your illusions — neither of which are especially popular on iTunes. Yet as you devote yourself to these things, you will meet others who are dedicated to both the truth and their personal truth — which often comes with the character trait of being able to change one’s mind.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Precision is the key, particularly when you’re among friends, or in public, or projecting your thoughts into any public forum (the Internet included). I mean precision of thought, speech and action, which are directly related. What you say has impact, and it will be attributed personally to you — so be mindful of being even vaguely aggressive or critical. Instead, make a point of being helpful and constructive, pointing out what is good about the world and the works of humankind (such as your friends and colleagues). If you must point out anything wrong, save it for the calmest one-to-one discussions you can create. I suggest, however, that you do triple-diligence when it comes to collecting your facts and understanding the circumstances behind anything you perceive. Meanwhile, I truly suggest you put your energy into visioning what you want to create in your own life. That’s not about all those other people — it’s about you.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You can see the potential in a certain relationship, and the benefits of liberating yourself from the attachments of your past. Yet it’s vital that you be realistic rather than idealistic, which means use what you know. If you find yourself feeling powerless, look for the ways that you’re not actually putting your knowledge to work. Meanwhile, if you’re going to be idealistic, at least know something about your ideals. Limit yourself to three of them and be specific about what they are. That’s another way of saying know what you want, then check everything you might be inclined to reach for against that list, to make sure you’re using your time and energy wisely. This will help you discern the difference between a false desire and an authentic one. Meanwhile, if any of your ideals get popped along the way, be grateful for that fact. You need solid, dependable ones, made of real substance, not the kind that are like soap bubbles.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — It’s not always about sex, but usually it is — especially lately. And when that’s true, there are those moments when you have to unleash the furies. You don’t have to release them all at once, though — try letting them out of their cages one at a time, and see how that feels. Meanwhile, every time you worry about your ‘reputation’, I would propose that’s a mirage for fear of your own power. In other words, what you believe is ‘bad for your image’ (or some desire that allegedly threatens your position) may be the very thing that is good for your strength and integrity. You seem to feel like you’re visible right now, and like you have some influence in the world. This is lining up with your passion and a touch of inner chaos in a way that might threaten to unravel everything you’ve built (which seems to be trapping a lot of energy). If that’s true, then I would say keep going.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Be aware any time the idea of sacrifice comes up — listen for the word, and for the notion. The concept comes in two forms. One is what you supposedly must give up, in order to have something else you want, or to appease someone in power. That’s worth questioning carefully. The other notion is to ‘make sacred’, with the image of laying it on an altar. For your purposes now, these are both false concepts, which cover over something else. If you pause and consider what that is, it will be easy enough to discover, lurking right beneath the surface. The truth is, you don’t have to make any offerings to get more of what you want from life, and the false belief that you must do so is directly interfering with your process of establishing a goal, and taking action to make it real. While you’re figuring out what you don’t need to sacrifice, I suggest you check for other points of interference as well.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Monitor how you feel at all times. As you do, you may notice that you can guide your feelings. Apropos of your nature this sensation is more like the flow of water. Thematically, there is a question beneath the surface of that water — how does success feel to you? You have ideas, plans and maybe a financial goal or two, though what would it feel like to be exactly where you want to be? Once you tune into that sensation, stay in contact with it. This might come with some relief from time pressure, or economic pressure. It might be the feeling of what it would be like not to be at the edge of your tether where commitments to others are concerned. Use your imagination here and start to open up your inner space of success as viscerally and in as much detail as you can. Then keep returning your attention there, if you ever wander off. Keep coming back and experimenting with this, till the space is big enough for you to enter.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).