Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

If there were one phrase to express about half the astrology as it would apply to your personal life right now (and even through to the end of July), it might be “busy, busy, busy.” If there were one image to express the other half of the personally applicable astrology, it would be a young, supple tree bending in a stiff wind.

Hence, if there is validity to astrology, your part in the solar system right now would entail demonstrating either intensity or resilience as appropriate.

What’s appropriate depends on who you are. President Obama, for example, has a reputation for thriving in the heat of high-pressure situations that might overwhelm others. While such a trait is laudable, there is no shame in not evincing it.

Indeed, there are some who become habituated to the hectic, sacrificing their capacity for contemplation and patience in the bargain. Even so, there is nothing inherently bad or discrediting about craving an active life.

What really matters is awareness, especially self-awareness. It’s important to know what works for you as regards to both stimulation and sustainability. It’s a personal matter. Since you can realistically expect to control or change only yourself, acceptance is just as important as initiative, with discernment being the crucial factor.

Fortunately, astrology — especially in its modern form, helps with discernment. Behind us are the days when planets were divided into good guys (benefics) and bad guys (malefics). Astrology is not as cut-and-dried as it used to be, leaving more room for you to take responsibility, participate and determine your personal outcomes.

As Robert Hand put it in the October/November edition of The Mountain Astrologer: “There are no benefics and no malefics. There are planets that are used outside of their proper level on the planetary ladder.” In other words, modern astrology is largely a matter of context and discernment of values. That makes astrology a more authentic reflection of the realities of your life.

The first priority for astrologers (including you) must necessarily be the luminaries: the Sun and Moon. They are the largest, brightest objects in our sky.

In addition to the illumination they provide, only the Sun and Moon exhibit a substantially perceptible gravitational effect on Earth – the tides. Also, the luminaries are the trend setters and primary definers. All major aspects (angular relationships on the zodiac circle) are interpreted through the template of the Sun and Moon aspecting each other.

Today is the first full day of the Sun in Leo, and the Moon (right after entering Scorpio late today – or early tomorrow, depending on your time zone) will be halfway between its new phase (a conjunction between Sun and Moon), and its full phase (an opposition, with the Sun and Moon on opposite sides of the zodiac circle and the sky, a separation of 180 degrees).

Halfway between new and full phases is a square (a separation of 90 degrees) between the Sun and Moon called the first quarter. This aspect implies tension originating within you (although it may not seem that way), and something you can change and/or control if you take responsibility.

Additionally, both Sun and Moon will also be making a lot of aspects to other planets over the next handful of days. In sum, the luminaries are now combining to represent initiative (new in a sign), activity (lots of aspects) and some tension (a square aspect to each other) — all of which imply busyness and a need for some resilience on your part.

In addition to the Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars constitute the so-called personal planets — so called because they repeat their cycles many times over the course of your life. Hence, the personal planets are probably what you want to look at when seeking information from the sky that corresponds with the more immediate, frequent, ephemeral rhythms and cycles of your life.

Right now, Mercury being on the other side of the Sun (or, to put it another way, conjoined with the Sun in Leo) correlates with Mercury moving as fast as it gets (about two degrees every day on the zodiac). It also correlates with Mercury being about half way between periods of retrograde. All combined, that makes Mercury an additional emblem implying (but not causing) hectic tension.

Mars is also making some energetic aspects from Cancer, most notably a square (emulating the Sun and Moon at first quarter) to galvanizing Uranus in Aries. That square will be exact on Saturday, but is functional now, and represents yet another echo of intensity necessitating a supple response.

Venus, among the personal planets, is the exception. Venus is practically stationary in Virgo from our perspective on Earth, holding the tension before its next retrograde period begins on Saturday.

As such, Venus correlates with your option to make or be an exception, if that’s what works for you. Rather than being compelled to keep up a pace you can’t sustain, the example symbolically being set by Venus is to be in touch with your own values. With such self-awareness, you can choose.

Please keep in mind, however, that even a decision to slow down might require some resilience on your part. Social pressure can be very compelling, as can unreasonable expectations you may have for yourself. You may have to sit with (and hold) some tension in return for sitting out. In the face of stiff prevailing winds beyond your control, however, discretion can indeed be the greater part of valor.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

Imagine you are standing on astrology’s zodiac circle of signs just inside the territory of Leo, where the Sun is ruler (and where the emblematic Sun will be after tomorrow). Then, envision a friend standing in the very last part of the sign Cancer, where the Moon is ruler (and where the symbolic Sun is today). Finally, picture holding hands with your friend, and that your hands are clasped directly over the line (or cusp) where Cancer and Leo meet.

Then, please allow yourself to imagine that you and your friend agree to each go your own way for the time being, walking around the zodiac in opposite directions at exactly the same pace to meet precisely on the other side, 180 degrees away. (Note: you and your friend are not impersonating any particular planets in the sky in this exercise.)

If you were to walk in a counter-clockwise direction (emulating direct motion), you would eventually leave Leo behind and step into Virgo, where Mercury rules.

Your friend, walking clockwise (impersonating retrograde motion) would simultaneously retrace Cancer to eventually enter Gemini (albeit through the back door) where Mercury also rules. Interesting, that.

Your own journey around the circle would next take you from Virgo to Libra, ruled by Venus. In synchronized ambulation, your friend would step into Taurus (the other sign ruled by Venus) just as you were entering Libra.

Continuing your circular journey, Scorpio (where Mars alone ruled before the discovery of Pluto) would be your next destination, and your friend will concurrently have reached Aries — the other dominion of Mars. The next sign on your itinerary after Scorpio would be Sagittarius, domain of Jupiter. In the meantime, your partner would be making her or his way into Pisces, where Jupiter was also preeminent before the discovery of Neptune.

At the end of your trip would be Capricorn, realm of Saturn. Your collaborator would likewise conclude explorations in Aquarius, where Saturn also reigned without rival until the discovery of Uranus.

Clasping hands once again, but this time where Capricorn and Aquarius meet, you might share the details of your separate journeys. If such a discussion were to include the succession of signs (and corresponding rulers) respectively traced, your combined experiences would reveal an impenetrably ancient order in the zodiac — an order that begins at the cusp between Cancer and Leo.

There are no archaeological or anthropological records of astrology in the process of development. No matter where on Earth you go, no matter what culture you study, the earliest surviving evidence of astrology is of a fully functional system. Hence, the documented, as opposed to speculated, origin of how the original planetary rulers (all visible to the unaided eye) came to be arranged on the zodiac is lost to irretrievable antiquity.

When the Sun enters Leo tomorrow shortly before 11:31 pm EDT (03:30:24 UTC Thursday), the solar symbol of consciousness will once again make its own annual journey across what is thus a highly consequential cusp. It’s the place where this missive first asked you to imagine your hand conjoined with that of your friend. The place where a mysterious, yet entirely natural order in the zodiac begins.

Assuming you are awake as tomorrow segues into Thursday, you might want to stand in simple awareness of that mystery. You may want to sit with the apparently simple cypher that so many take for granted. Rather than trying to parse out the details of aspects, getting all wrapped up in what it ‘means’, you could simply consider feeling the moment and connecting with times long past, beyond scholastic recovery.

For in every cell of your body, there is a record of life’s entire history on Earth. In your DNA (and probably many other cellular components), mysteries are recorded. Through your genes and the essence of your physical being, all that preceded history is understood. That understanding would include the origins of astrology.

Whether astrology was somehow developed by humanity, or whether it was in some way bequeathed to us whole is something you can grasp and know, but not through the abstract machinations of your mind. That’s how tomorrow or Thursday would be an appropriate occasion to put your intellect aside for awhile.

That’s how this week constitutes a good and appropriate time to ask the manifestations of fire, earth, air and water in your body to tell you of their own journey as the Sun once again crosses a consequential cusp. Perhaps by doing so, you can achieve a significant crossing as well. 

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

Among those of you fortunate enough to own real property (buildings and/or land), many are required to pay taxes on that property. In many cases, the municipal subdivision that levies the property tax calculates the amount due based on the assessed value of the property in question. Sometimes the property owner and taxpayer has appropriate reason to pursue a reassessment of that value. 

A similar scenario comes to mind when assessing the astrological context of Venus’ first ingress to Virgo this year, shortly after 6:38 pm EDT (22:38:09 UTC) on Saturday.

Because of an impending retrograde, Venus will enter Virgo twice in 2015. The second time will be on Oct. 8 (or Oct. 9, depending on your time zone) after Venus is once again in direct motion, and back up to its usual speed of about one degree per day again.

Among the things distinguishing Saturday’s first Venusian ingress to Virgo is that the apparent motion of Venus will be unusually slow. Indeed, by the time Venus commences retrograde motion on July 25, it will have traveled less than one half of one degree into Virgo.

When any object or calculated point is all but stationary while in the process of changing the direction of its apparent motion, it has an implication. Implied is an appropriate time to take a closer look, review, and maybe even revise. Any planet at retrograde station in particular insinuates that it is appropriate to slow down and either evaluate or reevaluate its manifestations in the world.

Among the earthly expressions of Venus is the broad subject of values. The fact that Venus rules the fixed earth sign of Taurus clearly indicates that tangible property and its evaluation are well within the astrological jurisdiction of Venus. Libra is also ruled by Venus, however, and the values represented by Libra are very different.

As the cardinal air sign cryptically identified by a glyph representing balance-beam scales, Libra appropriately corresponds with intangible values. Among those intangible values are justice, fairness, balance and reciprocity. Just like tangible values, those which are intangible are sometimes appropriate to reassess.

The key word here is “appropriate.” As an adjective, it’s a word which necessarily implies a certain quality of understanding, maturity and judgment as regards to the context and specificity of a person, place, situation or action. Interestingly, as a transient verb “appropriate” can also mean taking or designating something of (usually tangible) value, often for a specific purpose.

Either way, the two-week period from Saturday’s Virgo ingress until Venus returns to Leo in retrograde, just after the Full Moon of July 31, implicitly supports either appropriate — or appropriated — assessment of all the values you now employ in making decisions and taking actions, while direct motion prevails. After retrograde motion commences, you may find reassessment of the same to be in order.

Some of those values might have been in place for you for a very long time. Some possibly even originated long before you were born. You may also have strong attachments to some of your values, even to the extent that the very prospect of assessment or reassessment feels like a threat to your very existence.

Nonetheless, that’s the idea — bringing yourself to assess and reassess everything and anything you value, while also learning that doing so will not have dire consequences. You even might think of Venus’ first ingress to Virgo as initiating a time when you have a chance to reevaluate (and even redefine) what “appropriate” (as well as “value”) means for you.

Indeed, if you can bring yourself to push the envelope of your own principles, boundaries and attachments, Venus’ first foray into Virgo this year could result in more personal evolution than some people experience in a lifetime.

So don’t feel threatened should you be provoked (or invoked) to move beyond custom or comfort zones for the remainder of this month. Rather, consider how you might learn something. After all, the very exercise of putting all of your values out there on the table does not obligate you to change or surrender anything. Experimenting with the idea that you could make such changes, on the other hand, can only result in new ideas.

And let’s face it, if ever there were a time when new ideas are at a premium, it’s got to be now.

Offered In Service          

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

The luminaries (Sun and Moon) will share the same degree of Cancer, and the same degree of longitude in the sky, shortly after 9:24 pm EDT tomorrow (01:24:19 UTC Thursday) as if to demonstrate how efficacious astrology really is. All you need to do is break it down. First off, when the Sun and Moon come together like that, it is called a New Moon.

Every New Moon begins a new cycle of lunar phases culminating in a Full Moon about two weeks later, and ending in another New Moon about two weeks after that Full Moon. So a lunar cycle from New Moon to New Moon is about four weeks long.

Each New Moon is named after the sign in which the Sun and Moon conjoin. Thus, this will be a Cancer New Moon. For astrologers the sign Cancer is distinguished in part by its ruling ‘planet’ — the Moon.

Finally, every New Moon is unseen because its illuminated side is the side facing away from the Earth, the so-called ‘dark side’. Every New Moon is also unseen because of its longitudinal proximity to the Sun, lost in the solar glare as it briefly moves through the sky alongside the Sun. The quality of being unseen, however, does not mean without consequence. The combined gravity of the Sun and Moon on the same side of Earth is quite consequential, as seen indirectly in the ocean tides.

By occurring in Cancer, the implication is that this impending Cancer New Moon will take place where the Moon’s astrological symbolism is strongest. Among other things, the Moon represents the form of consciousness sometimes referred to as the unconscious. Some of the more prominent qualities associated with the unconscious are intuition, emotion, security issues, comfort issues, your childhood, and the sort of dreams usually (but not always) experienced while sleeping.

Not every Cancer New Moon is the same. During most years there is only one new Moon in Cancer. In the roughly 12 months that usually elapse between one Cancer New Moon and the next, everything else on the zodiac (and in the sky) keeps moving. The same can be said for events on Earth. That’s how every Cancer New Moon has it own unique astral and earthly context through which the usual associations of a New Moon in its ‘home’ sign are expressed.

This year, that context is extraordinary. Late tomorrow (or early Thursday, depending on your time zone) this year’s Cancer New Moon will feature some striking tangible and symbolic correlations taking place at the same time.

Among the tangible correlations will be the location of a space-faring robotic device and the status of a large system created by (and influential for) humans here on Earth: the world economic system. Included in the array of symbolic correlations will be an uncanny alignment of planets, which either implicitly or explicitly correspond with the tangible correlations.

Take that robotic device, for example. Known as New Horizons, it was launched from Earth in 2006, back when astronomers counted Pluto among the nine planets (along with Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) in the solar system.

At long last, New Horizons is making its closest flyby approach to Pluto today, opening a new cycle of space exploration, and roughly concurrent with the Cancer New Moon. That sort of timing can’t be ignored, especially if you factor in other, also concurrent events. Nor can the fact that Pluto (and New Horizons) will be unseen be construed to indicate no meaning.

Factor in what has become almost by default a world economic system. It is a system through which the hopes, dreams, security and safety of every human being are unavoidably and undeniably interconnected, although often in unseen ways. Now, and also concurrent with the Cancer New Moon, that system (which has evolved almost unconsciously) is confronted with a flood tide of unprecedented questions and problems — which will probably and ultimately require a new beginning of some sort to resolve.

Finally, take look at the astrology of this impending Cancer New Moon. Also in the sign Cancer with the conjoined luminaries are two planets that often correspond with economic themes for astrologers: Mercury and Mars. What’s more, as if to emulate and sing in refrain with the luminaries, Mercury and Mars will be precisely conjoined (to the degree) at the time of the Cancer New Moon. In addition, the Mercury-Mars conjunction will be precisely (also to the degree) opposing Pluto’s position in Capricorn.

Among other things, an opposition can be said to represent a confrontation seeking a resolution. You can’t make this sort of stuff up. In addition, there is the third planet often associated with economics — Venus. At the time of the Cancer New Moon, Venus will literally be on the cusp of changing signs from Leo to Virgo.

For astrologers, a planetary sign change indicates a new beginning, much as a conjunction does. If all that is not enough, once Venus does enter Virgo it will remain in the first degree (what you might call its new horizon) for about two weeks while in the process of stationing retrograde. Venus will then return to Leo (where it is today) just after the Aquarius Full Moon on July 31.

All of that astonishing and indisputable correlation and more will be part of the Cancer New Moon. All of that exquisite and amazing timing will also be part of this luminary conjunction. Finally, there are bound to be unseen but consequential events taking place behind the closed doors of economic power, as well as up in the vicinity of Pluto.

Much as with the data we await from a spacecraft even now flying past Pluto, nobody can predict with credibility what those consequences will be or what they will ultimately mean.

But if you have ever doubted that astrological events do in fact correlate with events in your life, this particular Cancer New Moon (which will take place while many of us are sleeping and dreaming) should be enough to put your doubts to rest.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

Time it was and what a time it was, it was…
— Paul Simon

You probably always knew. Since you were old enough to think about the future and connect with the past, you knew that you would be part of something unlike any before. Along the way you have wondered what you would do, and at times been forced to decide what to do. Those decisions have in turn brought you here to be a part of it all. To be like a bridge. As though your life by itself were writing books.

In spite of, and also because of, all you have been through to get here, you now know being here makes you both fortunate and responsible somehow. That awareness alone sets you apart from so many in the past, and prepares you to better decide the future.

Somewhere along the way, perhaps you realized that being here made your decisions part of something greater. Better, then, to decide consciously. Better to be among those stepping up to take a conscious and active place in the system we call solar.

It is no coincidence that the earthly system of which you are a part has created a robot that is even now approaching Pluto, at the outer edges of the solar system. You are a part of that. Everything you did or did not do contributed somehow to put that spacecraft way out there so that you could be here to witness what it sends back. The same principle holds true for all that is happening on Earth as it is in the sky.

Which is part of what led you here to Planet Waves. To better understand what astrology can convey to you about the solar system, and your choices as part of it. The better to be aware. To better decide. To not only witness but to more consciously and fully participate in this moment you probably always knew about.

You have thus served as part of a bridge from what was to what is. Hence, like a bridge, you will continue to hold the tension and span the distance from what was to what will be. You have also served to write the story, filling the span as if with books in which your service can and will yet be found.

You have served well and artfully somehow. Otherwise you would not be here reading yourself into these words. Otherwise you would not have been part of what this month has held, and will hold.

July has also been a month artfully served by astrology’s emblem of consciousness — the Sun — and its encounters with the outer solar system. From the sign of cardinal Cancer, the Sun started July with an emotional, flowing water trine (a separation of 120 degrees) to Neptune in the depths of Pisces. Could be that trine aspect coincided with a feeling that your time to do your thing as part of something bigger — a time you always knew about, a time you served to bring about — has come.

Then, on July 6, came a solar opposition (a separation of 180 degrees) to Pluto in the midst of its long trek through Capricorn. No doubt that opposition aspect somehow correlated with your consciousness facing and reflecting on the outer edges of possibility, and decisions to come.  

As for what’s to come, when Sunday segues into Monday, the Cancer Sun will have separated from Uranus in Aries (and from last season) by three full signs — 90 degrees — which is a square aspect. In doing so, the Sun will have served to complete a bridge of its own, having moved across the slowly growing chasm that was (and in many ways still is) the long continuum of Uranus and Pluto in square aspect. The same square aspect Eric has characterized as defining our era.

From the other side of the bridge that next week’s square aspect from the Sun to Uranus represents, you will be presented with an opportunity to note (and feel) how much has happened so far in July, and how you might serve to help write the book of what will happen hence.

It is no coincidence that Planet Waves initiated its Art of Service membership drive with the beginning of this eventful month. Not to distract you from events. Rather, to make you more the author of your own life and a part of something greater than your life, in a world where bridges are being built and volumes are being written. You can choose.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

You’re an untamed youth, that’s the truth with your cloak full of eagles…
— Marc Bolan

Mercury enters tropical Cancer in direct motion tomorrow shortly before 2:52 pm EDT (18:51:33 UTC). Normally, it is little noted nor long remembered when swift Mercury changes signs. This particular ingress, however, is bound to resonate like a gong with notable correlations given how Mercury has been in Gemini since the last day of April (or first day of May, depending on your time zone).

Hence, you would do well to serve up a little resonance yourself. More than two months is a long time for Mercury to reside in one sign, and that unusual tenure has undoubtedly corresponded with something being cooped up inside of you.

Of course, it was a retrograde that resulted in Mercury spending more than two months in Gemini, one of the two signs (along with Virgo) where it rules the roost. Nor was it just any retrograde.

More than three weeks of Mercury’s residence in Gemini was spent in laboriously slow apparent reversal over an narrow arc of less than 10 degrees. That’s a distance Mercury is now about to cover in one week, with further acceleration to follow. Hence, you can probably relate in some way to Mercury springing forth unbound from where it has been so inordinately confined (even though those confines were of home). So why not show it a little?

No matter how old you are, why not revive and express a little of your untamed and inscrutably awesome youth? No matter where you are, why not do a little dance if you feel so moved? You might even venture to sing a rollicking bit of song long forgotten. After all, those who would mind a bit of honest and overdue exuberance probably don’t matter, and any who would matter almost certainly would not mind.

As Amy Elliott inferred yesterday, it would serve nothing to “allow self-doubt to dampen your courage.” So get it on. If it means being (or getting) a little dirty, add a little sweet to make Mercury’s tour of fecund Cancer more palatable. After so long in an intellectual air sign, it’s time to think wet, and get that way.

Please keep in mind that getting wet need not require alcohol. Indeed, with Mercury about to speed through a water trine with Neptune in Pisces, you would be well advised to say “no thanks” to anything that would slow you down. Rather, quicken yourself with the nourishing refreshment pure water affords and save a little to pour on your head — just to show those who are still self-confined how to have a little fun.

Get it on. Bang a gong. Mercury is about to set itself free. You could do far worse than to do a little of the same for yourself. By way of doing the same for others, please remember that a sliding-scale gift subscription to Planet Waves provides those that matter with more than just serious journalism, photography and astrology.

In case you haven’t noticed, Planet Waves also knows that Art In Service means serving up a little fun, too. If you have a little extra scratch to spread around, share the ride and let your friends see that (in addition to being a rock of advertising-free sanity in an often crazy world) Planet Waves also serves to rock your world with refreshing exuberance.

Offered In Service 

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Planet Waves is running a membership drive.
Read more in Solstice Fire and the Art of Service, by Eric Francis.

The United States of America has another birthday coming up on Saturday. Although nations do not come into the world as people do, there are some countries that can mark their beginning from a specific date. The U.S. is one of them. Yes, one could fairly say that many dates and events could be construed to represent the beginning of America as it now is, but one day stands out.

That day, of course, is July 4, 1776. A day documented with parchment (or paper) and ink by the astonishingly audacious and historically unprecedented Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence defied what Keith Olberman has referred to as “the alchemy of precedent.” It was a miracle, really, that a nation should seek to initiate its existence in service to principle.

Among the principles cited by the signatories of the Declaration of Independence as they set forth to create a new nation was the notion that “all men” were created equal, providentially endowed with “inalienable rights,” which included “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In spite of its karmically and pathologically disturbing disparagement of the American First Nations, and also in spite of its male supremacist language, the founding document of the U.S. still inspires absolute awe.

Since its creation, the U.S. has been on a long journey to determine whether it could in reality serve its lofty definition of self. For most of that trip the results have been less than stellar. It was downright ignominious, for example, that a nation made by lofty rhetoric should then set forth to practice overt genocide on the original inhabitants of America, all but exterminating some of the most Earth-friendly people and cultures ever to exist on Earth.

Then there is the undeniable fact that the so-called founding fathers conveniently skated around the issue of slavery, mocking their own principles in actual practice until The People would have it no more. One must also confront the specter of war made intentionally for purposes of profit behind facade after contrived facade of disingenuous righteousness.

Yes, one might fairly say that the U.S. has always been, and with time has more become, a mockery of its ideals. Yet, every once in a while, America defies the priests of precedent and sets forth anew to live up to its principles. Still living and breathing are enough Americans who actually believe that the historically improbable can yet be made possible. As always, however, one would be loathe to predict the outcome.

Hence, looking at the solar return (birthday) chart for the USA this year is enough to remind any thoughtful astrologer that the highest principle astrology might serve is not to predict, but to inspire. Taken that way, the solar return chart for the U.S. this year (whether cast for Philadelphia, where it all began, or Washington D.C., where America’s uneasy empire resides now), is notable.

For reasonable purpose, and based on abundantly resonant correlations, the “birth” chart used here on Planet Waves is the famous Sibly chart. That chart is set for 5:10 pm local time in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

The 2015 solar return chart for the USA has Virgo rising, celebrating the grounded yet resilient nature of American citizens who continue to insist that their nation manifest its founding principles. Virgo, one is compelled to remember, is the only sign where its planetary ruler (Mercury) is also exalted.

Thus, one is also compelled to look for where Mercury is in the chart — a chart that features the Sun in the exact same degree as it was for the date recorded on the Declaration of Independence. Encouragingly, it is the most elevated planet.

For astrologers, the symbolism of the most elevated planet on any chart founded upon a date, time and place cannot be underestimated. The so-called mid-heaven represents (among other things) both the self-conscious image and any observable discrepancies as regards to that image for the party whose birth is being observed.

But this is not just any Mercury presiding over the birthday of the United States this year. There is more than correspondence with, and thoughtful understanding of, how the U.S. often sees itself one way, and other nations often see it another way. There is also Mercury’s placement and timing.

This is a Mercury recently freed from the thin, confining slice of the zodiac in which it recently paced back and forth in retrograde. This is also a Mercury in late Gemini opposed to (which for astrologers means “reflected by”) the core of our galaxy in the latter degrees of Sagittarius.

For astronomers, any galactic core represents the highest example of a center and an axis. Once you go out into intergalactic space, there are no longer any such reference points in a universe hastening to only expand in all directions. For astrologers, the core of our galaxy has a similar correspondence.

As Eric has put it so many times here on Planet Waves, our Galactic Core represents a “homing signal.” Combine that with the United States’ natal Sun (emblematic of consciousness) and Mercury’s correlation to mind and its means of expression, and you get the picture.

It is a picture of a nation newly conscious and mindful of the homing signal of its founding principles. It is the image of a country that has gone grievously off course, but which is not yet finally lost, thanks to those who serve its most elevated ideals.

As such, Planet Waves asks you to join us as you are able in observing the ideals of a life inspired (not predicted) by astrology. As best as you are able, we invite you to participate in our Art of Service, which includes being liberated from the constant assault of corporate advertising. That liberation is made possible by those of you who become supporting members. Finally, let there be no doubt that all of us at Planet Waves pursue (and find) our own happiness through our practice of service to you.

You might also consider it worth your while to safely and respectfully observe the birthday of what comedian Bill Murray might affectionately call a “knuckle head” country, which may yet keep its promise to posterity.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.