It’s Saturday and the waning crescent Moon is cruising around the zodiac faster than usual. Having entered Virgo only today, Luna will be making ingress to Libra before Monday has run its course for most of you reading this. By Tuesday, next week’s true colors are likely to become more plainly evident. In all likelihood, so will yours.

That’s because Mars is currently moving around the zodiac a bit slower than usual as it nears the midpoint of Libra. Once the Moon is also in Libra, it (along with the Sun’s position in Scorpio) will highlight a Martian aspect that has been sneaking up on us.

By this time next week, Mars will have closed to within 90 degrees of separation from Pluto’s position in Capricorn. It is the sort of geometric relationship astrologers call a “square”.

Square aspects correspond to the sort of tension that is not sustainable. Think of the term “something’s got to give” and you get the general idea. What’s more, any period of time prominently featuring a square between sign-ruling planets tends to favor those who are proactive when it comes to resolving tension.

Interestingly, many modern astrologers consider Scorpio to be the joint dominion of Mars and Pluto. Since Pluto was not discovered until 1930, that has not always been the case.

Originally (and traditionally, still) Mars had the rule of Aries and Scorpio all to itself. Being a fire sign (and, not incidentally, the initial sign of the zodiac wheel), a Martian association with Aries makes intuitive sense. Scorpio, on the other hand, is more complex.

Even though it took decades to connect the proverbial dots, once we were aware of Pluto’s existence, its own astrological complexity gradually became apparent. Even Pluto’s ups and downs with astronomers (who are still in dispute regarding how to define it) are indicative of a layered ambivalence long associated with the one sign counter-intuitively combining a fixed quality with water.

In our own time, correlations with Scorpio tend to be kept behind closed doors. Sex, death and taxes are just a few examples. Politics, especially as it has been related to the manufacture of sausage, is another. Reliably, the Sun’s annual traversal of Scorpio will tend to bring some of that potentially discomforting subject matter to light.

Now, while the Sun is still in Scorpio, Mars and Pluto are moving to double down. In addition, Mars aspects often go off prematurely. Hence, it should be no surprise that an especially self-righteous candidate for the U.S. Senate has recently been accused of plying adolescent women with cheap wine prior to fondling them way back when he himself was well past his first Saturn return.

Nor should it surprise anybody that a significant number of people still intend to vote for that guy. You might be excused for wondering how many of them enjoy sausage daily. Not everybody, however, has that sort of stomach.

Hopefully, choices you are facing in your own life are not as uncomfortable as those facing Republican voters of Alabama. If they are, remember the astrology coming up.

In order to more happily live for the long term with the consequences of your own actions in the days to come, be decisive and choose to reduce tension rather than prolong it. Even if that’s all you do next week, it could well be all that really needs to be done.

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By any standards, 2018 will be a distinctive year astrologically. Get your essential guide to riding the waves of the next 12 months and beyond. Pre-order The Art of Becoming, the 2018 Planet Waves Annual by Eric Francis.

The waning gibbous Moon entered its Cancer dominion earlier today. A little over an hour later, Venus left Libra behind to trail the Sun and Jupiter in Scorpio. Add Neptune traversing Pisces, and you have a temporary scenario featuring half of astrology’s ten sign rulers expressing through emblematic water. Not incidentally, today (Tuesday) is election day in the U.S.

Each of the twelve astrological signs is associated with one of the four so-called elements: fire, earth, air or water. Any sign identified with water’s symbolism tends to have a subjective cachet. Sometimes, that’s helpful. Sometimes it’s not.

Corresponding to how astrology usually manifests, the course of political events is most heavily determined by those who participate. The degree to which water signs correlate with emotions provides a clue about how voting might go today. It would seem that the passionate might well prevail.

On the one hand, passion is a very good thing. A representative political system, for example, is as strengthened by avid interest as it is weakened by apathy.

On the other hand, emotions are more subject to manipulation than critical thinking. With Mercury (the sign ruler most closely corresponding to how you think) having recently moved out of Scorpio and into fiery Sagittarius, it’s quite possible that a lot of voters are being influenced less by intellect and more by either instinct or intuition.

As result, a significant number of electoral choices being made in the U.S. today may end up reflecting the intentions of a comparative few who have both the wherewithal and skill to twist and exploit tender feelings. Should that turn out to be the case, the results will not augur well for representative democracy.

Then again, there’s nothing quite like a proverbial “teaching moment” when it comes to changing behavior. American citizens declining or neglecting to participate today may very well end up learning the same sort of lesson often absorbed by those who decide to ignore astrology. Were that to be true, one of the world’s most important republics would benefit immeasurably.

Obviously, astrology never applies to only one nation exclusively. So long as you reside somewhere on Earth, the same correlations between celestial and earthly events postulated in the preceding paragraphs could just as easily apply to you.

Over the next day or two, it would probably do everybody some good to be inspired by their emotions — while also trusting logic to make decisions. Even if hindsight reveals you are now being controlled by minds other than your own, there would be no reason for despair. If there is anything to astrology, all that really matters is whether you allow yourself to be changed by what you will soon come to know.

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By any standards, 2018 will be a distinctive year astrologically. Get your essential guide to riding the waves of the next 12 months and beyond. Pre-order The Art of Becoming, the 2018 Planet Waves Annual by Eric Francis.

The Moon is now in Taurus, setting the stage for a Full Moon opposed by the Scorpio Sun overnight between Friday and Saturday. Meantime, the two planets inside Earth’s orbit (Venus and Mercury) are moving to change signs as next week begins. Taken in context, those impending highlights suggest an unusual scenario.

Typically, the days leading to up to a Full Moon exhibit some palpable momentum. Usually, after a Full Moon, the tension associated with its opposition to the Sun is quickly released.

Beginning Sunday, however, it will be as if the Moon is handing off a relay baton. Minutes before the Moon departs Taurus to enter Gemini, Luna will oppose Mercury at the end of its Scorpio tenure. Then, less than nine hours later, Mercury (ruler of Gemini) will make ingress to Sagittarius.

Though Mercury is very small compared to the Sun, their proximity works to confer a certain similarity of one to the other. For instance, consciousness (which the Sun is posited to correspond with in this particular case) is never very far from Mercury’s correlation to a similar (but also very different) quality: mind.

This particular ingress of Mercury to Sagittarius also has at least one other indication of continued momentum. It will be 2018 before Mercury (a planet which normally traverses a single sign in three weeks or less) leaves Sagittarius for Capricorn.

That’s because 2017 still has one Mercury retrograde left in it, one which will begin in the very last degree of Sagittarius on the same day as the next Full Moon — Dec. 3.

Then there is Venus. Less than an hour before tonight’s Taurus Full Moon is exact, Venus will contribute its own quotient of tension by precisely opposing retrograde Uranus (winding up a long tenure in Aries) from Libra. After that, on Tuesday, Venus will do its own part to indicate an extension of momentum by moving on to Scorpio.

So what can this implicit relay of the Taurus Full Moon’s energy be said to mean? In short, the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus are moving so as to move you.

To paraphrase a parable specific to ancient Rome, history is not made in a day. Even so, the initiation, progress and decline of eras, empires and paradigms unavoidably proceeds one day at a time. With each of those days, people just like you make what seem to be insignificant choices which (with the passage of time) culminate to produce the broader outline of results remembered by posterity.

Slower-moving planets (especially sign rulers Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) have consistently been demonstrated to resonate with those broader outlines.

The so-called personal “planets” (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars), on the other hand, move fast enough to track the daily  pace of your own life. When they align in a temporal sense to extend and relay their respective alignments in space, your role in the longer term is implicitly getting more powerful.

And to think that it all begins with this Taurus Full Moon. Not so much that you are about to become a superhero, or even rich and influential. More like the fact you can clearly do better than so many traditional power structures which no longer have anything to offer but bad faith and abuse.

From all appearances the most personal of planets are moving to hand the baton off to you, and everybody like you (which, at this point in history, is nearly all of us).

You will know the moment. When it comes, you will be faced with a chance to be conscious, compassionate, mindful and loving towards somebody who does not inspire you to demonstrate any of those qualities. What you do then will go a long way towards determining whether the human race is, against all odds, finally won. Or would it be more appropriate to say “one”?

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Another October has now been consigned to history. November has begun. In an interesting bit of timing, the Moon left Pisces behind to enter Aries just as the new month was getting underway. It may well prove a lunar ingress to remember.

Aries is generally recognized as where the zodiac cycle of signs starts over. In large part, that particular designation has to do with astrology’s central reference point and primary trend setter: the Sun.

The annual solar return to Aries every March initiates more than just a new season. It’s also the one and only vernal equinox – astrology’s version of New Year’s Day.

Given how the Sun provides so much of astrology’s context, it’s fair to consider how any other object crossing into Aries can somehow be in emulation of the Sun. Hence, even though the Moon is not currently in one of its more significant phases, Luna can reasonably be thought of as having just turned a page in unison with the civil calendar.

A big part of the Moon’s place in astrology is as the Sun’s complement. To paraphrase Robert Hand, the Sun has a straightforward correlation with daylight and what is commonly understood to be consciousness (being aware of and interactive with the world).

As would befit an association with nighttime, the Moon’s astrological symbolism is more subtle and subjective than that of the Sun. The same can be said of forms of consciousness which correspond with the Moon.

To have November initiate with a newly Aries Moon is thus indicative, but not clearly so. Some patience will probably be required of you as the month goes on. It would, for example, be a good idea to simply be present with any unbidden sensations you woke up with today.

With a Full Moon coming up overnight between Friday and Saturday, anything which seems unassociated now could conceivably fall into place rather quickly — given a chance.

Indeed, if November is starting off to imply anything, it is the value of proof. By all means, pay attention to (and, if possible, work to develop proficiency with) your intuitions, but don’t ignore hard evidence.

As the month wears on, you may have to do some detective work. In all probability, however, your greatest labor will be to honor the facts that find you. If you can do simply that, a November beginning with an Aries Moon will conclude with your being more coherently whole than ever before.

Offered In Service

By any standards, 2018 will be a distinctive year astrologically. Get your essential guide to riding the waves of the next 12 months and beyond. Pre-order The Art of Becoming, the 2018 Planet Waves Annual by Eric Francis.

The Moon is now moving through Aquarius until late Sunday. Such a lunar position by itself highlights deeply felt issues in common. The fact that the Moon will also be in its first quarter phase tonight (Friday) is informative for those who seek an empowering resolution of those issues.

Each of astrology’s twelve signs is a unique combination of element (fire, earth, air or water) and quality (cardinal, fixed, or mutable). Both Aquarius and Scorpio (where the Sun is now moving) are fixed signs.

Signs which share the same quality are either at right angles or in opposition to each other on the zodiac’s circle. Because of that, any two objects which are expressing through the same quality of background will be in what astrologers call “hard aspect” to each other.

The word “hard” comes with baggage. For astrologers, not all of that luggage is appropriate. Granted, correlations with challenge can rarely be ruled out when interpreting the most prominent of hard aspects. Yet, by the same token, the inevitability of a corresponding reward for acting on difficulty should not be forgotten when reading conjunctions (objects in the same degree of the same sign), squares (90 degree separations on the zodiac) or oppositions.

Interestingly, the best known lunar phases (New Moon, Full Moon, first and last quarters) all represent hard aspects from the Sun to the Moon. Tonight’s lunar first quarter, for example, is the “opening” square – a separation of 90 degrees from the Sun to the Moon which takes place one week after the immediately preceding New Moon and one week before the Full Moon to follow.

Appropriately, the Moon at quarter phase is half lit and half dark, a fitting symbol for both the challenges and rewards a square aspect represents. That’s where you come in.

Much as with politics, astrology is everybody’s business. In both cases, participation is rewarded with a proportional amount of influence. Lack of involvement, on the other hand, usually results in a forfeit.

It should be pretty clear for anybody paying attention that politics is too important to be left to professional politicians. The same principle can be said to apply to astrology. Either way, informing yourself is a crucial requisite for participation.

Simply being aware confers you a surprising amount of power. Acting on that awareness empowers you even more. It should therefore be no surprise that history’s most infamous authoritarians all have at least one thing in common: discrediting or blocking access to any source of information which is at odds with what the putative leader professes.

Of course, it takes two to tango. Despots could not exist were they not enabled by those who choose to be not only ignorant, but also hostile towards anybody who contests a dictatorial point of view.

All of which leads back to tonight’s lunar first quarter. Because the Sun and Moon are in square aspect to each other, a challenge some sort of is likely to go with your territory this weekend. If you know simply that, you have a leg up on those who don’t.

Beyond being aware, perhaps the most salient meaning behind this particular First Quarter Moon has to do with what the nature of any challenges will probably be.

With both Sun and Moon in fixed signs, the most likely difficulties will have to do with knowing the difference between maximizing the light (for instance: persistence and definition) and minimizing the dark (for example: intransigence) sides of that quality.

That’s because, with a Full Moon coming, all which light represents in the context of fixed signs will implicitly prevail over this next week. If you will but act to have the same thing happen in your life (and ideally, in community), the two weeks which follow will be all the more likely to see an integration, rather than a dominance, of darkness in the second half of our current lunar cycle.

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By early Monday, the zodiac will look a lot different than it did only two weeks before. On Oct. 9, Venus and Mars were both still in Virgo, just starting to separate after briefly sharing the same degree of that same sign on Oct. 5. Meanwhile, the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter were clustered in Libra’s latter half.

Then, on Oct. 10, Jupiter concluded over a year in Libra to begin a similar residence in Scorpio. A week later, Mercury followed Jupiter’s footsteps. In between those two ingresses, Venus made one of its own with a Libra homecoming.

On Sunday, Mars will move on to Libra too. About ten hours later (either late Sunday or early Monday – depending on your time zone), the Sun will begin its annual tour of Scorpio. That’s an unusual amount of celestial shifting for such a short period of time. Unsurprisingly, the corresponding fortnight is already proving to be an eventful time in the world – and probably your life.

Quantity is not everything, however. Quality counts too, but often in a way more subtle than numbers or frequency can express. Therein lies a clue for how next week could very well differ from this week (and the week before), assuming you can accept a premise that what’s above somehow correlates with what’s here below.

Archetypes represented by the Sun, Moon and planetary bodies basically remain the same no matter where those emblems are moving on the zodiac. A change of sign tends not to alter the figure so much as the ground. Hence, once the current flurry of cosmic motion from one field of expression to another has subsided, it will implicitly be easier to ascertain whether and/or how the context of your life has shifted.

You may, for example, find it easier to either stand out or blend in next week – and not because you are in any way much different. For that reason, you might want to experiment with how you dress, the places you frequent and whose company you keep while also noting how any of those new contexts change the quality of your life.

In addition, it would probably be a good idea if you were alert for shifts in how the world responds when you are in your usual haunts, doing as you usually do. In all probability, any such trials and observations will not be empty exercises, either.

That’s because the spate of astrological ingresses now reaching the end of its run has more than likely manifested as a background shift. As result, a lot of people (predominantly those who pay no attention to astrology) will either miss new openings or wonder what happened with accustomed portals.

Besides the evident advantage of actively reevaluating your environment for any alterative (or recently altered) niches, tinkering with your life can be fun. We are, after all, entering a season when wearing masks and costumes is a predominant party theme.

When you get right down to it, temporarily assuming the appearance of a pumpkin doesn’t commit you to become one. Intentionally incurring just such an experience, however, could go a long way towards your having a deeper appreciation of all you have and what you can bring.

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“Throw me tomorrow.”
— David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels

Mercury entered Scorpio during the early hours of Tuesday for most of you. Earlier today (Wednesday), speedy Mercury briefly shared the same degree of Scorpio in conjunction with Jupiter. Tomorrow, the Sun and Moon will meet in late Libra to renew the monthly cycle of lunar phases for a New Moon.

Less than two hours before the Libra New Moon is exact, the Sun will be precisely opposing Uranus (in late Aries) on the zodiac. Shortly thereafter, the Moon will move on to Scorpio as well. And those are just highlights.

It could very well be an understatement to say that the astrology leading up to, during and immediately after New Moon Thursday is interesting. How that description corresponds to earthly events remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that very few people are both acutely aware and downright bored at this time.

Perhaps a change of perspective will help. Imagine yourself far above the solar system, looking down on the ecliptic plain in which all the major planets move, orbiting the Sun.

From such a detached and elevated point of view, you would see Mercury and Jupiter lining up on one side of the Sun. Almost exactly on the other side, you would see the Moon, Earth and Uranus moving to align as well. To say the least, it would be a striking tableau – one you might describe as a series of cosmic gems on a very long string.

On the zodiac, the same scenario is being represented by four sign rulers (the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Jupiter) all bunched near the cusp between Libra and Scorpio with Uranus basically on the opposite side of the circle. While that particular arrangement does not resemble a string of celestial pearls, you could portray it as something with a similar implication: a lot of energetic representation along a narrow axis.

In addition to being part of a concentrated corridor, all the objects involved in tomorrow’s New Moon complex (including some not mentioned above) will also be in fascinating geometric relationships to yet other planets and points.

Even with all the emblematic focus, however, New Moon Thursday is likely to come with less than a proportional amount of clarity.

That’s because of where a lot of the solar system’s archetypes are on the zodiac right now. In addition to the Moon, Mercury and Jupiter literally being out of easy view, this particular Libra New Moon will feature a figurative component evident only to astrologers.

For centuries, it has been common among astrologers to exercise at least some restraint while interpreting objects in either the very early or very late degrees of a sign. A “void of course” Moon is but one example. New Moon Thursday will have many.

In addition to the sign rulers already cited, an impressive number of other prominent astrological indicators (including, but not limited to Mars, Venus, and Saturn) will all be relatively close to a sign cusp when the Sun and Moon conjoin tomorrow.

All told, you might say this year’s Libra New Moon will be very much like the proverbial “Thursday’s child” of ancient rhyme. While there will likely be a certain quality to the time (which you may have already noticed), the event probably has “far to go” before its potential develops fully.

As result, some restraint on your part would probably make the rest of this week better for you in the long run. This does not mean you should be meek or hesitant. It is only to say that you might want to wait for more evidence to make itself apparent before jumping to conclusions you might later have to recant.

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It’s Friday the 13th. Even though this combination of day and date has nothing to do with astrology, nearly all of us live in a cultural environment where the ancient art of cosmic contemplation is equated with arbitrary superstitions. If you doubt this, go to a library and note what books are arranged on the same shelf with astrological tomes.

It was not always so. For most of what human history we know of, nearly all people lived close to the Earth with constant awareness of the sky. There was no separation. Seasonal rhythms were commonly known to be in sync with celestial cycles.

Now, it’s different. Uncommon are those who need or care to know when and where dawns and sunsets will occur. Even more scarce are those who understand how the Moon will rise later tonight than the night before. Indeed, for many of us, to simply see the Moon, planets and stars (much less keep personal track of them) is a challenge.

Then, there is disparagement. Many are the astrologers who respect astronomy and those who practice it. Unfortunately, such esteem is rarely returned. That’s just one example of how inequality in relationships and a devotion to intransigent partisanship has come to presently underlie much of human interaction.

Even within a typical individual, division and resulting inner conflicts have become more rule than exception. Perhaps separation has been sowed on purpose. Maybe it has simply been one thing leading to another. At this point, all we can say is that the situation has been a long time in coming, and is almost certainly not sustainable.

Enter Venus. Shortly after 6 am EDT (10:11:07 UTC) tomorrow, the brightest planet in our sky will leave Virgo behind and move on to Libra. From an astrologer’s point of view, it will be an implicitly auspicious ingress. Given all the types and levels of separation which now characterize so much of our human condition, however, the outcome of Venus moving through Libra until Nov. 7 is far from certain.

It is unlikely that all divisions and conflicts in the world will resolve peacefully during the next three weeks or so. After all, anything which has been a long time in coming is also likely to be a long time in changing. Fortunately, the same is not necessarily true for you.

We human beings have a wonderful capacity to at least begin changing our lives for the better in a short period of time. Just one choice can make a big difference. Even more likely to show results is the conscious revision of a behavior pattern over time.

If you want to know what Venus in Libra will mean, no conscientious astrologer will be able to tell you for sure. On the other hand, should you inquire what it can be made to mean, one possible answer will stand out. That’s because Venus usually moves quickly, just as you are capable of doing.

While the world is too often slow to change, you don’t have to be. What changes you would like to eventually see in the world can plausibly get started with you over the days to come.

Judging from the context (astrological and otherwise) of Venus’ ingress to Libra tomorrow, you might be surprised what a difference you can make. Based on what the world seems to need now, a little love will go a long way – especially if it is given to at least the same extent it is sought.

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