Dear Friend and Reader:

Today we have your Inner Space horoscope for February, available at that link. Now that the heavy lifting is done on Cosmophilia, Eric’s getting back into his usual rhythm.

Dogs play in the snow in Central Park in New York, after a massive 2013 blizzard. The Blizzard of 2015 turned into an ordinary snow storm (at least in New York) and extraordinary TV hype. Photo by Carlo Allegri.

Monday’s Astrology Diary focuses on the conjunctions of Venus with Nessus and Mars with Chiron, as they point us to the need to address and heal sex and sexuality — specifically, the double binds our culture places on both men and women. This post has a fantastic discussion thread developing. Some of the best writing on Planet Waves is in the comment areas.

This article is available to any reader registered for the new website. If you’re not a Core Community or All-Access member, all you need to do is get a free registration to our new website to see the Monday diary series.

Even if you have not signed up for Cosmophilia: You Belong Here, I suggest you check out the many articles that are available to everyone on that website, no registration required. Many Planet Waves readers have contributed featured articles to the project, which could keep you busy through two or three blizzard nights.

Today in a new edition of Planet Waves FM, Eric will be following up on the centaur conjunctions of Venus and Mars, as well as Venus ingressing Pisces today. He will offer a comment on the binary asteroid that flew past the Earth yesterday. And apropos of the forthcoming conjunction of Mars with Chiron in Pisces (exact Jan. 31), Eric will be talking about the theme of male bisexuality, how it’s presented in culture, and how it largely remains a taboo. Eric’s musical guest will be his Hudson Valley neighbor Bjork — performing in her native Icelandic language.

We have other items by our writers that have published over the past few days.

Judith Gayle writes in her latest column that, “Times change when we’re not looking,” and suggests we each look at our new ability to recognize what’s over the top, hysterical, or designed to manipulate us — and choose something else.

Midtown Manhattan is pictured from the top of the United Nations building in New York on Jan. 26, 2015. Photo by Carlo Allegri.

For this week’s sex-and-relationships guest-post, Erin Cressida Wilson’s piece from The Guardian recounts her 1970s upbringing by bohemian parents and early introduction to erotica.

As Wilson (who wrote the movie Secretary) notes, “Secrets that fly around a house actually do get absorbed by children in ways that are mysterious.”

In this week’s tarot reading, Sarah Taylor sees history repeating itself. Or, more accurately, we are revisiting something to experience both synthesis and change — and three readings from the past six weeks are asking for our attention again now.

And after Mercury retrograde in Aquarius repeatedly thwarted Amanda Moreno’s attempts at her latest column, she finally gave in to its demands that she pay attention. The result is a personal consideration of Aquarius, that paradoxical sign of individuation and the love of tribe.

Len Wallick’s column will post to the website by noon EST today. In it, he explores with wonder and appreciation the synchronicity of Jupiter and Mercury as they align with the Sun and Earth from their respective retrogrades.

See you tonight over at Planet Waves FM.

Yours & truly,

P.S. Mercury remains in retrograde motion in Aquarius till Feb. 11. Here is an article from last year that goes into the basics and the details of Mercury retrograde.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $97/year. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.

Dear Friend and Reader:

As often seems to happen this time of year, there’s been a major world event to grapple with astrologically, emotionally and intellectually. You might be one of our many readers who is very sensitive to the psychic violence perpetrated by mainstream media when tragedy occurs.

Cover of the new edition of Charlie Hebdo, which the surviving staff members were able to pull together. It’s the prophet Mohammed, shedding a tear. Above him is the inscription, “All is Forgiven.”

Eric will be considering the emotional impact of the Charlie Hebdo shooting and related events in Paris on Planet Waves FM this evening. He’ll look at various inconsistencies and hypocrisies in the story, and see where they fit with the event’s chart.

What do we make of the accounts of this being a false flag incident? What do we do about the horrid civil rights record of the world leaders who marched arm in arm, mimicking the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King?

Eric’s musical guest will be American bluegrass artists Old and In the Way.

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have Planet Waves photographer Danielle Voirin on the scene in Paris, documenting the peaceful marches with her humane, artful touch. (You can see another gallery of images here, and third set here.)

In Monday’s Astrology Diary, Eric considered the ingress of Mars into Pisces (where it meets Neptune) in the context of the Sun conjunct Vesta in Capricorn.

He writes, “it’s necessary to have some sense of what is self-creative and what is self-destructive,” adding that, “this week has sex, drugs and rock and roll painted all over it; which you might experience alternately as music, art, passion or Key Lime Pie.”

In his SMS message to Core Community members this morning, he expanded on that theme: “Mars is now in Pisces, full of passion, curiosity and naked lust. You know, the meaningful, friendly kind. That’s an invitation to explore and to stretch. The cautionary note is to be real; to proceed under the guidance of sincerity. And the contradiction is summed up in what some would consider an oxymoron — honest pleasure.”

Photo by Danielle Voirin. You can see her three photo series here, here and here.

Sarah Taylor explores in this week’s tarot reading how the three cards tie in with last week’s spread, and with the reading of Dec. 14, 2014, to indicate a shift in what was starting to develop back then. Amanda Moreno describes her belief in the cyclical nature of life — and in the fluidity of beliefs and truth in general — in her latest column.

David Steinberg’s article from the Sexuality.org archives offers a lens into the sexual conflicts of feminist men in this week’s sex-and-relationships column.

On a loosely related note, Judith Gayle’s column homes in on the free exchange of ideas, and the ability to speak candidly without fear of censure.

In current astrology, today is the last quarter Moon as it wanes toward its New phase. You might have noticed the urge to hunker down and wrap up projects that peaked with the Full Moon Jan. 4, or that began in earnest last month.

That’s a pretty good description of the staff at Planet Waves as we enter the final ‘all hands on deck’ phase of producing Cosmophilia: You Belong Here. We’re about as hunkered down as we can get, and Eric is nearly done with the written sign readings; we should be able to put the finishing touches on this weekend.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

P.S. Please join me in congratulating Planet Waves’ business manager Chelsea Bottinelli and her husband T.J. Jarosik on the birth of their third son, Emmet Lee, last night! Mother and son are doing well, and we can’t wait to see a photo.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Welcome to a new year! With the major holidays of this season over and the Cancer Full Moon just past, hopefully you’ve been able to take a breath, re-group and begin implementing any resolutions and intentions you’ve set for 2015.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

In support of that, Eric is chugging along under full steam with your 2015 annual readings, called Cosmophilia: You Belong Here, on track for the mid-January release he’d set for that project.

In fact, he’s returning to Planet Waves FM later today with a fresh broadcast. That will feature a current astrology roundup (including the 10th anniversary of the discovery of Eris) and his tribute to former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, with a personal account of how Cuomo helped him crack the SUNY-New Paltz PCB case. Eric will also tell some stories from his work on Cosmophilia and what he’s learning about astrology these days.

Speaking of Eris, the Planet Waves website today features a retrospective by astrophysics professor Mike Brown on his discovery of this planet, famous for its role in the demotion of Pluto. Please note that all Planet Waves articles linked to in this letter are open access and do not require a password for you to read them.

On tonight’s Planet Waves FM, Eric will tell personal stories from his encounters with NY Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Other recent columns on the website include Amanda Moreno’s contemplation on the difficulty of being ‘present’ in the face of modern technology and surging divine feminine energy. Sarah Taylor’s latest tarot reading looks at the foundation being built for what you are creating in the physical world, bringing you deeper into your purpose and into connection with others.

Guest-writer Christina Louise Dietrich describes her climactic return to her “entire alive body all at once,” feeling all of herself again for the first time since early childhood, in her journey of healing deep wounds to her sexuality.

Judith Gayle looks ahead to the new year, acknowledging that as good as it can feel to ‘put a difficult year behind us’, it takes everyone collectively deciding to make a new beginning for there to be any meaningful difference between one calendar year and the next.

And of course, be sure to check the website sometime around noon EST today, for Len Wallick’s column about Ceres entering Capricorn — a cue to tune into the personal and interpersonal resonances this event holds for you.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

P.S. The link in the first paragraph takes you to the individual sign purchase for Cosmophilia — but it’s not too late to pre-order all 12 signs for significantly less than the published price.

P.P.S. Eric said his New Year’s resolution is to write a book a year for 10 years.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $97/year. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.