Dear Friend and Reader:

So — what happens when you inaugurate the president with the Moon void of course during Mercury retrograde?

The long-awaited official waving bye-bye to the Bushes. Photo by Saul Loeb.

Naturally, you have to do it over again. After all that astonishing fanfare, the real kind with trumpets and flags, along with $125 million spent on the swearing-in ceremony attended by some three million spectators, Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the presidential oath of office. He came back to the White House the next evening for a redo, just in case anyone should doubt the reality that Barack Obama is indeed president.

If you’re an astrologer, you just laugh at this kind of thing, because the irony is so beautiful. The void Moon is famous for developments that don’t quite count; and Mercury retrograde is renowned for whatever you’re doing needing to be done over a couple of times. Garbling up the time-honored oath had that distinct quality of both factors, in addition to being a beautifully human moment amidst all the circumstance and pomp.

I doubt that our government leaders were consulting an astrologer, though one might have told them to try again, if only for ceremonial purposes. We might even want to do it a third time once Mercury is direct (if that happens, then you know somebody was reading their horoscope). Personally, I find it reassuring that Mr. Roberts, not my favorite jurist of all times, was concerned enough about the proper functioning of the Republic to hop his armored limo across town and take care of the mistake.

Meanwhile, as an aside: my own and many people’s favorite image of the day was seeing Dick Cheney being wheeled from the White House after the ceremonial coffee with the Obamas and the Bidens. I wish no ill or pain on anyone, though if you appreciate visual symbols, it was special to see the perpetrator himself unable to end his term under his own ambulatory power. That he left office a cripple after inflicting unimaginable pain on so many others added a dash more poetic justice to the day, as if there was not enough.

Hell on Wheels. Soon to be former Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in a wheelchair for the inauguration of Barack Obama. Photo by Saul Loeb.

Associated Press reported that Cheney hurt his back while moving boxes into his new home, and that his doctors recommended he take some days off his feet. Sounds innocent enough. The thing is that aristocrats, and even many ordinary people who can afford movers, never move their own boxes. Certainly the vice president of the United States, with an all-expenses-paid executive move, would not, under normal circumstances, need to lay hands on cardboard.

But nothing about Dick Cheney would qualify as normal. We can imagine what they were boxes of. Something heavy, since he pulled out his back; maybe it was grandpa’s porno library or rock collection. Or perhaps these were boxes of potential evidence. That is to say, paperwork so secret nobody else except the vice president himself could even touch it or know about it. The funny part is, he didn’t get to finish the job himself; somebody ultimately did touch those boxes, and thanks to that wheelchair, we all found out about their existence.

In any event, or rather many, many events, I hold it as a miracle that the Republic withstood the antics and criminal activity of what is widely regarded to be the most corrupt administration in United States history. It may simply be the miracle of the foresight of the Framers, whose invention of a government works pretty good, or the authors of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits anyone to holding the presidency more than twice after FDR’s four terms of office.

The Second Swearing-In Chart

Under normal circumstances, the new president takes office at noon on Jan. 20 after a November election, regardless of when the oath is taken. Still, common sense suggests that this is a chart worth looking at; it represents a rare event in history.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administers the oath of office a second time in the Map Room of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. White House photo.

CNN reported the time of the second swearing-in as 7:35 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 21. [view chart]. That chart puts the Moon solidly in Sagittarius, and it’s doing something interesting: coasting past the Great Attractor, a very, very large thing broadcasting on every frequency except visible. It’s located in the middle of Sagittarius. The Great Attractor magnifies, it retreats and it has effects far beyond what can be seen, I think beyond perceptible space and time.

The Moon is conjunct a centaur planet, the next one after Chiron, called Pholus. This critter, discovered in 1992, accelerates events and gives them an irreversible property. Pholus is also about how we react to a famous person. Many people are indeed doing just that right now; we have our first president since Kennedy who is actually part of celebrity culture, or who can work those memes as well as Madonna.

And Pholus, even without the Great Attractor right there, is driven by curiosity. There is the question, “What would happen if I/we____?” Is it possible that this question could catch on?

To this, add the Great Attractor and the Moon, with Pholus at full strength in Sagittarius and the Moon like a condenser of the energy. In a public chart, the Moon is a significator for The Public, that odd entity that at once exists and does not exist as a distinct thing. Is The Public more reactive than it seems right now? Like, a lot more reactive? Is it absolutely ready to ignite, come alive, sense its own existence? We’ve become so accustomed to The Public sleeping through one atrocity after another that a lot of us have forgotten that it even exists.

For example, I wonder, how could we have that astonishing day of action on Feb. 15, 2003, protesting the imminent invasion of Iraq worldwide, and not have that evolve into a protest movement to stop the war once we were unable to prevent it? That was a brilliant day, then The Public went home, took some Nyquil and slept until the first week of November 2008. This Moon looks like The Public is currently in that supercharged pre-quantum state. This, as Chiron approaches Neptune in Aquarius, is to me the ultimate emblem of the anesthesia wearing off.

In the second swearing in Virgo rather than Taurus is rising, which is interesting because Mercury has moved retrograde from Aquarius to Capricorn. This is deep thinking with a mind for understanding how similar problems were resolved in the past. By contrast, much of the sky is about Aquarius now, a fitting image of an idea making process; and of group initiation. And it describes three million people braving long bus rides and scant few Port-a-Potties in freezing temperatures to participate in our pluralist administration taking over; to participate in history. Maybe it was to personally witness the end of the Bush nightmare. On the 20th, Aquarius was home to Mercury, the Sun, Jupiter, the lunar North Node (and hence an imminent eclipse), Nessus, Chiron and Neptune.

Sun conjunct Jupiter, the big jewel at the middle of this alignment, illustrates the people’s king. Both the Sun and Jupiter can have a regal quality, particularly when combined; Aquarius grants Obama and indeed our whole moment of transition the common touch, the quality of accessibility, and the feeling on some level that we all get to participate. The astrology and the feeling of the moment have a mythical quality, the sense of something larger than life. Jupiter conjunct the Sun in Aquarius (precisely aligned Friday) certainly emphasizes the point.

The Restoration of the Monarchy

In a sense, we have witnessed the restoration of the legitimate monarchy, in modern democratic style. No doubt Obama was actually elected. We not only saw it, and took part, but we felt it happen. Most of what I know about monarchy, nobility and their relationship to maleness and the stability of society, I know from J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings.

Shadow Self. Photo by Sean Hayes.

The Lord of the Rings opens in the time before the king; indeed a time when nobody even remembers when there was one, and gradually chaos and evil are setting in across the lands as a result. It’s the story about the valiant deeds by a few men who reclaim their sense of mission, some reluctantly, in the face of hopelessness. These actions lead to the downfall of evil and the restoration of order.

Being a symbolist, the feeling I get from reading this book over and over is that the monarchy is an inner quality, and that the “king” represents the restoration of the principle of sane maleness. It is an organizing principle in the psyche.

Indeed, we have been accustomed to anything but this quality through the Bush years, when our primary male exemplar was a mass murderer who so distrusted his own people that he had to spy on them. Bush of course was never a legitimate president. Had he been, things would not have gone so badly. He would have had some debt to the people who put him in office; I think it would have been difficult for him to express less sense of responsibility than we witnessed during his eight-year tenure. As for Dick Cheney, I can barely imagine the sight of his face without seeing blood trickling from his mouth. And to think they were elected on a platform of morality.

Their predecessor, Bill Clinton, could not control that most distinct element of maleness, his penis, and so fell into a political trap set by other men who had not addressed their own sexual shadow. The ensuing impeachment stood out as an enormous guilt and blame fest, where maleness itself was once again trumped up to automatic perpetrator status and put on trial before the Senate and the world. Again and again during the Bush years, people asked: if Clinton could be impeached for sex, how is it that Cheney and Bush can’t be impeached for any one of their hundreds of war crimes, or crimes against the people? Unless you understand the history of where sex meets politics, you are unlikely to have an answer for that.

When you have this kind of condition, you have psychic anarchy. All men take some of the blame, since presumably it’s something about maleness itself that led to this situation. In Tolkien’s version of the world, the royal line fell into dormancy, and the vacuum was filled by the rising of a dark lord who enslaved people and made war on anything good. In our own times, the throne was occupied by a madman. All men are confronted by an insane king, either as something they feel free emulating, or as something they must revolt against.

Obama stands out in contrast to all of our negative stereotypes of black men: the guest appearance on Cops, for example. The new First Family provides us with an archetype (rather than a stereotype) of a healthy, balanced household — something that the Republicans have been trying to mock and masquerade as for a generation. We now have people who we are treating, and who the media is treating, as exemplars. We have finally decided there is someone ethical enough to emulate.

And at the center of this is Obama himself, who gets the joke. He once said that he fathered two black children, legitimately. I am searching my DNA for a memory of when a dark man took over as king and helped heal something in all the other men. I can get halfway there. I can see the scene from ancient history or legend, but I cannot dial it in fully. Within our own culture, this healing would come, in part, in the form of connecting with something in the psychic coding of less-dark men (such as Europeans) who are documented to project their own personal shadow, and cultural sexual shadow, onto darker men, often viciously.

That phenomenon helps explain the Holocaust, our own society’s outrageous treatment of Muslims and its disgraceful treatment of African-Americans, an astonishing percentage of whom are on the inside right now, that is, in jail. (This treatment of darker people was deconstructed in detail by Dr. Wilhelm Reich during and after the rise of the Nazis.) We still need to watch this phenomenon of dumping our toxicity onto darker people. It appears to be traveling with the human condition with the dependability of owls, rats, cats and dogs.

What we need is an image of the king’s virility and fidelity to his own intentions, and this we seem to have today. Obama, by his being, is making it respectable to be a man and show respect for humanity; to portray sincerity and humility. These are traits which one must grow into, rather than learn.

Bridge. By Susan Madsen.

Beyond the game of politics, his respectability will gradually have an effect on our culture, which has taken on a reputation for callousness, stupidity and shame during the last two presidential administrations. This effect will be true for African-Americans, who have never really been allowed to ride at the front of the bus, and for people of European descent who have long been accused of holding them down, even if we’ve had no part in this.

We are fast entering a time when we need a strong male exemplar to lead our society. We are, like it or not, a patriarchal society, and the patriarch we look up to therefore has a special role: to ground the sanity of the nation.

We are entering times of profound reorganization, change and upheaval, of which Obama’s presence is emblematic, and through which we will need strong, sane, clear-headed leaders whose voices we can listen to without cringing.

Through 2010 we are experiencing a series of Saturn-Uranus oppositions, an aspect that is progressive, confrontational and destabilizing. These are impressive even as a warm-up act for the truly profound astrology that develops into 2012. Indeed, by the time Obama is seeking his second term of office, three more outer planets will have changed signs, the Uranus-Pluto square will be exact for the first time and the birth contractions of society and indeed the world will be palpable.

To some, they are today.

Obama is the first president born with Pluto in Virgo, quite literally representing a new generation. He was born in the run-up to the Uranus-Pluto conjunctions of 1965-66, close enough to have revolutionary energy vibrating in his natal chart. We are now in the opening moments of Uranus square Pluto, the next major phase of that cycle.

Rick Tarnas notes in his astrological history Cosmos and Psyche that people born with a Uranus-Pluto alignment are likely to be the ones who take part in the events of the next alignment. While I do not know Barack Obama personally, I trust that he is quite aware of the societal karma to which he is heir. His call to service — with its distinctly Virgo energy — is a message to all those born in this generation, from whom we have heard remarkably little so far.

Yours & truly,

Additional reporting by David Arner.

We are in an eclipse moment. The first of two, an annular solar eclipse, occurs overnight Sunday to Monday at 6+ Aquarius. [Here is NASA’s official page on the eclipse.] This degree has a fun Sabian symbol — a child being born out of an egg. Humanist/composer/astrologer Dane Rudhyar describes this as “the emergence of new mutations according to the great rhythm of the cosmos.”

Bob Dylan summons us to awareness in the early 1960s.

Apparently, evolution occurs faster than the kind of endless, gradual incremental slide that we think of it as. New forms of life, inluding physical forms, are born into existence at surprising moments.

The eclipse is conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius, which offers projection and suggests that our moment is about a radical change in public attitude, values and mental patterns. With Mercury conjunct Mars in Capricorn, this may be occurring more quickly than we’re expecting.

As I have mentioned a few times, this eclipse is reminiscent of an event in February 1962, nearly 47 years ago, which seems to have had an influence in sparking off the 1960s. Both charts have something else in common, which is being close in the approach to a major Uranus-Pluto alignment. This long cycle, which repeats about every 121 years and has four major turning points, is now at one of its hot spots. It also was in 1962, and by some coincidence when The New York Times was founded in 1851 (please see story below for details).

We are now in that moment right before the revolution, though there are many sensitive types, and those open to the energy, for whom it is happening at what feels like full strength right now. But behold, the pace accelerates as these days, seasons and years unfold.

Eclipses are pattern setting times; which means they are the times we can let go of old modes of existence and establish the new ones that we want to live by. With so much emphasis on Aquarius, this includes our modes of relating to groups, the conditioning patterns of our friends, our sense of community and expanding our need — it is a need — to participate in the world in a meaningful way.

An old fog is lifting: you could call it the fog of group self-delusion. Consensus reality is changing, but that can only be the result of a the consensus itself changing. There is a place for you as this happens; there are people for you; there is a time for every purpose, including awakening.

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

”Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,” goes that old Shaker hymn, Simple Gifts, so splendidly rendered by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and others at Barack Obama’s inauguration. It hit our ears only a few moments after Aretha Franklin offered a version of “My country ’tis of thee,” that growled, scatted and soared, startling those who thought the simple tune might remain so in her accomplished hands.

The sampling of entertainment offered in these last few days matched the sensibilities and diversity of the sea of faces in the multitude that stood in the freezing cold to watch the 44th president take his Constitutional vow. Their energy was a song, as well — a hum of excitement, pride and amazement; a heartbeat of yearning and hope. In an emotionally powerful moment of words and music, they became part of the energetic whole.

The invocation by Rick Warren, anticipated by so many, seemed a rambling bit of business; given his 15 minutes in the world’s eye, Pastor Warren seemed undone by the magnitude of the moment. Not so Rev. Lowery, a man whose life has been committed to the cause of civil rights and who not only delighted the crowd with his benediction but slapped a wide grin on Barack Obama’s face. The former seemed steeped in religious exclusion — the latter invited us all in, based on our personhood and not our religious preference.

Pastor Warren has recently encouraged his flock to jihad for Jesus in the way that Hitler Youth served their Fuhrer; he may have a rationale for these comments, but I don’t think many but his faithful are listening. Talk about your basic misunderestimation of this new energy that’s filling every nook and cranny; that bus is pulling out of town! The ticket to stay or leave in this new era seemed to be stamped on the faces we saw Tuesday; not a single Republican seemed more than grim and pained.

Coming Up in Daily Astrology and Adventure:

She might be 158 years old, but she’s still a hot date: The New York Times, that venerable Grey Lady, is getting a new lover. Carlos Slim, with a net worth estimated at $60 billion, became involved with the Times on Sept. 10, 2008 when he purchased a 6.4% common-stock stake in The New York Times Company. This made him the largest stockholder outside the Ochs-Sulzberger family, owners of the company since its inception. Until now, the Times has remained one of the only family-controlled major newspapers left in print.

Carlos Slim’s father, Don Julian, opened a dry goods store in Mexico City that was worth over $100,000 in 1921. Don Julian gave all his children allowances and a savings book so they’d learn to manage their income and expenses. Photo courtesy of Carlos Slim.

Monday, Slim assisted the Times with its $1.1 billion debt, providing a $250 million loan. His second cash infusion in only a few months has tipped off observers that Slim may be headed for an outright takeover of the newspaper.

Commencing publication on Sept. 18, 1851, The New York Times has a reputation for a buttoned-down style. Venus is conjunct the Sun in late Virgo, which bestows this aura of propriety despite the many news reporting scandals the newspaper has endured since the early 1990s. What is interesting about the Times is that it commenced publication under some of the most revolutionary astrology ever documented, the Uranus-Pluto conjunction. Similar astrology opened the way for the French Revolution, the 1960s and many other eras in history characterized by surges of progress.

The Times also has Saturn in the mix. The conjunction of 1851 was actually a triple: Saturn, Uranus and Pluto are clustered in early Taurus, so there is a strange mix of reactive conservatism and revolutionary idealism. The Times has often embodied this psychic division, which is illustrated a second time in the chart by the Gemini Moon (for centaur fans, this is a Gemini Moon conjunct Nessus).

Pluto in Capricorn is now precisely trining the Times’ Saturn-Uranus-Pluto conjunction, a suitable enough image of a door being opened to restructuring, modernization and new life.

Slim was born and bred in Mexico City. His father moved to Mexico from Lebanon in 1902, skipping the Ottoman army draft. Four of his brothers were already residing in Mexico, one of whom brought the first Arabic printing press to the country, and founded one of the first Lebanese magazines in Mexico.

Slim made his fortune in communications when he bought Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), a fixed-line operator (as opposed to a mobile line, where the connection is wireless). Today, 90% of telephone lines in Mexico are operated through Telmex. He has amazing foresight when it comes to investments; he bought 3% of Apple stock right before it came out with the iMac in 1998, for example. He attributes this luck to information. He is versed in the work of his friend, the futurist/humanist Alvin Toffler, whose work explores digital and communication revolutions.

As the world gradually moves into another phase of potent Uranus-Pluto astrology, the revolutionary side of the Times, under Slim’s influence, may yet make itself known. But after enduring the fraudulent reporting of Keith Schneider in the 1990s, Jason Blair a decade later and other problems in between, longtime lovers of the newspaper would be grateful to have an extended phase wherein the newspaper became known for telling the truth.

On Jan. 11, as Mercury turned retrograde, Czech concept artist David Cerny punk’d the stodgy Council of the European Union. His joke? A 2,760-square-foot model kit-like sculpture that depicts the 27 EU countries with ironic, politically incorrect stereotypes: France is on strike; Sweden looks like an IKEA flat-pack; Britain is missing altogether. Bulgaria is a patchwork of Turkish squat toilets and Italy is covered in soccer players who look as if they’re masturbating with the help of soccer balls.

The piece, sardonically entitled “Entropa,” was commissioned to celebrate the temporary Czech EU presidency. Twenty-seven individual artists would illustrate the theme “Europe without barriers.”

But Mercury the Trickster had other plans. The underfunded and over-ambitious EU plans inspired Cerny and his colleagues to secretly change the plan.

To complete the postmodernist joke, Cerny’s team created a brochure, complete with 27 fictional artists and dense mock artist statements. Elena Jelebova, for example, is a Bulgarian whose toilets intend “to cause a scandal, especially at home,” with a “punk gesture, intentionally primitive and vulgar, fecally pubertal.”

The hoax was revealed soon after it’s unveiling. “We knew the truth would come out,” said Cerny to the BBC. “But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself.” Bulgaria didn’t: it demanded the Turkish toilets be covered. But the rest of the European countries are — in good Mercury retrograde style — rethinking their assumptions about one another. Which is the point, says Cerny: “Self-reflection, critical thinking and the capacity to perceive oneself as well as the outside world with a sense of irony are the hallmarks of European thinking.”
 

Eric, I want you to know that i am stunned by the accuracy of your 2008 annual for Libra. It is unimaginably profound, like a mirror where i see my inner face. i want to express my deep gratitude for such an inspiring work.

—————-

Eric, I’m reading what you’ve written & it’s like my higher self wrote it to me as a clue! And it’s written to Taurus, not ME. I think you get my drift. Your antennae are definitely working & then some. Keep up the good work, ether man!

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, January 23, 2009, #750 – By GENEVIEVE SALERNO

Aries (March 20-April 19)
The secret to having a full life is to be engaged in everything that you do. It seems that while you understand how important passion is for your work, the thirst for liberation is suddenly making the tasks of your calling a list of burdens or reasons not to do what you love. Perhaps now is the time to consider exactly what your calling is. Here is a hint: the search for the gift we all have to offer to humanity is a liberating process by which we learn about ourselves. Do you know who you are and what your powers are? No doubt they are diverse, courageous and commanding in their daring. If you know where to look within yourself to find these gems, they will be even more empowering.

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Aries
and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
It’s hard to envision that you are at all similar to the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch when you are the only child there. But there are some things that make you and the fruit of the field related: you both depend upon your sources of nourishment from the world outside, and you both are trying to grow. The effect that you have on the world when you perform the tasks you truly love is one of the most rewarding moves you can make, but lately a sense of fight or flight has begun to spur you. You have begun to realize that there is an intimate link between you and the people who receive your gifts. Whenever you get nervous this week and it’s a situation involving what others expect from you, try to visualize them all as a field of squash. Notice how easily it relaxes you.

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Taurus and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
Migratory birds know where to go based on the position of the Sun. Right now it seems as though you are receiving irresistible cravings to explore the world either physically through travel or verbally through intense philosophical discussion. In this case, the cues you are receiving are the Sun in its seasonal position and the thought that transformation is due in your own life very soon. When the birds take to the sky, they do it in groups. They have survived the aeons because they can blend their consciousness easily for the betterment of the whole. Indeed, transformation does not come easily if it’s looked at as a solo mission.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Gemini and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
In Chaos Theory, that which appears to be random at first is soon understood to be part of a greater pattern. Your relationships are starting to become very important to you, and as such, the exchanges of information, the sharing of ideas and the desire to be loved and to love have a transformative effect on you now. Your sudden desire to get out and try new things is part of the process of learning the effect other people have on you. This should not be confused with a sign of weakness: as you may have guessed, we are all connected. This principle of relation is the same as the hurricane that results from the flutter of a butterfly’s wing. If you keep this reciprocity in mind, you are sure to get back what you give, doubled.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Cancer and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
Sometimes when you feel the closest to a person, it is because you are reenacting an old pattern that no longer fits the situation. When such a situation arises, it’s usually followed by a sudden flash of awakening. Think of those cartoons where the rabbit puts on a dress and some lipstick and fools the hunter into taking him out for a dance. It’s only a matter of time before the hunter leans in for a kiss — and that’s when the realization strikes. Unbounded joy and enthusiasm have a way of blurring little details that tell the true story of change. It is this passage of time that spins the most beautiful story of all: pay attention to the details involved with transformation.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Leo
and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
Have you ever noticed that the people who understand the works of certain artists the best are those closest to the artist? The reason for this is the sense of openness that comes from intimate relationship with others. Intimacy does not always involve physical affection, but it does always involve a feeling of risk and honesty. Right now it seems as though you are coming to a realization that you have what it takes to be an honest, creative individual. The more open you are to explaining your choices, the more your relations will understand you. There is nothing to be afraid of as far as judgement is concerned: once you accept your role as an expressive entity everything else is just fuel for the fire.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Virgo
and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22 – Oct. 23)
When a candle does what it is made to do, it brings light into dark places. When a fisherman does what she loves, her family gets fed. When the weather does what it wants, it brings us inside to change our clothes. Being yourself is the greatest service you can provide everyone around you at this time. Luckily, the boost of confidence you may need to get to that point of honesty is ready for you to access it. When you decide to make the changes necessary to support your decision, expect the unexpected. The process by which you open yourself up involves many doors and windows and the wind is sure to blow some misplaced papers around. Just remember: for some, paper blowing around is a mess waiting to happen, and to others it is a confetti party.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Libra
and libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
Imagine a person moving into a house and living there for years without exploring each room. If she ever decided to throw a party, she would be very limited in the space she could provide guests. It might even influence how many people she chooses to invite. Right now it looks like you are ready to bust out of the old rooms and find a new place for yourself, fueled by an inner sense of confidence that you can wield like a flashlight into otherwise unlit spaces. Generosity and creativity go hand-in-hand when one realizes the way to a full life is realizing each facet of the personality has a purpose.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Scorpio and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 22)
One of the best ways to calm yourself down after a particularly hassling experience on the road is to find a place to stay and unpack your bags. Then, one by one, fold each article and put it back in the bag as neatly as possible. This way you learn exactly what you have with you and you come into contact with each part. If the bag was your mind, unpacking it would be a form of mental inventory. Think of what you have done, what you will do and how it brings you a sense of self-worth and inner security. There is much fun to be had in the coming days, but without self-esteem to temper your hand, you could make some reckless choices.

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
Have you ever tried to sneak up on a sleeping cat? It’s usually pretty hard, but if you can pull it off and do something abrupt, like clap or pop a bag, they just about fly out of their skin. Not only do they wake up, but they get quite irritated. In a way, this is a good image of someone getting too comfortable with the way things are and then getting irritated when something changes. The real purpose of change is not to add spice to your life, but to keep you from forgetting the value of flexibility and to get you to use parts of yourself that may have fallen asleep. When the tune changes, it’s the best time to try out that dance step on which you’ve secretly been working.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
It’s not often that you come to realize self-expression at its fullest. When a series of events occurs that gets your motor running, it coincides with the realization that the garage is a bit crowded with old junk and empty boxes. Give away the things you have held on to for so long — values and objects both. To give yourself lovingly to new experiences is not only liberating, but it’s also the best way to discover which parts of your value system you hold in high regard, and which ones you could do without.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
A certain level of patience is required for the tasks you have before you. There is an old story about a vampire chasing a little child through an empty house. The child had a jar of seeds and when the vampire got too close, the child spilled the seeds onto the floor and ran. The vampire could not move until it had picked up every single seed and organized it by size and shape. If one looked at the vampire and the child as parts of the same entity, what would the lesson be? Sometimes before we can indulge in our most childlike behaviors, we must make preparations, and we must organize our thoughts for the purpose of awareness.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for Pisces and Pisces rising here.

Dear Friend and Reader:

BARACK OBAMA’S inauguration next week is the chart of a world in transition, or one about to unravel. These may amount to the same thing, necessary aspects of the same process: though if you ask me, this is a dangerous chart. We live in dangerous times and most of us have no clue the extent or depth of this fact, nor its profound virtue. This chart contains both the idealism of the election and also references to the mess that we are going to be left to clean up in the wake of what amounts to either an eight-year military dictatorship or abusive marriage.

Swallow and don’t stop. By Danae Sinclair.

Before I get into the chart, I want to offer a little background material on inauguration charts in general. And first, a bit about the word: it’s related to the concept of augury, or divination by the flight of birds. Etymology Online says the roots go back to Latin: “consecration, installment under good omens,” from inaugurare, “take omens from the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable.”

It’s unfortunate that astrologers cannot choose the time of the inauguration; rather, the time is constitutionally fixed, at noon on Jan. 20 after the election. This year it’s on a Tuesday, that is, this coming Tuesday. In our current era, the Sun is always in the first degree of Aquarius for the inauguration, and Taurus is always rising. The degree 14+ Taurus has been the rising degree since the second Nixon inauguration in 1973. (The position of the Sun and ascendant for a chart cast for the same time and place, year after year, will gradually drift due to something called precessional movement of the Earth; that is, our planet wobbling on its axis makes even fixed positions drift gradually over the centuries. There is a nice animation at the wiki link that I’ve highlighted.)

The Sabian symbol image associated with 14+ Taurus is a man braving a storm. The degree associated with the first degree of Aquarius is an old Adobe mission in California. One is a personal symbol, an individual facing adversity; the other is about the selfless legacy we leave behind for the benefit of others, symbolized by the California system of missions that has endured through many decades til the present day. We have images of both the personal and transpersonal experience of the new president. We’re reminded we’re acting on behalf of the future.

You can look forward at inauguration charts for generations; assuming that the scheduled time is not changed (that’s only happened once, when inaugurations were moved to Jan. 20 by the 20th Amendment), something unlikely to happen for a while, you can get glimpses ahead at history. We can also look back and see how the astrology reckons with what actually happened.

The question is what these charts really mean; and they do seem to mean something. Inauguration charts for both of Clinton’s terms and both of Bush’s terms were dark, suggesting extraordinary controversy and contention. Looking in 20/20 hindsight, had we understood Nessus, we could have predicted a sex scandal for Clinton’s second term. Bush’s second term chart was characterized by cruelty as a leader. Bush’s charts had death painted all over them; astrologers all wondered whether it would be him.

Bush miraculously managed to survive his two terms (despite the curse of the “zero year,” but he’s leaving office as broken of a man as Bill Clinton was, though without Clinton’s poise). Bush is trying to convince us that he has left a brilliant historical legacy. I think that this reveals the extent of his hubris: the nation is hobbled by two wars, bankrupt banks and both industries associated with the American dream, the home and the car, are devastated.

His true legacy has yet to emerge, and once it starts to come out, it’s going to be like dropping Mentos into a two-liter bottle of Pepsi.

Tuesday’s chart has several distinct features that speak of rapid change in movement that sets in instantly upon the inauguration. Two stand out right away: Mercury is not only retrograde, but it’s about to change signs to Capricorn. And the Moon is void of course. It’s so close to the end of Scorpio that had the inauguration happened just 24 minutes later, it would be taking place under a Sagittarius Moon with a very different feeling.

Also, we know that Pluto is at the beginning of its journey through Capricorn; and that Saturn, the ruling planet of that sign, is being opposed repeatedly by Uranus. These are longer-term symbols of changes to the structure of society, including government, business and perhaps the nation itself.

Finally, there is something that had long confounded me and is now starting to make a lot more sense. Two symbols of the marital partner — the asteroid Juno and a centaur planet called Chariklo — are occupying prominent places in this chart. Indeed, Juno is the most elevated planet in the chart. Now that we know something about Michelle Obama, we can see that she is likely to have an extraordinary leadership role as her husband begins the task of cleaning up the mess left by eight years of Bush and half a century of an unbridled military-based economy.

Let’s take these chart factors one at a time, remembering to keep them in context.

Mercury Retrograde

The inauguration takes place with retrograde Mercury making an exact interior conjunction to the Sun in the first degree of Aquarius. This is three statements in one: Mercury is retrograde; it’s exactly conjunct the Sun; and it’s about to change signs. I am sure everyone aware of this is wondering what this Mercury retrograde means.

Things never go as planned with Mercury retrograde; never is a strong word and I am using it consciously. Things don’t necessarily go badly under Mercury retrograde, but the plan changes. Events and information can be confusing, and it’s difficult to get to the essence of the problem. It’s difficult to plan for. Retrogrades tend to go particularly poorly if you don’t have a little money stashed away and if you don’t take care of your computer, your car and other basic technology devices.

I checked inauguration charts going back to Nixon in 1969. Mercury is always in Capricorn or Aquarius when the new president is sworn in; more often it’s in Capricorn. It’s only been retrograde twice in that time: when Nixon was inaugurated in 1969, and when Daddy Bush was inaugurated in 1989; both times it was in Aquarius when retrograde. It’s never been in a configuration even close to what we’re witnessing now, with Mercury at the edge of a sign, so at least that symbolism fits the picture: we are in unique, edgy and unpredictable days.

Mercury rules the chart’s 2nd house, that of values and wealth. It’s about to change signs moving backwards, from Aquarius to Capricorn, which is a good symbol of a recession.

But it also speaks to mentality. The president, in part represented by the Sun conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius, is a progressive person who has cloaked himself as a moderate, kind of like George Bush did: a radical conservative who claimed to be a moderate. The public, for its part, is reticent to express its progressive values, even though it may have them deep down on some personal level. We need to be moving deeper into Aquarius, and we are reluctant to do so.

Looked at another way, the money (Mercury, ruler of the 2nd) is going toward the corporations (Capricorn) and not the people (Aquarius). But the money is merely a reflection of values. We are still way too enamored of megamultinational companies for our vittles. We need a national movement of making our own soup, and getting rid of frozen microwavable.

The Moon is Void of Course

The void of course Moon is one of those things that can drive astrology students nuts, and it has some distinct properties. The easiest way to define it is that the Moon is very late in a sign. A more technically accurate way to say it is the Moon makes no new major aspects to major planets before entering the next sign. This is true of the inauguration Moon. To me this is a comment about the public being off its bearings than anything else. Most people are not connected to the challenges of the world, nor do they want to see them for what they are.

It’s worth noting that the Moon was void of course for part of Election Day, and that in certain versions of Obama’s many charts (his birthtime is not known, despite a diversity of claims), it’s also void of course there (in late Taurus, so the inauguration Moon is opposite his natal Moon).

What I have noticed is that in addition to things not going as planned, unlikely things happen when the Sun or Moon is void. It’s like a little door opens and the usual rules are suspended. If you know this, you can work with it. Awareness is the key, however, and that’s a scarce commodity.

The Moon is, however, exactly conjunct a centaur called Amycus, which has a very long orbit of 126 years (about six times longer than Saturn’s orbit, for reference). Most astrologers would deny that this eliminates the void condition, but you can’t ignore a conjunction if you know about it. Philip Sedgwick suggests that Amycus is about the creation of a long legacy; and also about “doctrines and policies designed to produce a result (policy manuals, creeds), any mechanical device that enables a shift in energy, for instance a clutch for shifting gears, monuments, commandments (as in carved in stone), pictographs and petroglyphs.”

Pluto, Saturn, Aquarius and Capricorn

Barack Obama was elected the very day that Saturn and Uranus — the two rulers of Aquarius — met in an opposition for the first time in 42 years. Two of the largest, most dynamic planets, they will make a total of five meetings through 2012, the second of which is on Feb. 5 — just two weeks after the inauguration.

What is interesting about Uranus and Saturn is not just that they represent the new and the old; it’s that both are rulers of Aquarius (traditional and modern, respectively), which are meeting in a face-off that I previously described as pluralist versus fundamentalist. That division is not gone; it was not solved by the election. Indeed, the split may only be beginning.

Let’s consider Pluto in Capricorn, which along with its incestuous cousin, Saturn opposite Uranus, speaks to the restructuring of society. I just turned on CNN for one of my three-minute surveys of the news, and the lead story was “Corporate Deathwatch.” Major companies, including two that got multi-billion bailouts in 2008 — AIG and Chrysler, along with The New York Times — are on the list of entities that may be chronicled in the obituaries of history.

Pluto perched at the edge of Capricorn puts us on notice that the structure of society is changing radically. We only saw the first whispers of this in 2008, though they hardly seemed like whispers at all. We can thank the Cheney-Bush administration for accelerating the process and driving the country $14 trillion dollars into debt — debt which is spread throughout the globe, because governments and corporations on every continent are holding what amount to bad mortgages on the United States itself.

We saw a similar version of this story emerge in November 2001, just as Chiron entered Capricorn, as Enron, Worldcom and Arthur Anderson collapsed in a puff of smoke and broken mirrors. I have written many times that the Chiron in Capricorn era, from late 2001 through mid 2005, was a kind of litmus test for Pluto in Capricorn. Chiron will reveal the flaw in any system that, if addressed, will make the system strong and powerful, but if ignored, will cause the system to collapse. I call this theory the Golden Flaw. But it’s not so golden if you do nothing about it, or if you do things that make the situation worse, like plunge the country into a war that costs $8 billion a month.

But it may go further. Ridiculous as it may seem, there are futurists who are predicting that the United States itself will break up into separate countries, forced into fragmentation by moral divisions and economic degradation. This seems absurd now. Yet remember that for those of us who grew up constantly hearing about the evil empire of the USSR, it was unthinkable that all of Eastern Europe would be rearranged in just a few short years. That is precisely what happened under the Saturn-Uranus conjunction of 1989 — and that conjunction has now become an opposition.

Dick Cheney and Karl Rove may be wheeled off to their ranches or the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, but they have left a legacy that will last for generations to come. We are the first generation to inherit this legacy, which may include their Trotskyite vision of a new republic arising from the ruins of the old one. They have certainly left us with plenty of rubble to work with. Let’s see if we can build something creative.

Yours & truly,



A NEARLY FULL US Airways flight crash landed in the frigid waters of the Hudson River off the West Side of Manhattan Thursday. According to early reports, all 156 people aboard, including the crew and an infant, survived the crash. The plane was an Airbus 320. Overwater landings with survivors are extremely rare. Several people were hurt, including a flight attendant with a broken leg and several people with hypothermia.

Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk. No wait… Icarus and Daedalus.

The crash is believed to have been caused by geese getting caught in an engine, possibly both engines, though an investigation is underway. The pilot may have been heading for Teterborough or Newark airports in New Jersey but had to drop the airplane into the Hudson, which is a major flyway. The airplane cleared the George Washington Bridge by 900 feet, according to CNN.

Many factors contributed to everyone surviving, including ferryboats and tugboats getting to the crash scene almost immediately. Life vests and seat flotation cushions were actually used. The pilot was Chesley Sullenberger III, a 29-year veteran captain and former fighter pilot. He also owns a consulting firm promoting safety in high risk businesses.

Now for the obvious question: what does the chart of a plane crash where everyone survives look like? Cancer is rising in the chart, setting up an initial image of water. This makes the Virgo Moon one of the chart rulers. What stands out right away is the Moon is void of course, kind of like it’s floating. Void of course is a perhaps unkind description (ancient term, really) of the Moon being done making aspects to major planets before it enters the next sign. My own theory for void of course planets, particularly the Sun and Moon is, unusual or unlikely things can happen. It is indeed rare that everyone survives an overwater crash landing; this may be the first time.

[Note, we have received a reader comment purporting that this was a staged event. It is entirely within my belief system that such is possible, and the first place I look for guidance there is the astrology. I don’t see it in this chart. We night wonder how the chart has a packed 8th house and everyone lives; Jupiter was there offering protection. And it is noteworthy that the Moon in late Virgo is exactly square that famous position of 28+ Gemini (Sept. 11, the tsunami and the Democratic National Convention) but to me that is a reference to history and an interesting synchronicity. We will watch for oddities and inconsistencies in this story as develops, however, and please let us know if you see anything strange. -efc]

Here are the minor planets. In that rising sign is contained Varuna, lord of waters and one of the great gods in the global pantheon. Though his realm is the celestial ocean, in the walking, swimming world he has dominion over rain, rivers and floods.

US Airways Flight 1549 makes an unscheduled landing on the Hudson River Thursday. NY Times photo.

Asteroid Daedalus is associated with air travel and transportation in general. We also find it in the ascendant, in the first degree of Cancer — exactly square the Aries Point. If you use whole sign houses, this is stunning: the first degree of Cancer speaks for the whole sign. Icarus, the son of Daedalus (associated with flight, flight impulse and peak experiences), was in a conjunction to the Sun; not exact, but a three-degree conjunction.

Many commentators are saying that it’s a miracle that the airplane did not break apart. The asteroid associated with the issue of keeping the parts together is Isis, which is exactly conjunct the Galactic Core. Notably, the Galactic Core is prominent in the chart for the first flight at Kitty Hawk: the Sun and Uranus were conjunct the Galactic Core when Orville Wright first took to the air way back in 1903.

At the time of the crash landing the Sun was exactly trine Makemake, a deity with a bird’s head. And the Moon was making a three-degree conjunction (exact a few hours earlier), one of  the last things it did before drifting over into Libra. We haven’t had time to check the position of Makemake in air crashes with a lot of survivors, but we will keep this one in our files. For now we will chalk this up to the Bird God smiling on humanity.

— with Mandy Hall & Genevieve Salerno contributing.

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

I listened to one of my favorite songs the other day, “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday. It was written when Ms. Holiday was in a financial battle with family, so her lyric, “God bless the child that’s got her own,” has to do with substance; but it has a higher meaning to me. God Bless the Child is about the ability to stand in our own authentic essence and power, knowing that our spark of divinity is both timeless and secure in the most profound of ways. When we are struggling with survival issues, it is easy to forget that circumstance comes and goes, but it is neither here nor there to the authenticity that remains at our center — we ourselves are our most important resource.

Sea light. Photo by Sean Hayes.

Every moment of every day, we have a choice of what to think, feel, do and how to respond to stimulus; these are the causes that will manifest as effect in our lives. We may face challenges that are larger than we are, but what we bring to the mix will define our experience of them. The more our personal energy constricts, the fewer options we will have. With my prayer lists, for instance, I always ask for highest and best outcome in any situation; can we step away to be so objective that we can say what is best in the larger scheme of things? We must trust, and tap, that larger awareness of which we’re capable, that informed intelligence that is just an acknowledgement away.

If we short-change our definition of what and who we are, we end up without the entire spectrum of possibility that can lead us to our passion and our purpose; that is eager to help us meet our needs. We must broaden our definition of ourselves and others. Consider: when we meet a new person, one of our first questions is, “What do you do?” Think about how that conversation might ignite if you asked, instead, “What do you love?” We have so much to discover about one another; about ourselves.

HAVE YOU ever wondered why so many minor planets are being discovered? It seems like every time you turn around, there’s a new one.

Catalina Sky Survey director Stephen M. Larson (right) and David Brooks of Seattle, WA,discuss the 60-inch telescope at Steward Observatory’s Mount Lemmon site. The telescope can detect objects two million times dimmer than the human eye can see. Photo by Lori Stiles/University Communications.

The answer has something to do with various skywatch projects searching for near-Earth asteroids that might crash into us. There are several such projects, organized through NASA and various universities. In part due to their efforts, the number of catalogued planets orbiting our Sun has increased from 6,353 in 1995 to more than 200,000 today.

One such project, the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey, has been awarded a new $3.16 million NASA grant to continue protecting Earth from killer asteroids. The grant was announced by the university on Thursday and will fund the survey through 2012.

The survey tracks and identifies near-Earth objects, which are asteroids and comets that have come or are predicted to come within 130 million miles of the Sun, making them a risk to hit Earth.

Scientists are looking for objects that are at least the size of 10 football fields. An object that size could disrupt the food chain because of the huge amount of soil and rock it could send into the atmosphere, which could then block the Sun’s rays for years.

However, what we might do about such a thing coming toward us is another question. We currently lack the technology to get to the Moon, which closer than any asteroid and easier to find.

— Eric Francis w/ Associated Press report

BIG MOMENTS in history deserve a good comet, and now we may have one on its way.

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3) is approaching Earth, currently in the sign Scorpio. At the moment a mid-sized backyard telescope is probably required to see it, but it is at the threshold of naked-eye visibility under a dark sky. At closest approach in February, Comet Lulin is expected to brighten to naked-eye visibility.

Comet Lulin, photographed from Sierra Remote Observatories in morning twilight on Jan. 8, 2008. Photo by Paul Mortfield, Shaver Lake, CA.

Comet Lulin is a non-periodic comet. In other words, it does not return; it’s just passing through. Interestingly, it’s moving backwards through the constellations. It’s currently in Scorpio, soon to be clipping through the sky at nearly five degrees a day.

It was discovered in 2007 by a collaborative team of Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers. In China and Taiwan, the comet has been hailed as the “Comet of Cooperation.”

Chinese astronomer Quanzhi Ye co-discovered the comet from three images taken by Lin Chi-sheng in Taiwan on July 11, 2007. (The discovery happened quite close to the minor planet discovery of 2007 OR10, which was announced just recently. The discovery image of 2007 OR10 was taken on July 17, 2007, less than a week later.) Quanzhi Ye was only 19 years old at the time of the discovery.

At closest approach (0.41 AU = 61 million km, just under half the Earth-Sun distance) on Feb. 24, the comet should brighten to dimly visible to the unaided eye and it should be easily seen through binoculars. Comets can be unpredictable though. (Remember comet Holmes in 2007, which experienced a massive outburst in visibility.) The hyperbolic orbit of comet Lulin suggests that this could be its first visit to the inner solar system. At this point we can only guess how it will behave. Also, the chance of seeing the comet again is rather small, since things with a hyperbolic orbit are basically grazing past the solar system rather than caught in the Sun’s gravity.

The comet has a bright tail and an “anti-tail.” Quanzhi Ye mentions several tails in his blog. The orbital inclination of comet Lulin is about 178 degrees, so it is virtually in the same orbital plane as the Earth, but moving in the opposite direction. The fact that it’s moving backward is not unusual when talking about comets.

Near its peak brightness, around February 23-24, Comet Lulin will pass 2° south-southwest of Saturn.

— Universe Today, Kirsti Melto & Eric Francis

Eric, I want you to know that i am stunned by the accuracy of your 2008 annual for Libra. It is unimaginably profound, like a mirror where i see my inner face. i want to express my deep gratitude for such an inspiring work.

Eric, I’m reading what you’ve written & it’s like my higher self wrote it to me as a clue! And it’s written to Taurus, not ME. I think you get my drift. Your antennae are definitely working & then some. Keep up the good work, ether man!

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, January 16, 2009, #749 – By GENEVIEVE SALERNO

Aries (March 20-April 19)
People are picking up on an aspect of you that you may not be aware of at your workplace. This may be the root of any frustration you encounter this week. Imagine how the traveler to a distant land must feel when no one speaks the traveler’s language, and no one is impressed by anything the traveler finds amazing. Then one day, the natives of this distant land notice the brass buttons on the traveler’s pea coat and suddenly, everything changes for the better. In this instance, it is not what you say, but what you put out that will get your message across.

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aries
and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
What you do for a living is something that’s been on your mind recently. More and more it seems as though you are finding yourself on a quest to find the best way to present yourself to society at large. For many people, this is the ultimate sign of growing up, but it’s not like that with you. You are coming to the realization that you are the sum of all your parts, and so you have a desire to make everything work in harmony. This week might be a good time to start researching an area of interest to you. Keep the fire going. It will most likely be slow in its progress, but if anyone can handle it — you can!

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Taurus and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
This week is the time to do some exploring geographically and mentally for the benefit of your life’s purpose and outlook. There is a part of you that expects those you are involved with to do the same. The only problem that may arise is a misunderstanding regarding your breezy appetite for adventure. Be aware that it may come across as cold distance and practice patience, instead of discouraging yourself. It’s true the people that love you will miss you wherever you choose to go if they cannot follow. But the will be pleased with the wisdom you return with when you begin to share the new outlook you have access to.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Gemini and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
There are times when what you really need cannot come from another person, even if you have a specific exchange in mind that requires another person’s participation. Oftentimes the roles you assign to people in your life are facets of your own personality. To demand loyalty to a certain extent limits your own need to shift and change as you see fit. This week is a prime time to do some creative work for the purpose of expressing your place in the world. Proclaim who you are before you get into any sort of exchange with another person. Remember who you are and you will be surprised how much easier it is to accept what the other people offer you.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Cancer and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
See if you cannot take that hard work you’ve been pouring into everything else and bathe yourself with it instead. It’s clear you’ve got a lot going on and perhaps it has been showing in your health. Try to listen to the people you are in relationship with if they tell you they are worried about you: even if you don’t want to hear it, in a way it’s like a compliment. On the other hand, a chance to have an important conversation with someone you are close with may arise this week. The results will be flexible and not at all as grim as you may expect.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Leo
and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, something will happen to foil the plan. Even the best strategies are open season for chance. It’s important when things don’t go the way you expected them to not internalize. The benefit of a mistake or a bump in the road is the sense of flexibility that can come out of it. Remember: when architects build skyscrapers and bridges, they try to make them flexible to the elements. Rigidity is a structural weakness. Bring a sense of humor to your workplace this week: it might just be the perfect grease for that squeaky machine.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Virgo
and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22 – Oct. 23)
Have you ever heard the expression “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye?” Usually that’s the reason we tell little kids not to run with sticks. While I don’t see any cause for concern over your physical well-being this week, I do see a chance to discuss the rules of your game to those with whom you engage. There is an imbalance where service is concerned: service to yourself and also those in relationship with you. Someone, somehow, is reverting toward childish behaviors and what could be a pleasant trip to the playground is on its way to becoming a real temper tantrum. Be sure to take a step back and invite open discussion about what you expect and what is expected of you. Obligations and rules are easier to follow when everyone has a part in designing them.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Libra
and libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
There is a strong sense of camaraderie surrounding you that has the ability to turn your home into a social hotspot. You have the energy to mingle and by doing so, you’ll be able to make some stunning realizations. This week is going to be a good time for you to express your emotions and concerns. You are beginning to realize the source of a conflict near your home has strong connections to your own family pattern. You know that saying about how mud runs downhill? You have some time-tested theories about the way patterns tend to repeat themselves over and over again until someone does something different. Speak up about it.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Scorpio and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 22)
Don’t get frustrated by the feeling that nothing is going on around you. Something is most certainly brewing, but like a train that rumbles on the outskirts of town, you have to stay still and keep your ears trained for the vibrations. Subtlety is key. You’re going to begin to notice a lot about the communication network of your immediate surroundings this next few weeks — and most importantly, how you handle them. Those moments that arise where you feel the familiar sense of loneliness may be a call to engage the intuitive side of your nature. Oftentimes, when this side of us has something to say, it creates the moment we feel as loneliness.

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
Don’t be afraid to put your philosophies out in the open. The best way to craft a personal code of ethics is to involve the ideas of as many people as possible. That includes the great philosophers and book makers as well as the humble diner waitress who always knows what you’re going to order. Everyone has a bit of wisdom to share. You have a wealth of values and opinions and while some of them may not get the response you’d like, the ones that do get it will be the ones to hang on to. Think of a shoemaker: if everyone told this shoemaker the soles were flimsy, but (s)he continued to make the same shoes, what kind of business would the shoemaker get? To share is to grow. To incorporate is to fortify.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
You might have a hard time expressing yourself this week while at the same time, you have an awful lot to say. You have noticed things about yourself, about those around you, and about the world that are so pressing that you’ve got to share what you know. Take your time. Looking at your chart right now I see a lot of room for confusing other people. Communication only works if everyone understands each other. Being open to other people’s questions will give you ample chance for the mental sparring you are ready for this week. You may also be part of an exchange with transformative qualities. I suggest looking for the metaphor in everything.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
The fish living in the darkest depths of the ocean do not rely on light to navigate their way — as a result, they have poor sight. Much like the deep ocean fish making its way, you seem inclined to navigate your own personal depths with capacities other than sight. When it comes to the hidden side of your nature, sight is practically useless. Instead, utilize the other senses you were born with. Your subconscious at this time is a lot like the ocean floor: laden with treasure. Having this kind of self-knowledge will benefit you greatly in your quest to find a place in your community. Like all manner of wealth, wisdom benefits the owner nothing if it is not shared.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Pisces and Pisces rising here.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Our annual edition is a tradition at Planet Waves, but also in my work as an astrologer. The project is an extended phase when I review the astrology for the coming 18 months and make friends with it. This process of acclamation with the celestial movements involves looking at the charts for dozens of events, using as many planets as is practical. I also look at the world, and apply what I’ve learned from a year of working with astrological clients, who teach me some of the most meaningful astrology that I learn — because it comes directly from the human realm rather than from theory.

It’s also an internal process of working out the personal issues and reservations I have around the transits, and my own transits, so that I can write from as clear of a place as possible. The process of writing 12 extended essays is a way of opening up the territory for the rest of the horoscopes for the next 12 months, setting the theme and the tone and building a platform to work from in the somewhat psychologically and spiritually risky job of suggesting to others what they ought to be thinking about any given week or month.

Toward the end of this year’s horoscope project, I wrote a short piece explaining the solar house system — the houses used for Sun sign horoscopes. Below is one paragraph from that essay, and then a selection from each of the 12 horoscopes chosen by Rachel.

Yours & truly,

By ERIC FRANCIS

Several traditions exist in astrology; there’s one called the Pier tradition, because it comes from beachside fortunetellers. There is a Folklore tradition, which is a form of tribal entertainment and history recording. It’s related to drama. There is a Medicine tradition of astrology, which practices it for healing, and from this we get Psychological astrology. And then there is the old root of our modern astrology, divinitory astrology: horary (the astrology of questions) and elections (the planned chart for doing something). There is a scientific cult among us as well. There are plenty of others; though I think the very oldest among them are people looking up at the night sky and saying, “Look at the hunter! He’s chasing a boar …”

Aries (March 20-April 19)
As you enter an extended phase where worldly accomplishment becomes the thing foremost in your mind, and indeed something that is authentically likely to happen, you need to stay close to your cosmic roots. By that, I mean a constant referencing, to the point of annoyance, whether what you are doing is, in fact, in alignment with the greater good. The greater good is not just what’s good for you, though you must be included. It’s not just what will get the results, though results are involved. It’s about aligning yourself with the whole story; with the story of the world; and remembering that you are part of something much larger than yourself.

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aries
and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
The most critical issue we face in our personal relationships is the lack of a confident relationship with ourselves. We do a lot of blaming and there is plenty to blame for; most of it comes back to insecurity and most of that insecurity relates to being unconscious about who we are, what we want and what we need. Your energetic relationship to religion does not help matters, because there is a layer of moralism imposed on nearly all of your thoughts. As that labyrinth gets chipped, worn, melted and blasted away by Pluto, something else will be freed. And with so much rather incredible action in your house of profession, you will want all the confidence you can get. As I see it, this will come from the only source from which it can possibly derive, which is a deepened relationship with yourself.

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Taurus
and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
If you are feeling some overwhelming question about the meaning of your existence, welcome to Pluto in your 8th solar house. Welcome to a conscious relationship to life, and a conscious relationship to change, which is usually experienced as death. The challenge of this process is in the simplicity; and also in your willingness to move with the energy. In the process, you will get to know yourself deeply in a way that you have only begun to taste during the past four seasons: but enough that you see a potential reward. Enough that the inevitability of letting go into the future is being met by your willingness to do so, not just because you have to, but because you know beyond any doubt in your mind that it will truly be the best thing for you.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Gemini
and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
We don’t really know our own gifts, or our shortcomings. Most of what we do in our intimate relationships is try to follow choreography: the rules of dating, the goal of marriage, the use of partnering as primarily an economic tool rather than a growth opportunity, and so on. Even commerce is a form of relationship, and one of the most important: it’s not about the contact of true intimacy. Whatever may have been your intended life mission, relationships now move into the high-resolution focus that is inherent to conscious human existence.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Cancer
and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
This is the year when the culmination of a long, long story in your relationships starts to become obvious. In some ways it is a peak year but I prefer to think of it as a threshold. Your relationship life has definitely been interesting; if it has gone well — that is, if you are having the stable relationship or relationships that you want — this has been a function more of your skill and devotion rather than of fair and favorable weather. It has been your unwavering devotion to truth. If you ask me, long transits of Chiron and Neptune through one’s relationship house, as you are having, are not usually beneficial for stability, on their face. But if we learn to navigate their elements, and if we refuse to allow ourselves to be deluded, they can be truly beneficial.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Leo
and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
With Saturn in your sign for the past year, it looks like you may have gone into a kind of reaction: retreating into conservatism or wishing you could join a convent. But that very retreat has led to a new series of confrontations, this time more direct. I suggest strongly that you listen to what people are saying, the more so if you don’t “agree” with it. What you are being told may not be exactly what you need to hear, but at the worst, it’s the first cousin.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Virgo
and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
I would encourage you to use your fear as a source of strength. I would suggest you use your sense of being displaced, or uncertain of where you need to be on the planet, as another source of strength. Whatever you may be feeling on the most ordinary levels of consciousness, you are the inheritor of a deep taproot into your ancestry, which is allowing your struggle for grounding to finally unfold in a tangible way. This is liberating your strength; because you don’t know, you have the power to look and see what might be so.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Libra
and libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
One thing you may be noticing is that when you express yourself creatively, intellectually, sexually or in any other obvious way, you are likely to meet resistance. This is a sign of the times we are in, when any form of authentic expression is considered dangerous or subversive. But notice something else: there is always an influence in your environment pushing you to go further; to open up more. Make friends with the people who play this role, if you can keep them around long enough to have tea.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Scorpio
and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
You are likely to be living with part of you being exposed, that is not quite accustomed to being out in the world and which the world is not accustomed to seeing. In our culture, there’s often a crisis created for people who dare to be authentic, particularly at the moment of emergence. People act like they’ve never seen such a thing, and since authenticity is only possible with a degree of vulnerability, then it can hurt twice as much when we are not received or embraced for who we are. I suggest you be mindful of these things as you embrace the next phase of your life, which enables you to take what you have learned in the past decade-plus and bring it to a new level. In one sense, the journey has just begun. But you know a lot more at the commencement of this trip than you did at the beginning of the last one: in particular, you know more about yourself.

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
It would be reasonable to say you are becoming a ‘different person’ under the influence of Pluto in your birth sign. What is really happening is that you are now integrating the deeper levels of your being into the outer ones, and in the process, many outer layers of your personality are ready to fall away like a dry scab that has served its purpose. I suggest you let this happen, and not be afraid to be different than you were yesterday every single day of your life. The true metamorphosis has already occurred; what you are experiencing are the effects of a process with substantial momentum, guided by actual intelligence.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Even during relatively placid times, you may feel like you’re a waterbug floating on the surface of existence, clinging to your individuality, lest you plunge into something much larger than yourself that you don’t understand. At the same time, the need to be part of that something larger is enormous. You sense the potentially awesome benefits of this, but I suspect that you are still uneasy about the part of yourself that you perceive you would need to give up if you do. This, to my thinking, is the real crisis. It is one thing to be deliberative. It’s another to exist in a state of self-clinging. The thing you are clinging to is not your self and bears no resemblance to it.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
As you have become increasingly aware of your need for autonomy of thought and experience, you seem to be encountering certain people who are clinging to their old ways, and others who seem determined to hold you to a structure of some kind. I think by now you have recognized the futility of trying to convert anyone to a new way of thinking. This journey is all about converting yourself out of what amounts to a false mode of thinking, and revealing the deeper one you have always carried with you. However, I suggest you pause and recognize that you are having a significant influence on your surroundings and all those with whom you come into contact.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Pisces
and Pisces rising here.

Published by Planet Waves, Inc. | All rights reserved.

Dear Friend and Reader:

AND WHAT, pray tell, is going on? We have a full edition for you this week as we approach one of the biggest and most emotional Full Moons of the year (in Cancer, conjunct Varuna and square Eris); and as Mercury slows to a halt on Sunday. It’s all the madness you would expect with these two events happening a day apart, in the last weeks of the Bush/Cheney era I thought would never end; it hasn’t yet. On Thursday, Condoleezza Rice, allegedly representing the United States, refused to vote in favor of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip even as the United Nations Security Council overwhelmingly called for one by a vote of 14-0. The United States abstained from the vote of the 15 member council.

“A cold wind was blowing as the Moon set over a neighbor’s farm,” says photographer Eric Ingmundson of Sparta, Wisconsin. “Next time (Jan. 10th) I plan to use a tripod.” Image and quote courtesy of NASA.

The Sun is still in Capricorn but the energy is focusing in Aquarius: Jupiter arrived earlier this week, to stay for a year, where it will make conjunctions to Nessus, Chiron and Neptune. As Barack Obama takes office, we are entering a mini Age of Aquarius.

The Full Moon across 20+ degrees of Cancer and Capricorn aligns with nearly every one of the outer planets and many newly discovered ones (and obscure asteroids) you’ll only read about here. The Sun and the Moon align with Chiron, Achilles, Dionysus, Quaoar, Uranus, Varuna, Icarus, Sedna, Eris, Saturn and Neptune, among others — all in one go. So if you think there is a lot of energy coming from somewhere, there is a clue.

There is so much astrology, so much to feel and so much news that there seems to be no way to process it all through the normal mental or emotional channels. One must do that artistic or spiritual thing and await the leap to another level of perception. That might open some space for creativity and passion. The problem is we live in a time when we don’t think that’s safe or wise or sensible. However, if anything is going to blow an opening in our neo-Victorian mentality, this alignment could very well do it, assuming you cooperate; you don’t have to.

The energy is going to ratchet up steadily for a full month before it starts to settle down after a positively stunning lunar eclipse on Feb. 9 (exactly opposite Chiron). We are in a sequence of events designed to take us from one phase of history and state of mind to another. Whatever you think Barack taking office means, he is arriving at a time of sweeping cosmic changes that will cascade their effects through every cell in the planetary being.

Clearly, the cosmic design is to overwhelm us until we wake up and notice that we’re in one of the most interesting, exciting moments in the history of history. All we need to do is pay attention — it’s a heck of a lot more fun than pretending none of this is happening, or that it means nothing.

Now, here’s the news and the weather.

Peace & passion,

The Full Moon in Cancer will occur Saturday, Jan. 10 at 10:26 PM EST. Assuming you can see the sky, Luna will be looking mighty large, and looming large in awareness. Inner emotional tension, insomnia and the struggle between what we feel and what is practical are among the energy signatures of this Moon.

Saturday’s Full Moon will be conjunct Varuna, seen here in an artist’s rendition. Image courtesy of NASA.

This Full Moon will be conjunct an important and rarely spoken-of minor planet, Varuna. And it will be square another called Eris, the famous planet that resulted in the reorganization of the solar system’s categories in 2006. The Sun, Moon, Varuna and Eris are therefore in a tight cardinal sign T-square aspect involving Aries, Cancer and Capricorn. These are all signs of change, progress, action and movement — and the world is indeed moving right now.

Varuna and Eris are two distant, extremely slow moving planets that orbit our Sun well beyond Pluto (taking about three and six centuries to go around the Sun just once, respectively) and they are currently holding an exact square — a very rare event because these planets move so slowly and rarely form an aspect. Varuna is in Cancer. Eris stationed direct in Aries on Wednesday.

The square between these two points is apropos of the sense of invisible confusion that we cannot quite tell whether it’s within us or around us — or both. The world is in a brilliantly chaotic state right now; every bit of the astrology points to divine chaos, transition and a whirl into the unknown.

We might ask how small distant planets can have such an effect, and how we might be aware of what it is, if so. Astrology works in cycles and archetypes, not just by gravity. The figures involved may be obscure and the cycles involved long, but still we dance with them. Remember that people thought so little of Pluto that it took more than 50 years for the first book in English to come out about it. Now, nobody would deny that Pluto is a potent force. The same is true of Varuna and Eris.

In Small World Stories, we described Eris. She “is about how we make sense of who we are in troubled, chaotic times. She reveals how complex we really are, which fact remained just below the surface of awareness. She also represents the shadow feminine — the aspects of womanity that have been cast off as evil, dark, unacceptable and unmentionable. She is one of several of these archetypes that are gradually being embraced by astrology and to some extent by culture. This represents the idea that we are beginning to call back that disowned part of womanity and embrace her: the witch, the whore, the bitch, the unfulfilled woman; no matter what form she may take, the woman who is setting aside the war with herself and embracing her own selfhood.”

Varuna is the all-pervading presence behind reality: what we actually think of as “god.” He has many myths and delineations, and his name is still revered. At Planet Waves we usually refer to him as The Equalizer. There is the sense here, in a square aspect to Eris, that the indescribable inner chaos we are facing is precisely what unites and in a sense equalizes us.

There are many slow-moving planets in the degree range of this Full Moon — approximately 20 degrees, and this lunation picks up the energy of all of them. It makes a trine/sextile the ongoing Saturn-Uranus opposition (that is in Virgo-Pisces). Chiron and Neptune, close to a conjunction in Aquarius are in the same degree range; and these are square Sedna, one of those other really strong, distant planets, in Taurus.

All of this adds to big movement; large forces, and movement of the collective psyche, gathering for big change. We are indeed on the brink of many, many developments. Just look around, or feel your soul vibrating.

Additional research by Genevieve Salerno

MERCURY IS about to be retrograde in Aquarius, and as it slows to a station on Sunday, a collection of planets and a solar eclipse are lining up in this sign. Searching our star files, we can find nothing like this for more than four decades — where we come out on Feb. 4, 1962, at the dawn of the Sixties.

Windbeeches on the Schauinsland in Germany. Photo by Richard Fabi.

The retrograde goes from Sunday, Jan. 11 through Sunday, Feb. 1, which is Midwinter holiday or Imbolc. Along the way is the presidential inauguration, a solar eclipse and plenty of excitement, chaos and creative confusion.

During the retrograde, Juno, Jupiter, the Moon, Sun, North Node, Nessus, Chiron and Neptune will all be in Aquarius, with Mars and Mercury close behind in late Capricorn.

This kind of alignment does not happen every day. It’s directly reminiscent of a famous Aquarius pile-up that coincided with a total eclipse of the Sun on Feb. 4, 1962. This is one of those charts that every astrology student looks at bug-eyed the first time they see it, and which Philip Sedgwick said today that at the time, astrologers were certain the world would split in half.

Both charts involve major alignments of two of the slowest moving planets: Uranus and Pluto. In the 1962 chart, Uranus is about to form a conjunction with Pluto, kicking off what we think of as the Sixties. In the 2009 chart, Uranus is about to form a square with Pluto, kicking off what we now think of as 2012.

The Uranus-Pluto cycle of alignments is about revolution, liberation and creativity.

Writes Richard Tarnas in Cosmos & Psyche, wherein he compares the era of the French Revolution with the Sixties (where two such alignments occurred): “The massive upsurge of the revolutionary impulse during these two eras was not only or even principally in a political phenomenon, for it expressed itself in every aspect of cultural life: in the music heard, the books read, the ideas discussed, the ideals embraced, the images produced, the evolution of language and fashion, the radical changes in social and sexual mores.”

“It was visible in the incessant challenge to established beliefs and widespread embrace of new perspectives, the movements for radical and theological and church reform and antireligious revolt, the drive towards innovation and experiment that affected all the arts, the sudden empowerment of the young, the pivotal role of university communities in the rapid cultural shift. And it was evident above all in the prodigious energy and activism of both eras, the general impulse toward extremes and radicalization in so many areas, the suddenly-intensive will to construct a new world.”

We may not be getting all this during the next three weeks, but we are being drawn into the vortex of a first class cosmic and worldly adventure.

Additional research by Genevieve Salerno

SANJAY GUPTA, the doctor who plays a doctor on TV, is reportedly going through the final vetting process towards being Obama’s Surgeon General. Head of the Public Health Service, which includes the Centers for Disease Control (and the nameless one who has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health), it could become a pivotal role in the Obama administration as the nation struggles to focus its short attention span on health care instead of killing people.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who will most likely be Obama’s Surgeon General. Image courtesy of the Gupta Girl’s fan site.

An Indian-American physician and contributing correspondent for CNN, he’s not to be confused with the Bollywood director of cheesy action films by the same name.

Gupta is being ridiculed as a celebrity candidate. Jon Stewart had video of his fire-eating segment Wednesday night, and Stephen Colbert weighed in with a clip of Gupta sampling the genitals of various male animals at a restaurant in Asia, inquiring whether the establishment served tiger penis.

To his credit, he produced a series on cancer which reported that in the high 90th percentile of all cancer studies ignore metastasis, the most important issue in the oncology field. If not for metastasis, or transmission from one location in the body to another, cancer would be easily curable — you could just remove it.

He was born Oct. 23, 1969 in Novi, Michigan, making him a very late degree Libra, or a Scorpio with a heck of a lot of Libra and Aries in his chart. Born the autumn after that special summer of the Moon landing and the Woodstock Festival, he seems like the people’s choice-type for Surgeon General. A powerful Chiron-Moon-Eris alignment in Aries gives him strong charisma and media presence, which might translate to talented neurosurgeon (Chiron in Aries), scrambled brains (Eris in Aries) or kid dancing naked on a table (Aries Moon).

He has so much Aries Point coverage, now coming under transit by Pluto, that he seems destined to something very, very large this time around.

Part of that largese seems to involve the pharmaceutical industry. The political blogs are on fire discussing the issue of “entanglement,” that is, entanglement between pharmaceutical companies and doctors — and in this case, a doctor who is a working journalist.

In November, University of Minnesota journalism professor Gary Schweitzer cited Gupta as being “a powerful contemporary example of entanglement.” Gupta hosts the closed-circuit television network Accent Health, which is produced by CNN and broadcast into the waiting rooms of doctors, said to be watched monthly by more than 10 million viewers in US.

He says the network “overtly offers sponsors, including drug companies, the chance to boost sales of their products, by, for example, putting ‘your brand in front of the valuable Baby Boomer population just before they discuss their health conditions with their doctor’. One of the hosts is Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and host of at least one other CNN health programme that is funded partly through drug company advertising.”

Which conflates not just the reporter, but the network. No wonder TV is so drugged up.

Is this Gupta’s Mars in Capricorn, is it par for the course, or is he part of the problem we’re hoping he’s here to solve?

Additional reporting by Fe Bongolan, Rachel Asher

“It is the foreign element that commits our crimes. There is no native criminal class except Congress.” — Mark Twain

WASHINGTON, DC — Eris, the goddess of postmodern psychic chaos, was rising in the east over Washington, DC when the 111th Congress convened Tuesday. Mercury slowing to a halt and the Moon building toward the full phase have heightened the excitement. [See related article in this edition.]

Eris rising, blessing Congress. Image by R. Asher.

It’s fitting astrology to accompany the madness unfolding in the capital as the transition from the Bush to the Obama administrations unfolds. The question always seems to be, “If pro is the opposite of con, than what is the opposite of progress?” Will the new congress be able to work with the new president and get anything done? Will the street lamps come on?

It seems like a battle is shaping up between House Democrats and Republicans with Obama over his proposed bailout plan. Remember that the first bailout plan, said to be $750 billion but actually adding up to more like $2.1 trillion, was put through last year during the most recent Mercury retrograde — which did not work.

Most of the current chaos involves the Senate rather than the House of Representatives, however. Hearings are now underway to approve Obama cabinet members, all of whom will be seated under the retrograde; and two Senate seats in question, those in Minnesota and Illinois, are in hot contention.

In Minnesota, Al Franken has been dueling it out first in a recount and now in court against his opponent Norm Coleman. Franken originally lost the election by 215 votes, which was close enough to trigger an automatic recount rule in that state. Franken won the recount by 225 votes, and the state’s canvassing board certified the winning margin on Monday, ending the electoral process in that state. Coleman’s campaign on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to stop Franken from taking office, though most observers say Franken will be seated.

In Illinois, Gov. Milorad “Rod” R. Blagojevich was arrested one month ago allegedly for attempting to sell the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama to the highest bidder. Amidst many calls to not make the appointment, he named Roland Burris. Burris showed up in Washington yesterday apparently for the purpose of being turned away at the doors of power. However, he and Senate leaders seem to be close to a deal that would seat him.

Meanwhile on Thursday, a special committee of the Illinois legislature recommended that impeachment of Blagojevich move ahead, which will apparently happen under the retrograde as well.

Last week we reported that Burris has a crypt with his resume etched in stone waiting for his bones in a Chicago cemetery. But it would appear that his skeletons are hidden elsewhere. Burris, while state attorney general campaigning for governor in 1994, pushed for the death penalty of a man he had reason to believe was innocent.

Rolando Cruz was at the time facing execution after being convicted of the rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. Cruz was finally exculpated — that is, he walked off Death Row an innocent man — after journalism students at Northwestern University helped move his case forward. Numerous public officials were charged with conspiracy to frame him but were acquitted.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday that in 1992, Mary Brigid Kenney, an attorney who worked for Burris, resigned due to this issue. She says she quit because Burris refused to listen to her concerns that the office should back off from prosecuting the appeal of Rolando Cruz for the 1983 abduction, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County.”

Burris refused to even speak to her.

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

WE HAVE FOUND a new perception of ourselves in the last months; a paradigm shift in the understanding of our human commonality. We have a foot in both worlds, rooted now in both the strong desire for peace and the reality of combat and struggle. The old way of accomplishing things seems so unworkable as to be archaic, yet we haven’t solidified our way forward. Shift happened — and I’m not sure that we, the citizens of the 21st century, have a feel for it yet. We have instinctual gifts to rely on, if we will. Consider that old saw, “I don’t know what it is, but I know it when I see it.” We can also hear it if we listen carefully; we need to develop an ear for the undertone.

One Size Does Not Fit All. By Beverly Naidus.

There is a secondary tone to everything and it becomes obvious if you listen carefully — a kind of whine, both literally and figuratively. It’s a soul sound; a clear indicator of what is behind the words, the face, the posture of those you’re listening to. This is true both publically and privately; you’ll hear it at home, at work, in line at the grocery store and on CNN. The easiest place to experience this grating sound is in government; once you get an ear for it, you’ll begin to hear it everywhere. The smoke of propaganda and pretense has begun to drift away, the mirrors we looked in have shattered with reflected realism and our old way of being on this planet: role-playing, and shifting for position, is fading away. What is inauthentic has a sound, a tinny hollow whine.

Case in point: it appears that Israel has taken opportunity, pre-Obama, to rid itself of the thorn in its side that Hamas has become; they have concerns, and rightly so, that Obama will not give them the free reign that Bush did. Much has been written about this dust-up, about the provocations and the response, the right and the wrong of it; clearly, in a troubled world this is the nut all the squirrels are focused on. When we talk about the big picture in Mid-Eastern affairs, the division in the Holy Land is always at the heart of it. This is the one problem that, if solved, releases the energy for everything else to take shape differently; in the last eight years, the peace process has been a black hole of indifference. Bush made few attempts at peacemaking, promoting instead his version of the democratic process itself, which yielded a fairly-elected Hamas and an immediate stonewall of their legitimacy.

Eric, I want you to know that i am stunned by the accuracy of your 2008 annual for Libra. It is unimaginably profound, like a mirror where i see my inner face. i want to express my deep gratitude for such an inspiring work.

—————-

Eric, I’m reading what you’ve written & it’s like my higher self wrote it to me as a clue! And it’s written to Taurus, not ME. I think you get my drift. Your antennae are definitely working & then some. Keep up the good work, ether man!

Aries (March 20-April 19)
While circumstances that demand your attention seem to require you giving selflessly, the need for recognition can at times sour the gift. When this happens, it is important to ask questions of yourself such as: why am I doing this? How will I benefit? What have I learned? Most of the time when it comes to anger, the issue is whether or not we have the control that we’d like. Think of an orchestra. When the orchestra plays perfectly, no one notices the conductor. But guess who gets the blame when the horn blows a sour note? Put another way, it might be the best course of action to direct your energy in such a way that you are not seen, but your presence is felt.

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aries
and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
You will find that if you go out with your friends, the company will be delightful and the conversation will be captivating. Especially when you are talking. Social reputation is an important part of your life right now as you begin to realize how much the community affects you as an individual. Coupled with this is a sense of what kind of impact you’d like to have on the rest of the world. You have a lot of knowledge and you are on your way to getting a lot more. If you decide to share what you already have, you will be rewarded lavishly. There is no time for shyness now, nor is there any room to second-guess yourself.

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Taurus and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
Lately the metaphor of existence has been so clear to you that you are shocked that you’ve never been able to recognize it before. All of the mundane circumstances and interactions of your life have taken on more philosophical proportions. This has enabled you to look at things in a new light and begin to steer your course accordingly. Be warned however, that while getting spiritual has its benefits, keeping two feet planted firmly on the ground is recommended. There are some things that transpire that are just not fair, no matter what shade the lenses are that you’re wearing. It is when you react to these situations with awareness and purpose that true wisdom comes through.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Gemini and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
Emotional contact with friends and loved ones is very important for you. It appears that some of this has to do with yearning for specific exchanges to take place. Fear of being taken advantage of, or of not getting what you need, can fool you into believing that it is better to stay in your shell. If you have something you need to say to someone but are unsure of when the right time is if at all, imagine how you would feel if you never told them at all versus if you did tell them. Usually when a person imagines the “perfect time” for a conversation, it is where they imagine nothing will go wrong for them. It is impossible to get there because it is unlikely you know what the person will say or do. Take the risk. You might be surprised.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Cancer and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
Are you getting the recognition you deserve for the work that you do? How does this recognition and positive attention help you complete the tasks at hand? The answer is this: when someone shows appreciation for your services, it goes straight to your heart, Leo. It helps to remind you why you decided to do whatever it is you are doing and it helps reinforce that you are needed and loved. Your relationships are going through a growth spurt right now both in the number of relationships you have and the intensity of the relationships you are involved with already, but it is up to you to decide where the quality is versus the quantity. Once you figure out where the love is, the rest will be easy.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Leo
and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
Imagine Cinderella and Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. Cinderella was the young girl forced into domestic slavery by her jealous sisters. Mr. Miyagi was the karate master who taught the young hero the Zen of polishing cars and caring for bonsai trees. The difference between the two characters is that one recognized spirituality in the humblest task, while the other was forced to do the job for the sake of appearance. Not only do you have the energy to improve whatever you set your mind to, but you are also beginning to realize the potential for spiritual growth in the most mundane tasks. Now is the time to look for the ways in which you have been drawn into superficiality as well as how the tasks you perform on a daily basis serve to enhance your personal growth.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Virgo
and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22 – Oct. 23)
Do you love your job? Do you feel a sense of completion and accomplishment when you leave your workspace? If you answered ‘no’ to these questions, how do you think your life would be different if you loved what you did all of the time? There is a bit of strife where the home front is concerned right now, almost as though every proposal you make, you are met with disagreement. I know it might be hard to believe, but it’s okay when people disagree with you. Now more than ever you are feeling the push to experience those things that get the expressive juices flowing. Use the feelings to create something beautiful. It could be you are experiencing these disagreements to recognize the only true reason to do anything is to satisfy yourself first, and others second.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Libra
and libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
Do you feel as though your inner sense of security is under attack? Perhaps there are some incongruities in your immediate environment providing you with an unwelcome sense of tension. You have a choice in the matter of how you handle this feeling. You can confront the people who seem to be earning your ire, or you can invite them to a pleasant exchange. For instance, some people believe that the best way to stop a curse in mid-stride is to find the person you think it’s coming from and give them a big hug. It is much harder to feel the prick of dissention when you are open and inviting. It also boosts your sense of safety when you put away your own saber.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Scorpio and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 22)
If you take a look around you right now, you will find much that is worth your time and contemplation. It is true that as a Sagittarius, you almost always have your eyes on the sky, but starting this week and for a long while, the sense of adventure may be right on your doorstep. As your contact with the world expands, not only will you gain intelligence, but a sense of confidence will progress as you get more comfortable with your surroundings. This week is about the journey of the higher mind. It’s not so much about legwork as it is about observation.

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
Perhaps the time has come when you begin to realize how much emphasis you put on your personal value system. How much do you use your resources to reflect that to the outside world? It is hard sometimes finding the point where philosophy and practicality meet, but it is a quest worth taking in order to make a stronger, more powerful whole. Picture a toolbox heavy with tools, yet the carpenter insists on only using the hammer to build an entire house. How hard would that be? What would the house look like? At times it is best to use the hammer. But when it comes to shaping and smoothing, perhaps the carpenter should dig to the bottom of the box to find the best tool for the purpose.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
The project you have on your mind is ready for you to take the lead role in making it happen. A firm hand in the way of making sure everyone benefits from the work is the task for this week. Communication and quick wit are key to directing the other people around you as you build up the team for your vision. There is just one thing I would caution you against, and that is keeping a steady eye on the balance of what you give and receive and what you think you should have gotten. There may be some incongruities in this respect and if there are, it’s not a bad idea to examine what happened and make adjustments according to what you observe.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
There’s a lot of mystery surrounding why you feel what you feel recently. It goes hand in hand with the desire you have to figure it all out. For you, life has taken on the proportions of the labyrinth. In ancient times, the labyrinth was designed as a meditative walkway meant to reconnect the walker with the core of their being. The longer a person stayed on the path, the deeper into the puzzle they were drawn. Your unconscious is doing the same thing for you now as it draws you into its depths with the promise of some priceless piece of self-knowledge. Now is not the time to be afraid, but rather to welcome the chance to learn about the longest relationship you will ever have: the one with yourself.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Pre-order your Next World Stores 2009 annual for Pisces and Pisces rising here.

So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much war, so much soul
One mans loss, another man’s gold
So much more than I thought this world can ever hold

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