Shortly after 4:22 pm EDT (21:22:19 UTC) on Monday, the Sun will enter the mutable fire sign Sagittarius. At its most fundamental, every annual solar ingress to Sagittarius is a reminder that we have but 30 days left in the current season. In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s getting colder. South of the equator, it’s getting warmer.

When the Sun moves into Sagittarius this year, it will be distinguished as it has not been for more than two and a half centuries. That’s because the Kuiper Belt object 20000 Varuna has recently changed signs for the first time since its discovery almost exactly 16 years ago.

Right now, Varuna is in the first one-third or so of the first degree of fixed and fiery Leo, and it is retrograde. That retrograde will temporarily return Varuna to the sign in which it was discovered (Cancer) next month, but not before the newly Sagittarius Sun forms a precise fire trine aspect that has been a long time coming back around.

As with all objects discovered by astronomers, Varuna is without the legacy by which we know planets visible to the unaided eye. The traditional objects of astrology (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) are at least culturally, if not physiologically, part of who you are. Their names were not simply given, they evolved with language itself. We thus know these co-called classical planets well, and some astrologers think they are all we need to know. Experience with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto alone clearly says otherwise, however.

So it is that the astrology of Varuna is a work in progress, but an effort worth undertaking nonetheless. By reading these words you become a part of that endeavor. Therefore, you can start with the fact that you can’t lean on Varuna’s name (or the mythology behind it) to the extent that we can with the objects sky watchers have worked with since before history was recorded.

If you grant that some sort of serendipity is at work with the naming of objects discovered by telescope, you can cautiously begin with a nominal interpretation of Varuna’s astrological meanings. Among those meanings might plausibly be the incomprehensibly large and the unimaginably old. Given that Varuna has not been in Leo since the 18th century, such a correlation is consistent with observed reality.

Another thing to consider is that Varuna was discovered while the Sun was in Sagittarius (on Nov. 28, 2000). Just as with any person born with the Sun in Sagittarius you can now say that Varuna is soon to experience a birthday (or, as astrologers put it: a “solar return”).

Add to that the fact that Varuna has at long last returned to the single sign ruled by the Sun (Leo), astrology’s emblem of consciousness awareness. Finally, include the fire trine aspect Varuna is about to receive from the Sun upon its own return to Sagittarius, and you might get a clearer sense of inner (and possibly, outer) environment accessible to you come Monday.

At the very least, it would appear that the beginning of solar Sagittarius this year would seem to represent some universal, ancient and enduring realities flowing into your ‘here and now’. Foremost among those verities might well be the importance of integrity and the inevitability of cyclical change. At least as likely is the possibility you might soon be more able than usual to make some discoveries regarding your place in history and your personal connection with the very grand and the very old.

The most important factor come Monday will be you. As a rule, astrology does not happen to you — you make it happen, or not. If you begin with a conscious awareness that the Sun will be making a once-in-several-lifetimes aspect upon entering Sagittarius this year, you will have taken a valuable first step. If you combine that awareness with a will to do some personal and practical research into the immense and ancient, there is no telling how far you will be able to go.

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Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your discounted price.)

Early yesterday we had a Full Moon in Taurus, opposing the Scorpio Sun. Sometime later yesterday, or very early this morning (depending on your time zone) the Moon moved on to Gemini where it will spend about two days. There is no one interpretation for a Gemini Moon, but there is a generality that often applies.

According to the late, great astrologer Rachelle (“Rockie”) Gardiner, when the Moon is in Gemini it’s generally an appropriate time to “talk about it.” Gardiner’s interpretation makes sense when you consider the nature of both the Moon and Gemini.

For astrologers, the Moon is a rich and complex subject. Even so, it would be generally correct to say that the Moon has to do with subjective (rather than objective) matters. That would include your emotions, how you are feeling and unconscious forms of awareness.

Gemini is a mutable air sign ruled by Mercury, and identified by a binary motif — sometimes twins, other times a glyph that looks like the Roman numeral two. For astrologers the quality of mutability is amenable to change. Air, for its part, is generally considered by astrologers to be an abstract medium. Finally, while Mercury is every bit as rich and complex as the Moon, you would not be far off to generalize it as having to do with manifestations of mind.

Hence, having the Moon in Gemini is a good time to “air things out” by abstracting what’s subjective into words. Ideally, the communication in question would be a genuine conversation rather than a one-sided vent. It would also help if everybody involved is able to keep everything in context and be willing to change their mind.

Part of the lunar context now is that the Sun (which generally corresponds to conscious awareness) initiated its last seven days in Scorpio at about the same time the Moon entered Gemini. For those who keep track of the Sun’s annual circuit of the zodiac, the final days in any given sign often have a certain intensity.

The specific nature of that intensity also depends on a larger context of which you are a part. For some, it’s an invigorating period, for others it’s a time of fatigue. That’s something to remember as you (hopefully) participate in airing things out today and tomorrow.

Finally, it would be a good idea to take into account what Mercury is doing, since the Moon is now under its influence in Gemini. Mercury has been moving through Sagittarius since Saturday, and will not complete its tenure there until next month. Additionally, in a complex and rich contextual scenario involving a handful of corresponding aspects, Mercury is and will be reiterating the waning Gemini Moon’s message through the entire week.

So that’s your picture. It’s not a simple image, but there is a relatively straightforward way to understand your place in the astrological order. In general, your experiences this week will reliably be about outer manifestations of what’s going on inside. Remember that one thing, and you have all you need to understand and be understood.

Offered In Service

Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your discounted price.)

There’s a Full Moon sneaking up on you. It will happen in Taurus (opposing the Scorpio Sun) on Monday shortly before 9 am EDT (13:51:59 UTC). There is no intention here to imply you are not aware of a Full Moon occurring in less than three days. The purpose here is to raise your consciousness just a bit further.

A Full Moon in Taurus is not just any Full Moon. The Moon (and everything it represents) is what astrologers call ‘exalted’ in Taurus. Exalted is another way of saying ‘strongly expressed’.

If you want an example of how an object in exaltation can correlate with earthly events, you don’t have to look very far back. Mars entered its Capricorn exaltation on Sept. 27, and moved on to Aquarius just as results of the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. were becoming undeniably clear. That was not exactly what one would call an uneventful period.

The Moon and Mars have a lot in common. Both represent qualities essential to sustain life, juxtaposed with characteristics that are hazardous to life. There are also important differences. Perhaps foremost among those differences is that the Moon moves around the zodiac much faster. Compare more than two months spent by Mars in Capricorn to the two days (basically, Sunday and Monday) the Moon will spend in Taurus to initiate next week.

Much like a candidate in the closing days of a political campaign, the Moon tends to pack a lot of activity into a short period of time. Combine rapid and eventful travel with a build-up to the emblematic culmination of a Full Moon — in a sign that amplifies all things lunar — and the implication is a lot of momentum. Hence a good reason for you to raise your awareness as much as possible now.

Momentum itself has an upside and a downside. If you are on top of things, you can get a lot of things done quickly. If things are on top of you, it’s possible to be caught up and swept away quickly by corresponding events.

Obviously, it’s better to have the upper hand when it comes to momentum. In order for you to be on the bright side of Monday’s Full Moon, consider a handful of guidelines. First, have a plan. Sunday and Monday will almost certainly not favor the aimless. Next, do something. No matter how mundane, any actions taken during the first two days of next week will likely yield productive results.

It will also help if the actions you plan to take are chosen with emotional gratification in mind. Picture yourself on Tuesday as being satisfied with what you did on Sunday and Monday, and you will have an ideal to aim for. In addition, bring others along for the ride if at all possible. Many hands make less work. Also, as the legendary Chinese sage Lao Tsu is recorded to have observed, a collective effort creates collective bonds.

Finally, unless your planned action is going to be of the direct and political variety (which would be a good choice, by the way), take a break from current events. Get yourself firmly grounded in your own existence through whatever it is you consciously aim to accomplish on Sunday and Monday. There is more to the world than politics. If it is your choice to spend two days in a garden mulching the soil, or even two days in bed making love, you will be doing your part well by the Taurus Full Moon.

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Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your discounted price.)

Sometimes astrology is affirmed by events. Other times, astrology is validated by profound timing. If ever you are likely to see both a precise temporal correspondence and compelling correlations to astrological events, it will be when Mars leaves its Capricorn exaltation behind to enter Aquarius shortly before 1 am EDT (05:51:23 UTC) tomorrow.

You don’t have to be an astrologer to understand Mars. All you have to do is see it in the sky. The steady red glow of Mars is unmistakable, as is the feeling you get in your gut upon consciously sighting it with an awareness of what it is.

Maybe it’s the color. Perhaps it’s the corresponding mythology. It’s even possible that your genetic memory recognizes its origins when Mars is brought to your attention by either direct apprehension of its visage or an indirect experience of its manifestations.

At its best, Mars is emblematic of all the distinctions that separate merely existing from truly living. The energy, passion, desire and need which go into making an effort and finding a way are a vital part of how astrology characterizes the Martian archetype. Paradoxically, Mars also symbolizes much of what is destructive to life.

While there is some continuity of expressed identity, the astrological qualities of Mars are not constant. Context is all-important. A big part of context for any planet is what sign it is currently traversing. That’s how a planet exiting one sign to ingress another is considered by astrologers to be an important occasion. Interestingly, the impending Martian shift into Aquarius will be taking place at about the same time we all get a notion of how an important political event (the U.S. presidential election) is turning out.

Given the pronounced partisan divisions that have so long distinguished U.S. politics, there will be a lot of unhappy people no matter what happens after the votes are counted. Even so, a lot of the same people will also be relieved to see what has been a largely sordid and impertinent campaign finally come to an end. It therefore makes sense that Mars is now winding up about six weeks in a sign where its excesses are implicitly indulged by the established order, and is proceeding to enter a sign where Martian characteristics are likely to be mediated by a more collective sway.

Your part in the grand scheme of things would be more fully realized if you were to move on along with Mars. Implicitly, that would entail putting the election — but not its politics — behind you, beginning tomorrow. That’s because this particular election will more likely signify a beginning than an end. For if there is one common ground that unites both the U.S. electorate and citizens of the world, it’s a clear sense that there has to be a better way.

At this point, a better way to determine how we are all governed will not happen by itself. Even if you are sick and tired of what has happened over the last six weeks, you can be sure that the less savory and more abusive members of existing power structures will not surrender their hegemony. If you do not want politics to continue following its currently disgusting course, you will need to do something — and doing something is what Mars is for.

Offered In Service

Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your discounted price.)

According to some ancient traditions, we are moving into a special time of the year. Astrologically, the period begins with the Sun precisely in the middle of Scorpio (which will take place Sunday or Monday, depending on where you are), and ends when the Sun enters Capricorn for a solstice.

The name for this special period of time from the Scorpio cross-quarter to the Capricorn solstice will vary from one culture to the next, but there is a common thread: the ratio of daytime to nighttime goes askew. In the northern hemisphere, days get shorter. In the southern hemisphere, it is the nights that decrease in length.

When days and nights lose any semblance of symmetry, it is not uncommon to perceive time differently. With a different perception of time comes a different consciousness. A different state of consciousness, in turn, changes how you evaluate possibility. What previously seemed impossible might soon look plausible. On the other hand, so-called ‘slam dunks’ and ‘no brainers’ could soon cease to become a sure thing. Hence, depending on who you are, we are about to enter a period favoring astonishing miracles, fertile chaos or a bit of both.

This year, it’s interesting that both a change in civil time-keeping and a prominent lunar phase will take place precisely as the Sun reaches and passes the middle of Scorpio. As Sunday begins, daylight savings time will end in the U.S. Monday, the Moon will reach its first quarter in the middle of Aquarius, separated by 90 degrees from the Scorpio Sun.

With changes from standard time to daylight savings time and back again, it’s usually necessary to make some adjustment. At this time of year, the ‘fall back’ is advertised as being able to get you an extra hour of sleep. The reality is often a bit different. As result, a natural phenomenon that initiates a period of time distortion will be given a boost by an unnatural human intervention. Know that ahead of time, and you will better know how to adjust yourself.

To have a lunar first quarter concurrent with both the Scorpio cross-quarter and a temporal adjustment of human creation will add another layer to the experience. The Moon’s gravitational influence on Earth’s seas is undeniable. The effects of gravity are not nearly as pronounced for smaller bodies of water, however. There are no discernible tides on ponds, or in your cells. Instead, it is likely that what you feel of the Moon is more a memory of cellular life’s probable origins in our rhythmic oceans.

Memories can manifest as realities if one is not aware enough to put them into perspective. Being present to what is actually happening at any given moment puts recollection of past events in their proper place as only part of the picture. You are now a creature residing predominantly on land. The Moon and its phases are now more usually indicative of how you connect with the Earth (and with life), and less likely a matter of destiny.

The first quarter Moon is the halfway point between a New Moon conjunction (Sun and Moon in the same degree of the same sign), and a Full Moon opposition (Sun and Moon in the same degree of opposite signs). If you think of a New Moon as correlating to initiation and a Full Moon as corresponding to culmination, the first quarter can then be taken as a moment when the outcome is in the balance. What happens will depend, at least in part, on what you choose to do — or not.

Hence, the astrological implications for this coming week. Awareness will be huge. Being present in the realities of the moment will be essential. Knowing that adjustment will be necessary will prepare you. Making choices will empower you.

It will not do to live in the past, or to give power away next week. Above all, pay attention to potentials that time seemingly out of time will present. Just as with music, creative potential increases when rhythms of memory are changed with conscious intent in the present. Next week could very well be your time to shine — not because of influences out of your control, but rather because you will implicitly have a greater chance to exercise influence over what’s actually and truly yours.

Offered In Service

Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page for the current early discount, which will increase again later in the season. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, or have questions, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your extra-special discounted price.)

Among all of the major planets, Neptune is arguably the most difficult for astrologers to interpret. If there is any non-planetary factor even more challenging than Neptune, it’s probably your own part in the cosmic scenario. Interestingly, both Neptune and your place in the celestial order are in the spotlight this week.

Having Neptune in the astrological spotlight is usually akin to driving your automobile on a foggy night with your headlight beams aimed high. Accurate information is hard to come by, and it’s necessary to proceed with caution.

After all, Neptune has made only a little more than one full circuit of the 12 astrological signs since it was first sighted in 1846. That’s not very much experience. In addition, Neptune’s astrological identity has proven itself to be nebulous at best. As a case in point, witness just how far off the mark many astrologers were when Neptune returned to Aquarius, the sign in which it was first sighted, in 1998.

At that time, the Internet and associated technologies were still a frontier of exciting potential. It is therefore not surprising that a large number of astrologers looked forward to Neptune’s Aquarius tenure as a period that would fulfill Richard Brautigan’s 1967 poem envisioning a future in which we were “all watched over my machines of loving grace.”

What we got instead was an era of interminable war and the beginning of unprecedented surveillance into every detail of your life. The result was a widespread disillusionment that dealt a severe blow to the idealism and hope that informed Brautigan, Bobby Kennedy, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr, and many other Sixties icons.

By the time Neptune left Aquarius behind to enter Pisces in 2011, hope was passe, and idealism had been rendered all but quaint. Now, about one-third of the way through its Pisces domain, Neptune is reaching at least two metaphorical turning points. On Thursday, Neptune will share precisely the same degree of Pisces with a calculated point known as the mean descending (or ‘south’) lunar node. Then, on Nov. 19 (or Nov. 20, depending on your time zone), Neptune’s 2016 retrograde will come to an end.

If we learned anything from Neptune’s time in Aquarius, it was to eschew astrological prediction. Were we to salvage something from Neptune’s most recent Aquarian era, it might well be to embrace astrological participation. Astrology is but an indicator of potentials that can go either way. Hope is not fulfilled as a matter of course. Only actions can result in hopes being realized. Likewise, ideals are not manifested as if by magic. Only a strong desire to make ideals real can see ideal outcomes through to completion.

It is worthy of note that Mars, the planet most often associated with action and desire, is currently in a position of indicative strength. During the next seven days or so, Mars will be concluding a tour of nearly six weeks in its Capricorn exaltation.

During the same period of time, the Sun (an emblem of conscious awareness) and Mercury (a symbol of not only mind but also cybernetics) will be moving through the thick of Scorpio — a sign traditionally ruled by Mars. The net implication is that Mars will factor in for good or ill with Neptune’s turn-around, largely depending on you.

Among the many things you can do during the week or so to come is to begin an intentional recovery from the hangover left by Neptune’s most recent trip through Aquarius. The period from 1998 to 2011 was more than just an era of disillusionment. It was also a time when action (especially political action) was too often forsaken, and desire (especially sexual desire) was devalued — especially in comparison to the 1960s.

As with any form of recovery, coming back from what we have wrought so far in this century will take time. You should not anticipate changing the world in one week. You can, however, make a start. The first step would be to act politically according to your ideals, even if only means casting a ballot. Potentially even more important than political action would be any steps you can begin taking to emancipate your desire.

If all you do this week besides vote is begin to feel a little better about what you desire in your heart of hearts, you will have joined with Neptune in bringing a long period of retreat a close. You did not come here to be frustrated. You came here to make an effort, and find a way — your way.

To paraphrase John Lennon, your way through your life need not consist of laughing in the face of love and other ideals. Neither are you here to live as a slave to pain and fear. You are here to experience something more that must necessarily be made to happen.

Among other things, the immediately previous period of Neptune in Pisces was distinguished by a movement to abolish slavery in the U.S. — culminating in Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. It was not the end of the struggle for those who had been brought from Africa to the Americas in chains, but it was at least a solid beginning. This time around, it is all of us whose freedom is to be won. This time through, the endeavor to win liberation must begin not in the halls of government, nor on fields of war, but within.

The chains with which you and everyone else must now be concerned are on the inside. Those bonds inhibit you from acting for the good of all. They constrain you from being comfortable in your own skin. If you can make only one effort over the next week or so besides voting, let it be to accept your own desires. If you can do just that, you will have at least initiated what must certainly be an ultimately fulfilling struggle to see your desires accepted in the world.

Offered In Service

Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page for the current early discount, which will increase again later in the season. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, or have questions, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your extra-special discounted price.)

Every four weeks or so, the Sun and Moon travel through the sky alongside one another. On a zodiac chart, that natural phenomenon shows up as the Sun and Moon in the same degree of the same sign: a New Moon.

When the Sun and Moon are in the same degree of the same sign, we do not see the Moon. Only the side facing away from Earth is illuminated by the Sun. The small amount of light reflected by Earth upon the Moon is washed out by the Sun’s glare.

Though it be unseen, and even though every New Moon is defined as a zodiacal conjunction of the two luminaries, no two New Moons are the same. Even so, every New Moon is a reminder. With every monthly absence of Luna’s glow from the night sky, we are given reason to remember the cyclical nature of all things — both above and below.

With every New Moon, the previous monthly cycle of lunar phases ends, even as the next lunation simultaneously begins. Endings and beginnings merge into one unceasing continuum. With every merger of the Sun and Moon, there is a different context. The Sun’s position in its own yearly cycle, and your own position in the cycle of Earth’s seasons, are part of that context. The remainder is made up of where each planet is in its own cycles relative to other planets, along with where you and every other being are in the cycles of life.

The New Moon in Scorpio on Sunday shortly after 1:38 pm EDT (17:38:06 UTC) will in fact serve to orient each and all of us relative to a great many things. In relation to the seasons, Sunday’s New Moon will anticipate the midpoint between the Libra equinox and the Capricorn solstice. On the zodiac, that midpoint will be represented by the Sun precisely in the middle of Scorpio (an event that will occur on Nov. 6 or Nov. 7, depending on where you live).

Interestingly, the traditions of many different human cultures on Earth intersect when the Sun approaches and reaches the middle of Scorpio. Although the details differ, the common perception is of the cycles of life and death merging into one another. Many of you know this occasion as Halloween, an artifact of older, deeper and more serious observances dating back to days when every person was close to the Earth and familiar with the sky.

Perhaps more than interestingly, this coming Nov. 6 is when daylight savings time ends in the U.S. In addition, Nov. 8 will be the day citizens of the U.S. vote for their next president — for better or worse a significant event for all earthly beings. Hence, this year there is a unusual confluence of multiple natural cycles with several of those created artificially and arbitrarily by human beings. It is a set of occurrences worthy of note, especially when you consider that all of them will be taking place within the lunar cycle that will be renewed on Sunday.

For their part, the planets are also joining in. Sunday’s New Moon will take place just days after Mercury merges with the Scorpio Sun to renew their own respective cycle, and just hours after Venus and Saturn have similarly conjoined in Sagittarius.

On the whole, Sunday’s New Moon in Scorpio looks like it will represent more than just a renewing merger of the Sun and Moon, thanks to the astrological events that will occur during the following four weeks.

Indeed, it is as if the cycles of uncounted ages and generations are coming together like a multitude of rivers flowing into a vast and majestic sea, to remind you not only of your humble place, but also of your simultaneously indispensable importance.

For you would not be alive at such a time if you were not worthy to participate in creating it. Go forth, and show that you understand. Take your hand at turning the wheel yet another time.

Offered In Service

Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page for the current early discount, which will increase again later in the season. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, or have questions, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your extra-special discounted price.)