Astrology for the Soul

Dear Friend and Reader:

As you know, I am passionate about news astrology, and using it as a way to illustrate the personal impact of current events on our private lives.

Sagittarius glyph for The Mars Effect by Lizanne Webb. Here samples of written Mars Effect readings, and a few audio samples.

I’m equally passionate about personal astrology — the kind that helps us figure out where we’re at in life and how to consider our current circumstances. The astrology that helps reveal our life plan, purpose, talents and resources. The astrology that can really, truly help with career, relationships and business.

Even within our wild era, 2014 is no ordinary year — it’s unusual even on the scale of the past 50. We’re now in the peak of the Uranus-Pluto square, a time that will be remembered for its many changes and developments.

Astrology changes the world, influences every personal chart, and touches the experience of every person. How are you handling being on the planet right now? How are you keeping up with the constant need to adapt, to rethink, to confront the unknown? How are you handling the lack of certainty?

I have information that can help you — the results of four months of work, and the latest edition of a 15-year tradition of Planet Waves annual editions.

Our cresting moment is indicated by the presence of Mars within the slow-moving Uranus-Pluto aspect. Mars will soon be retrograde and will make a series of aspects to powerful forces, bringing many things to the front of consciousness. This is what I’m calling The Mars Effect. That term is also a reference to a scientific study that established a connection between someone having a strong Mars and being a star athlete — one of the most helpful scientific studies of astrology ever.

Mars is here to provide energy, to provoke action and to pose deeper questions. Mars is here as a tool for making your potential real. It’s going to be retrograde in Libra, the sign of relationships, which influence every facet of our lives.

In April, there will be an unusual grand cross (Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in an exact X around the Earth) followed one week later by an eclipse of the Sun in Taurus. Many other events cascade later into the year, including nearly simultaneous Mars-Saturn and Venus-Jupiter conjunctions.

The Mars Effect glyph for Taurus by Lizanne Webb. Here samples of written Mars Effect readings, and here are a few audio samples.

It would be easy for astrologers to make dire predictions about some of these scenarios (those will show up on the Internet in early April or so). This aspect pattern has some shadowy elements, and to be sure, it will present unusual challenges and opportunities.

I have viewed my job as getting underneath the surface level, and to apply the astrology on the most creative dimension, relating it to each of us as individuals.

Since late August, I’ve been exploring the 12 signs and rising signs for 2014, working from the most intimate and personal perspective, using a diversity of astrological tools: classical and modern planets, asteroids, centaurs, Kuiper objects (Pluto, Varuna and others) and some points that are way beyond them — such as Eris and Sedna.

I’ve been boiling my research down to two recorded readings per sign and rising sign, plus an extended written reading for each of the signs and rising signs. The result is a comprehensive work of applied astrology: The Mars Effect annual edition.

Astrology reveals itself in layers. I’ve learned to do the audio first, working the wheel in the conventional direction — Aries to Pisces. I started with gathering a chart file for each sign, added in the minor planets (with the help of Serennu.com). Then I opened my intuition and recorded the spoken-word portions, two segments per sign.

Then I took a pause — an actual holiday break — did additional research, and wrote the signs in reverse, starting with Aries and heading backwards to Taurus. In the school of astrology taught by Alice A. Bailey, the reverse wheel method gets you closer to the soul level.

Sketch of 2014 astrology for the sign Virgo. Each sign gets a chart, a sketch, two audio readings and one extended written reading. I use many extra points, including Chiron and other centaurs, asteroids, Sedna, Varuna and Eris.

The written interpretations go to another depth, focusing on specific, high-energy, challenging or especially unique facets of your astrology.

I view my role as someone that is here to help ease your way, point out opportunities, explain where challenges might arise and help you use them to your benefit. I have set out to inform and motivate you to make the most out of your time and energy.

Reading your rising sign will provide you with two distinct points of view. If your rising sign and Sun sign are the same, then study your opposite sign. My readings also work for Moon signs and they are (I am told) helpful for unintrusively sussing out where your partner is coming from.

Each of these readings has an investment of at least 10 hours of preparation, recording and writing. These readings work within the rarely entered borderland between a good prepared report and a personal consultation.

They are also a study in modern astrology — how to apply and explain the classical and modern factors, and come out with a reading that not only works but that you will refer to all year.

So that is what I’ve been up to. And you have the benefits! As a Planet Waves subscriber, you can access all 12 signs for $79.

Individual signs are currently $29.95. Many people who get one end up getting more — a reason to go for the all-12 option.

If you want to upgrade to the All Access Pass, please call Chelsea at (206) 567-4455.

We anticipate the project being released on Monday night.

Thank you for your trust in me as your astrologer, for your business and for being part of Planet Waves.

Lovingly,

PS — The horoscopes in this edition were selected by The Oracle, from past horoscopes. I personally worked the program and requested the reading for each sign. I would love to have written a new horoscope but that would have delayed the annual by another day. Please let me know how these horoscopes work. I will cover early Aquarius in next week’s edition. –efc

PPS — Here are some samples of the written Mars Effect readings, and here are a few audio samples.

Section Writing and Editing Credits: News items below are written and edited by a team consisting of Hillary Conary, Anne Craig, Eric Francis, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Painter, Susan Scheck, Chad Woodward and Carol van Strum. Page assembled and coded by Anatoly Ryzhenko. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, which goes over each edition on Thursday night — and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Our editions are also proofread and fact-checked by Jessica Keet.

 

Approaching Aquarius

We’re in the last couple days of Capricorn; the Sun ingresses Aquarius, the fixed air sign in the middle of the season, on Sunday at 10:51 pm EST. Aquarius is often associated with forward-thinking technological breakthroughs, but they’re the kind that stick — so if you’re feeling as though you need to get clear on something in your life or take a particular step in just the right way, you may be sensing this impending shift in energy.

The constellation Aquarius on a vintage map of the heavens, doing ‘the Bump’ with Capricorn.

Then again, the sky this week has been loaded with the kind of astrology that puts the pressure on, especially regarding relationships and how you sort them out internally.

Wednesday night was the Cancer Full Moon at 11:52 pm EST. Any interpersonal situations in your life that felt like they were coming to a head this week or had gotten stuck in gridlock (especially if you can trace them back in a meaningful way to Jan. 1) should begin finding some resolution today and tomorrow. Particularly consider anything that involved an authority figure or internalized authority, or how well you acknowledge your ability to create and destroy.

Also, Venus (still retrograde in Capricorn) and Mars in Libra have been building to a square that was exact Thursday at 12:13 pm. This aspect relates to noticing the conditioning forces and gender roles that have been trying to get you to feel or act a certain way, and what you decide to do about it. And how do you do it? Do you get diplomatic or assert your passion? Do you get passive-aggressive and stingy, or receptive and expressive?

All of this — the tension of Wednesday’s Full Moon and that of Thursday’s Venus-Mars square — is providing the on-ramp into the weekend, as we make our transition from the initiator energy of Capricorn into the related, but different, energy of Aquarius.

The last day or so that the Sun is in a sign can feel a little edgy, as though we can sense that one flavor of energy is loosening its hold and just want to get on with it. Today, however, you still might not feel completely clear on what exactly it is you’re itching to move on to. That’s ok.

The waning Moon moves into Virgo Saturday evening, making Sunday the perfect time to organize and clear out your physical space, giving any urges for precision a tangible, constructive application. As you clear and order your surroundings, you’re priming your consciousness for the Sun’s move into Aquarius Sunday night.

Full chart for the Sun’s ingress to Aquarius. Glyph legend here.

What exactly does the Sun in Aquarius mean? We can start with its ruling planets for clues.

Saturn is the traditional ruler, which Aquarius shares with Capricorn. Along with Aquarius’ status as a “fixed” sign (as opposed to cardinal or mutable), Saturn is part of what gives people born under this sign their tendency to crystallize their beliefs and ideas, and it gives innovations made under a strong Aquarius signature their staying power.

A prime example is the Internet, which grew from academic novelty to household necessity during the time that Uranus was in Aquarius – and Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius.

Uranus is the spark, the experiment, the “Hey, what if…?” Uranus is also part of what gives Aquarius its stamp of individuality even though it’s the sign of groups. After all, a group is really made up of individuals — although modern society often makes that hard to discern, favoring herd mentality and conformity over true interchange between fully individuated people.

To quote Eric, “Aquarius people are the discriminating embracers of innovation that works.” That’s great as far as getting things moving in the right direction; but after a certain point, what was once an innovation can become fixed, static, institutionalized — and resistant to change. Such is the case of such fixed systems as political structures and religion; once entrenched, they can be hard to get rid of. The same goes for marketing which, like politics and religion, seeks to co-opt individual identity for the sake of group conformity.

Even so, Eric has also written that, “In its highest state, Aquarius is about a meeting of individuals who recognize themselves as such. It is driven by social responsibility and a devotion to service. Aquarius has a natural sense of humanity and as such is deeply humanitarian.”

That is the ideal you can hold as your template for the next month, beginning Monday. Over the weekend, see if you can orient yourself in that direction.

By Amanda Painter.

 

Appellate Court Rules Against Net Neutrality

In a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. circuit Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was slapped down in its attempt to make sure Internet service providers cannot slow down or block websites with competing services, or favor sites that pay extra fees for faster service. Known as ‘Net neutrality’ (as in, ‘Network’), this idea of an ‘open Internet’ led to a set of rules approved by the FCC in 2010; big cable and telecommunications companies brought the lawsuit to court.

But for how long? Not long at all if we don’t ride our Representatives’ asses and get vocal.

Although the government oversees the utilities we depend on, such as telephone service and electricity, the court said that the Internet doesn’t count. At least, not under current law. This is the type of controversy that can pop up at the cusp of an age or era — which is where we are.

 

The thing is, even compared to just 12 years ago when the FCC reclassified cable modem services as “information services” rather than “telecommunications services” (thus leaving Net neutrality vulnerable), the Internet is a crucial utility. Entire businesses, including Planet Waves, operate almost exclusively online. Even medical records are now entirely digital in most places, allowing medical facilities to share them with doctors elsewhere without the need for a courier service.

Telecommunications companies keep swearing they’re just trying to give better service to all customers, but if you believe that, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in, too. It’s common sense that if Netflix gets charged more for all the bandwidth it eats up, you’ll be the one footing the bill as you stream their movies.

The FCC has suggested it will appeal the ruling, but it needs to find some teeth — and those cannot be found currently within the FCC or Congress, both of which have been left by the court to revise Net neutrality.

“The only course is for public pressure to overcome industry pressure,” wrote Michael Hiltzik for the Los Angeles Times Tuesday. “That’s a tough road, but there’s no alternative. Do you want your Internet to look like your cable TV service, where you have no control over what comes into your house or what you pay for it? Then stay silent. If not, start writing letters and emails to your elected representatives and the FCC now. It’s the only hope to save the free, open Internet.”

 

Trade Pact Endangers Environment

WikiLeaks this week released the text from a proposed “free trade” agreement that would enable countries to subvert their own domestic laws and regulations. Called the Trans Pacific Partnership or (TPP), the document includes a chapter on environmental protection that makes it easier to pollute and destroy the environment.

One of the flyers you can download from the Stop TPP website.

WikiLeaks, founded by director Julian Assange in 2006, is an online organization that publicly releases confidential documents from anonymous sources, most famous of which is the 2007 video of a U.S. Army helicopter attack on civilians. “Today’s WikiLeaks release shows that the public sweetener in the TPP is just media sugar water,” said Assange. “The fabled TPP environmental chapter turns out to be a toothless public relations exercise with no enforcement mechanism.”

“This draft chapter falls flat on every single one of our issues — oceans, fish, wildlife, and forest protections — and in fact, rolls back on the progress made in past free trade pacts,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune in a statement.

In a joint analysis, environmental defenders point out weak language like “make best efforts.” Critics say the draft represents a step backward from protections established in 2007, weakening nations’ obligations to enforce multilateral environmental agreements, replacing a definitive dispute resolution process with one far more meaningless, and failing to protect fisheries, forest products and other key natural resources.

The TPP would establish a trade zone akin to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), heralded by Bill Clinton as an important step forward when it was signed in 1994. According to a report by Public Citizen, problems of income inequality have worsened instead of improving — and critics say the impact of the TPP could be far worse.

Obama and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are pushing for Congressional authorization for a “fast track” approval procedure. Margaret Flowers, an organizer of the Flush the TPP! Campaign orchestrated by popularresistance.org, says opponents are having some success.

“They originally wanted the fast track bill in place by the end of 2012 — every time they set a deadline, it gets pushed back,” she said. “The pressure is working, but we need more — past trade agreements have been bad, but this one is worse. This establishes a tribunal where corporations can sue local governments for loss of potential profits — ‘We were going to frack in your town and make eleven million dollars, but you won’t let us, so you owe us eleven million.'”

Fast track authority is expected to come up for a vote sometime in February. “As activists we hope to keep pushing that out farther,” said Flowers. “The house leadership is saying that if Obama can’t get 50 house Democrats to sign on they won’t bring it up for a vote. So far, they’ve only got Republicans.”

To keep the pressure on, organizers plan ten days of “Stop TPP” actions for the end of the month, with an intercontinental Day of Action on Jan. 31.

 

This is Only a Test

Scientists from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) plan to conduct a controlled nuclear meltdown in an effort to improve their ability to handle another disaster. According to a Japan Today report, the test will take place later this year in a facility in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo.

Controlled nuclear runaway test reaction in the Idaho desert in 1954. Photo: U.S. Government.

A spokesperson for the Agency explained to local news that the data from the experiment will help them deal with an accident like Fukushima in the future. The scientists will create a small-scale nuclear runaway reaction induced by a rapid fission process within tiny test fuel rods placed inside a stainless steel capsule.

Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of a particle into smaller parts. When nuclear fuels like uranium and plutonium are involved, fission occurs in a self-sustained chain reaction, which is the basis for nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Reactors need a constant source of cooling water in order to contain the speed of the fission process. When the reactor core of a nuclear power plant is breached, whether by human error, mechanical failure, or act of nature, the explosive reaction is impossible to control.

Prof. Karl Grossman, environmental journalist and nuclear expert, describes the inherent danger of nuclear fission in his book, Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power. Grossman explains that the chain reaction “involves an extremely rapid and intense rise in the fission level within the nuclear core — a thousand times beyond normal — simultaneous with sudden overheating, melting of the core, and an instant steam explosion with the power of thousands of pounds of TNT, easily blowing apart the concrete ‘containment’ of a nuclear plant and letting what’s inside out.”

Grossman gives two examples of similar nuclear runaway ‘tests’; the first in the Idaho desert in 1954, with a miniaturized reactor on a scale of 1:500, which demolished a piece of equipment weighing a ton. The second, an unplanned test, was the SL-1 accident of 1961 in Idaho Falls, when the huge explosion of a nuclear reactor killed three employees.

The JAEA specifically wants to record at what temperature the fuel rods start to melt, which sets off the rapid fission process. Edwin Lyman, from the Union of Concerned Scientists, assured VOA News that “there is little risk associated with this experiment to the public.”

We All Live Downstream from Freedom Industries

One week after 300,000 West Virginia residents were told not to use their tap water for any reason after a major chemical spill in the Elk River, about half of those in affected communities have been told it is safe to turn their taps on. As the water ban has been lifted in stages, the lack of data on the toxicity of the chemical in question — along with other revelations about the severe lack of oversight and regulation for West Virginia’s chemical industry — is raising more questions than it is answering.

The Elk River in West Virginia, now spreading contaminated water to states downstream. Photo: Tyler Evert/AP.

If you don’t live in or near West Virginia, you might think this is terrible, but not about you. The question is, do you actually know what industry is doing in your community? Do you know what is upstream from you, or what condition facilities are in, or what regulations are being followed to protect you (if any)?

West Virginia only requires inspections for chemical production facilities, not chemical storage facilities. This partly explains why the Freedom Industries site where the leak occurred in Charleston — about one mile upriver from the West Virginia American Water treatment plant — had not been inspected since 1991.

The rest of the explanation lies in states and communities giving dangerous industries a pass on regulation in favor of ‘jobs’, leaving entire populations at risk of considerable harm — including death and adverse health effects that can span generations. This is far more common than we like to think; and since asking questions and pushing for safer practices can be overwhelming, many of us don’t think about it at all — until it lands on our doorstep.

According to Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council speaking to The New York Times, “West Virginia has a pattern of resisting federal oversight and what they consider E.P.A. interference,” pushed hard by the coal and chemical industries on which the state’s economy relies.

Compounding the situation in West Virginia is the astounding lack of information about 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), the chemical in question. Classified as an alcohol, it is a colorless oil with a licorice-like odor, and is used to clean coal.

“This is your community and your rights and your water”; consumer activist Erin Brockovich, holding a town hall meeting in Charleston, West Virginia, Monday night. Photo: Kenny Kemp/The Charleston Gazette.

Writing for The Charleston Gazette, Ken Ward, Jr. and David Gutman reported Thursday that there are no regulatory standards for MCHM under federal or state rules. In fact, the current safety standard used by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of 1 part per million of MCHM in tap water “comes from two private studies from the 1990s that were done on animals.”

Dr. Vikas Kapil, chief medical officer for the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, relayed that information when he was finally made available for an interview with Gazette reporters Thursday morning. Kapil explained that the CDC was working with the National Library of Medicine and other federal agencies to summarize a report of the work in those private studies.

Maranda Demuth, a spokeswoman for Eastman Chemical Co., which manufactured the MCHM, told The Gazette that the studies were not published in scientific journals, and therefore were not peer-reviewed. Downplaying the lack of review, Demuth added, “The studies, however, were conducted under Good Laboratory Practices, and according to OECD guidelines, at a reputable laboratory where rigorous internal review processes were performed.”

That’s nice; but it doesn’t prove that MCHM should not be better regulated, or that it’s ‘safe’ for the environment. The fact that the studies were bought and paid for by the manufacturer is a huge red flag, practically begging for investigation. More heartening is the active approach citizens of the affected area have taken in posting new information via social media in an effort to organize and get answers, as described by environmental activist Erin Brockovich on Democracy Now! during her visit to Charleston this week.

Using “an abundance of caution” and “the most conservative estimates,” according to Kapil, the CDC has recommended that pregnant women continue to avoid drinking tap water, although they say washing and bathing in it should be fine. But no one really knows yet, given the limited, non-peer-reviewed data on MCHM.

In related news, the chemicals have reached Cincinnati, Ohio’s, water supply, where the city had shut down its water valves and used stored water since the spill was first reported. And one of the founding owners of Freedom Industries (who reportedly left the company “years ago”) is a convicted felon — tax evasion and “willful failure to pay employees’ withholdings to the government” — who also was arrested years ago on cocaine charges. More than the water smells bad in West Virginia this week; and now that polluted water is no longer local.

 

On National and World Stage, a Tangled Web Promotes Chaos

With violence and humanitarian emergencies raging in a long list of countries in the Middle East including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, revelations this week point to extreme dysfunction within the United States’ military, political and diplomatic establishments. Security failures prior to the Benghazi embassy attack, widespread cheating by the Air Force officers tasked with overseeing the country’s nuclear arsenal, and Israeli-backed warmongering that threatens to destroy any real hope for the diplomatic talks intended to bring Iran back into the community of nations are just three of the focal points.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at a U.N. Security Council meeting in September, when nuclear talks with Iran were more optimistic. Photo: Jason DeCrow/AP.

A report on Benghazi released by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence indicates that warnings from the intelligence community went unheeded, and failure to increase security or position military assets to protect the embassy were contributing factors in the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, that left four Americans dead and has become a major talking point for the right wing. The report makes several recommendations, among them the suggestion that the intelligence community pay more heed to “extremist-affiliated social media.”

At the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where the U.S. nuclear arsenal is kept, 34 ranking Air Force officers have been suspended in the wake of allegations of widespread cheating on monthly recertification tests. Two of those same officers are among 11 who are under investigation for possession and use of recreational drugs. Officials insist that the safety of the nuclear weapons was in no way compromised. According to reporting by The New York Times, morale at the base has deteriorated since the end of the Cold War left personnel feeling that their mission was no longer valued.

The six-month temporary agreement to freeze Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for some relief from sanctions that have been crippling the country’s economy since the fall of the U.S.-backed Shah in 1979 was signed on Jan. 12, and is set to take effect next week. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani boasted on Twitter that “world powers surrendered to Iranian nation’s will,” inflaming still further the opposition to the deal among those in Washington who are pushing for Congress to increase sanctions — mainly Republicans and pro-Israel lobbying groups. Many believe a sanctions increase would destroy the embryonic peace process.

As usual, the right-wing squawk machine is insisting on every point that Obama’s leadership abilities are the problem. But it’s hard to see how any single human being can be blamed, or indeed, how any single leader could make sense of the tangled mess. Meanwhile, the folks simply trying to live their lives among the artificially redrawn borders and sectarian disputes are dying in droves.

 

Monsanto Defeats Organic Farmers in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday signaled the end of the road for organic farmers seeking to protect themselves against Monsanto’s predatory litigation. The court refused to hear the plaintiffs’ case challenging the company’s claims of patent infringement of their GM seeds. The suit also aimed to curb Monsanto from suing anyone whose field is contaminated by such seeds.

Monsanto may control the legal game, but not which way the wind blows on farmers’ fields. Photo: Darren Hauck/Reuters.

In dismissing the case, the court upheld a 2013 federal appeals court decision that threw out a 2011 lawsuit from the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and more than 80 other plaintiffs. These parties were seeking to block the company from suing them over planting its GMO seeds without their permission. Yet the plaintiffs did not buy seed from Monsanto, instead claiming contamination from windblown seed from nearby fields.

Monsanto has filed more than 140 lawsuits against farmers for planting the company’s GM seeds without permission, while settling around 700 other cases without suing. The plaintiffs wanted more in the way of legal protection than Monsanto’s ‘binding assurances’ that they would not sue, upon which the appeals court decision was based.

Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association President Jim Gerritsen expressed disappointment, and Dave Murphy, founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!, said in a statement: “If Monsanto can patent seeds for financial gain, they should be forced to pay for contaminating a farmer’s field, not be allowed to sue them.”

Planet Waves previously reported on the case, Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, et al., v. Monsanto Company, et al., on March 2, 2012 and June 14, 2013.

 

Goodbye Groovy Gary — and Thank You

Gary Grimshaw, creator of iconic rock posters from the late 1960s until recently, died Monday, Jan. 13, in Detroit, Michigan, after several strokes and a long illness. He was the co-creator of a psychedelic design style that has been imitated many times.

Born in Detroit, where he was friends with members of the rock group MC5, the soft-spoken Grimshaw had a Pisces Sun.

With Venus and Mercury also loosely conjunct each other in Pisces, he was primed with creative, dreamy, groovy expressive energy; Venus and Mercury ensured that the art he created would be beautiful, visionary and speak for a generation of music lovers.

With his Moon in spiritual, justice-oriented, freedom-loving Sagittarius — and that Moon’s ruler, Jupiter, in justice- and beauty-loving Libra — it’s no surprise that Grimshaw’s art and activism went beyond music.

After a voluntary stint in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War (to avoid being drafted into the Army) that introduced him to psychedelic art while his ship was docked in San Francisco, Grimshaw became active in the anti-war movement and the White Panther Party.

True to the spirit of the 1960s and his Jupiter in Libra, he also beat out obscenity charges and marijuana charges between 1968 and 1970. Grimshaw worked as art director at Creem Magazine from 1976 to 1984; you can see a gallery of some of his posters here.

 

Cancer Full Moon, Return to Fukushima and Musical Guests Gary Lucas and (the late) Jeff Buckley

Wednesday’s unusual Cancer Full Moon conjunct the Black Moon Lilith is the topic of today’s edition, as well as a look at the aftermath of Fukushima and why nobody can say that there is no risk. Our musical guests are Gary Lucas and his late bandmate and collaborator Jeff Buckley. For additional resources please see the full post.

 

Have you pre-ordered your 2014 readings by Eric Francis yet? The Mars Effect (our 16th annual edition!) will be out this month, and will include in-depth audio and written readings for your Sun, Moon and rising signs. We always receive a flood of positive feedback for these readings, and it shows just how meaningful they are. One customer wrote, “I’m so grateful to you for the illumination and the reassurance this reading has bestowed.” We’re offering you a special package price of $79 for all twelve signs, available only to current Planet Waves members. Or you may purchase individual signs for $29.95.

 

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published your extended monthly horoscopes for January on Friday, Jan. 3.  The Moonshine horoscopes for the Capricorn New Moon were published Tuesday, Dec. 31. We published Moonshine horoscopes for the Cancer Full Moon Tuesday, Jan. 14. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space usually publishes the following Tuesday.

 

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, #983 | By Eric Francis 

This is an Oracle edition of the horoscope. Sign readings this week were selected by the Oracle program, which I personally queried. These are the responses I got. — efc

Aries (March 20-April 19) — I suggest you respond with awareness to the subtle change of direction that’s come over your life in recent weeks. It may not seem like you’re being dragged toward any specific destination, but neither are you drifting, nor are you stuck. It’s not necessary to make elaborate plans to get where you want to go, and I suggest you notice the worthwhile opportunities and extraordinary resources all located within arm’s reach and a one-hour trip of where you are now situated. Not only isn’t it too late; you’d be right on time.

 

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You sense something big is coming on — a revelation in the true sense; a creative burst; the opportunity to have an experience you’ve wanted for a long time. That moment has not quite arrived, but it’s inevitable. Meanwhile, this would be an excellent moment to reflect on how restless you’ve been for how long. You’ve spent much of your energy in recent years adapting to your own emotional instability, and that constant adaptation has eaten up a lot of energy. You’ve been encountering a series of stabilizing forces that have given you a chance to relax and put some of your resources into more creative endeavors, and I suggest you keep up with that process. You face a risk that you can head off early on, which is the potential to respond defensively to an opportunity from which you will only benefit.

 

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — It’s clear that the past couple of months have presented certain difficulties communicating about a sensitive matter or whole subject area that you really need to get out into the open. Actually, the person or people you need to get an exchange going with have been working their way onto the same page, though they have not necessarily been saying much about it. Once the conversation begins, it has the potential to go some interesting places, and into some deep places. There may be some role reversal involved. There will be some transposing of words into actions and actions back into words. Be bold, and please allow yourself the space to allow any idea to become a potential reality.

 

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — During the course of the past year, an energetic condition or state emerged in your life that seemed to pick you up and carry you. The truth is, it took you by storm, making it difficult to track the decisions you were making as you made them; and made it more difficult to assess your motives. The more recent news is that what was once an onslaught of progress is more understandable in its constituent parts. Everything is composed of elements. The ones that are influencing you are in the process of distinguishing themselves from one another, but only so that they can re-form again in new ways. In fact there are so many possible combinations that it will be very helpful to work from the goal backwards to the process of getting there. This will save time and energy and maximize the results that you want.

 

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — My friend Greg, a Gemini moonboy, had a most interesting experience recently. Quite by surprise, his own reflection called to him from a mirror, and a kind of dimension shift happened. After a while, his reflection started speaking to him, representing the mind beyond his normal waking consciousness — what some call the higher self or superconscious: “I don’t understand you any better than you understand me,” is what it said. And then: “You are one of the more interesting ones.” And finally, the promise that his self-beyond-self would always be there with him, no matter how close he got to the edge, watching and protecting him through his journey in this strange world.

 

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The continuing adventure of your life is about to chill a bit, but before that happens you’ll likely start to feel like you have more energy to meet the many challenges you face. But the greatest virtue you could hope for now is just simply patience because it’s going to take a little while for things to work out. You would do well to disconnect from what seems like the state of perpetual flux of one particular person or situation. Remember that no one can enter into a clear agreement unless they know where they stand and that, if it’s not obvious, is the root of the problem. But meanwhile don’t be surprised if your own position starts to squirm. Everything will squirm around right eventually.

 

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Surviving is a gift you were bestowed with long ago and have proven over and over again that you can make use of. Yet is human life about survival? It may be, in sub-Saharan Africa. It may be, when an earthquake hits China. But as people living in an advanced culture with many creative and economic opportunities, we need to do better, and you need to do better. I suggest you go on a hunt for where your ideas about life came from. I would propose that most of them are not really ideas — they are really emotions that pass for ideas, or emotions that you try to explain or deal with rationally. Please, stop explaining and start feeling. If you can do that for a while, you will start to feel like one person instead of one person cut into many parts.

 

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Your relationships may have taken a serious turn lately but I suggest keeping things a little lighter. Make sure you can always see yourself in others. And remember to focus on options rather than seeing one dubious choice staring you in the face. You have at this point in your life a responsibility not only to fulfill your commitments; you have a responsibility to shed commitments that no longer work for you. This may seem contrary to what everyone is saying and what everything is pointing to but I assure you it is true.

 

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — By the time you convince yourself that it’s okay to really get involved in a rapidly developing situation, the action may have subsided. I understand that your commitment is a precious thing, though this preciousness also provides a cover story for a kind of annoying reticence that you’ve long had to contend with. What you’re really committing to is having an opinion or idea that you’re willing to state openly rather than merely contemplate. You may be concerned that if you say anything directly, you won’t be allowed to change your mind. That’s not true, but you’ll just need to say that’s what you’re doing. Closer to home is why you wonder so much what people might think about what you think. Once you call back the projection, you’ll see that this is nothing other than self-doubt. And the only thing you can do about that is take a chance on your own intelligence.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — I’m concerned that the pressure you’re feeling will translate to a hasty or premature decision on a financial matter. Let me be the first person to remind you that you have time to bide, and that there are certain key facts of which you are not aware. You will know when you’re working with enough information to make a key decision; it will be obvious. The fact that you’ve noticed that certain people are far from agreement does not count. You’re the person who holds the key to what everyone has in common, and that ‘what’ may be a who, in the form of yourself. But you haven’t figured out how powerful your bargaining position really is. Just be patient, like a spider in her web.

 

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — It would seem you’re not getting a particular message because you’re either not believing something that’s true, or because people don’t seem to believe you. In any event, credibility is at stake at a time when you’re feeling very strongly about your values and your ideals. And whether you have all of what you want, or what you need, or not, there is a critical element of truth that’s coming into your life. Part of that truth binds you to your reality, and part of that truth leaves you free to grow into your purpose. Speaking of truth: while you’re obviously in a very excited state of sexual desire, you also seem to be a bit guarded and in an odd way, curiously asexual. Work that out and you’ll feel better.

 

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Normally astrology would caution against being overly ambitious; understatement is a key aspect of writing horoscopes. It’s been a while, but to tell this story we would really need to go back to around autumn 1995, when Pluto moved into Sagittarius. This marked a time of transition from what you could call the seeking phase of your life to the actional phase. You made a commitment, or understood what was always in your heart. In the process, you’ve actually started to question what you thought was your tragic flaw, discovering that it’s different than you thought. Keep asking. There are answers.