Category Archives: Columnist

Sun in Leo: Keeping House in Your Heart

By Amanda Painter

“Let Love Rule” is a catchy slogan, and the title of an old Lenny Kravitz song. Yet putting it into actual practice belies its surface simplicity to reveal how much work and adjustment and self-awareness it can take.

The Capricorn Full Moon rising over Casco Bay, Portland, Maine, on July 19, 2016. Photo by Amanda Painter.

On the one hand, we humans are designed for it; on the other, we often do not choose to let love rule.

Or we try to, but so much can get in our way, not least of all ourselves.

As we head into the weekend, the astrology seems to suggest both that we let love rule, and that we do the requisite ‘housecleaning’ and adjustment to allow that to happen. We just experienced a beautiful Full Moon on Tuesday with the Sun in Cancer and the Moon in Capricorn, each late in their signs. So domestic cleaning/restructuring might already be in the works for you, though that might only be a metaphor.

The Moon is currently in Aquarius, and on Friday at 4:35 am EDT (8:35 UTC), it ingresses Pisces — a sign of deep emotion and sensitivity. Just less than an hour later, while the Moon is still in the first degree of Pisces, the Sun will enter Leo at 5:30 am EDT (9:30 UTC).

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Behind the Veil

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By Amanda Moreno

Well, my dears, the surreality continues. Sometimes I wonder if there actually is a man sitting behind a curtain somewhere, perhaps named Oz, who is orchestrating this whole show — and that I have a chance to interview him some day to find out what the hell he’s been thinking during this massive puppet play.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

Speaking of curtains…a wise woman recently wondered aloud to me if perhaps what we’re experiencing now is the lifting of ‘the veil.’ She mentioned the thought to me in direct to response to either the Pulse Nightclub shootings or one that happened shortly after.

I was kind of shocked at the thought at first. I’ve always kind of thought of ‘what’s behind the veil’ as a mystical-romantic concept or otherworldly reality. Home of intuition and goddess — the High Priestess’s realm.

I like it when someone says something that sparks an insight that makes me cringe or otherwise question my assumptions. Her remark made me realize: we really don’t know what’s behind ‘the veil.’ That’s the whole point, really, whether it’s referred to as the process of transitioning into death or the division between this world and the other, or whatever. Furthermore, it is perhaps technological advances that will illuminate the other side of the veil far faster than, say, an initiatory, esoteric or magical system, prayer, religious lineage, ecstatic dance work or any of the other systems that have been passed down through the ages.

All at once, events hit closer to home for each of us; partially because they’re happening in seemingly more rapid succession, but mostly because they are broadcast instantly, permeating our consciousness all the time through television and internet, and with even more impact through social media. Our faces are constantly being smashed up against a ‘reality’ that is at times shocking and maddening in its inhumanity, and at other times punctuated by flat-out ridiculousness; it’s bringing a constant state of incredulity to consciousness for many.

As our faces get smashed time and again, our defenses are being stripped away by rapid-fire social media inundation. Are our filters strengthening or disappearing? Is our discernment increasing or being dulled?

In the face of everything it seems like people are fumbling, stumbling and reaching for meaning — perhaps to mediate such rapidly increasing consciousness and awareness — in increasing amounts, at the same time as rampant, violent racism, sexism and hate are exploding into view all around us. Has the increase in both facets just always been there and is now projected more? Or are they increasing?

I think about the world immediately surrounding me. I’ve been teaching “AstroCircle” workshops once a month for about two years now. I recognize the increasing enthusiasm and wonder of the participants as we sometimes sit around a built, three-dimensional zodiac wheel with images and symbols laid out so that people can, for example, ‘sit where there Mars is’ and see the full wheel and corresponding images laid out in front of them. I recognize that I taught an intro to Shamanic journeying workshop recently that brought in a host of new (to me) participants who were buzzing about what they learned after the class ended, sharing phone numbers with each other. Reportedly they were heard around the neighborhood the next morning talking about how excited they were to learn such a thing.

I posted something on Facebook yesterday, acknowledging the emotional intensity of the current Moon cycle, with the reminder that it is in fact a cycle, and drawing people’s attention to that. So many people ‘liked’ it and thanked me for the reminder or validation that I had to double check and confirm — it wasn’t just the usual fans of astrology acknowledging the simple statement, it was people who I often think of as total science/atheistic types.

I’m always careful not to put too much emphasis on ‘blaming’ the Sun and the Moon for reactions and events. There’s plenty going on in the world other than an intense Moon cycle that might cause an emotional reaction or twelve. But seeing life in terms of interlocking and interconnected cycles has always been helpful for me, and sharing that with others seems appropriate.

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What an incredible tool this astrology thing is for transitions and initiations — a construct and map that helps us navigate the revelation of what’s behind the veil. Because of that, I’m increasingly coming down more firmly in my belief that to be effective and relevant, astrology does indeed need to be rooted in a spiritual belief system of some sort.

It isn’t mundane. It is magical — and practical.

I’m really just pondering some things in free-flow form here. But if I bring it back to my wise friend’s comment, to the cringe-worthy notion that perhaps for some of us, exposure to things like racist homicide is akin to a lifting of the veil — of delusion and illusion perhaps — there is a shock element that compels me. It’s almost as if I’m grasping a new understanding of what it is to die ‘unconsciously’ — to be taken into some weird bardo, purgatory or nightmare state from which I have no idea how to escape and in which I have no idea how to navigate. Stunned into disbelief.

There’s an often-paraphrased notion that goes something like: when the darkness seems to be getting darker it’s only because the light is getting brighter. It’s been an intense few weeks. But I reflect on the seeming increase in people using tools like astrology to understand and orient, and I see some light.

I read Fe’s column this week, so beautifully and humbly real and yet optimistic, and I can’t help but re-state and reaffirm something she closed with: it’s time to throw ourselves into the magic that is our lives — our art, our music, our sex. Our self-awareness and growth. Question, express, dissect, live as honestly as we can as our filters change and our hearts get torn open time and time again. Dance through it, love through it, cry through it, tear down walls that need trampling and continue to question and revise.

Something huge is in fact being revealed, and I do believe our best course of action is to live from the heart and embody the passionate, compassionate qualities of our incredible human hearts — even when the process of opening them feels unbearably painful.

Role With It

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As discussed in this column on Friday, today’s Full Moon is rather unique because it takes place in the degree of Capricorn where Mars is exalted. Nonetheless, today’s opposition between the Sun (in Cancer) and the Moon (in Capricorn) has at least one thing in common with all Full Moons.

When the Sun and Moon share the same degree of the same sign during a New Moon, any trend initiating at the same time (and seeming to correlate to the New Moon) will tend to elaborate for weeks on end. Not so with a Full Moon. In contrast, any energy corresponding with a Full Moon will often taper off rapidly.

When a Full Moon takes place late in a sign, the usual tendency towards the ephemeral is even more pronounced because both participants (Sun and Moon) move on to other signs soon after. That’s a big deal.

In mundane astrology, a celestial object changing signs is one of the biggest deals of all. One metaphor that might help you to understand the significance of a sign ingress is a theatrical one. Think of the object in question as the actor, and the sign as a costume. Although there are some notable exceptions to the rule, most of the time the same actor in a new costume represents a different role.

A bit more than four hours after today’s Capricorn Full Moon, which occurs shortly before 7 pm EDT (22:56:31 UTC), Luna will doff its Capricorn costume and don Aquarius raiment. If you are awake for the occasion, you might well note a more intellectual detachment taking over. If you are asleep when the Moon slips into Aquarius overnight, you could very well experience a difference in dreams as compared to the few nights before.

Because the Sun is likewise in the latter days of its role in the costume represented by the sign Cancer, you can also anticipate a new solar role coming up. That will come on Friday shortly after 5:30 in the morning EDT (9:30:08 UTC), when the Sun comes home to the sign that represents its astrological dominion: Leo.

As Robert Hand succinctly noted in his book Horoscope Symbols, the astrological symbolism of the Sun is rather straightforward. The Sun’s emblematic role in astrology corresponds directly with the role of the actual Sun in your life. As Mr. Hand put it, the actual Sun is day and light at its most fundamental. Correspondingly, then, foremost among the Sun’s astrological correlations is the illuminating light of consciousness.

Hence, the annual tour of the Sun in its home sign of Leo represents a time when one might be best able to be more consciously aware as compared to other times of the year. Of course, that role is also yours to play.

The process of raising your understanding from just below the level of explicit awareness and into the daylight will differ depending on who you are. Nearly everybody, however, has the experience of a light ‘coming on’. Sometimes the experience happens in the process of being educated when a teacher says just the right thing and you ‘get it’. Other times after a long process of persevering in solitary study, a metaphorical bulb will appear over your head. Either way, you get the idea. The impending role of the Sun in Leo is to set the stage for you to get any idea that has been eluding you up to this point.

Your role after today’s Capricorn Full Moon is thus to do a bit of costume changing on your own. In all probability, your part will consist of putting on a proverbial thinking cap and persisting through whatever conundrums you are facing right now. There may be some significant work involved. You may need to extend the Sun’s light into the night by putting some so-called ‘midnight oil’ to use. On the other hand, clarity could come rapidly (in which case you might want to double-check to make sure that your brilliant insight is indeed correct).

No matter how it works for you, the hours and days to follow today would be a good time to be proactive in achieving greater awareness. If there is anything to the astrology (and if you do your part to bring it about) a dawning of some sort could be just over the horizon for you.

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Let Me Get This Off My Chest

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Let me get this off my chest right now. This week, there on national television live from Cleveland, Ohio, we are about to experience the rolling thunder review of human rights disasters played out with speeches and ending with balloons. In short, the Republican National Convention. There we will find it all: homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, bigotry, vagina-fearing and gun-lust.

You can stop reading right here, or we can go on. Honestly, given global and domestic events since this Mars station direct, I would prefer to not even write about this.

In fact, given what is going on around the planet and our country right now I would be much happier writing out the recipe for stewed shoes. But I know I cannot ignore it. I completely understand if you would prefer not to watch.

Me? I will check in five minutes per day wearing a gas mask with my finger on the remote’s “mute” button in case it gets really crazy.

Even while reluctant, I feel compelled to check in. It’s like placing a dipstick into a muck-infested pool to test whether the slime has begun to dissipate. I want to see what that ghostly moaning underneath the cellar stairs is. I want to see if there is any semblance of heart remaining in the zombie GOP.

I say zombie, because it seems as though whatever life-consciousness that was in the Republican Party has been slowly drained out by the GOP’s wan acceptance of the extremist Tea Publicans that are the party’s base, and their candidates: Mr. Donald “Deport-the-Mexicans-and-Torture-Terrorist’s-Families” Trump, and his running mate, Mike “Christ-is-Lord-and-Bring-Your-Rapist’s-Baby-to-Term” Pence. They are now the party of the dead.

Whatever remained of sane conservatives have flown the coop, refused to run, were voted out by the Tea Party faction in their state, or went on to work as lobbyists on K Street in Washington. We won’t even see former Republican presidential candidates Senator John McCain or Mitt Romney. That breed of GOP elephant is an extinct species. What remains is the obstructionist wing of the party willing to crater the world to get their way.

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Everything I’ve said so far is nothing I haven’t said before. Both Democratic and Republican conventions are week-long infomercials on steroids. What we’ll witness this week will be the presentation of policies by politicians based on the sullen ignorance we’ve witnessed with dismay over the last eight years. Starting today the themes covered will be under the banners of “Make America Safe Again”, “Make America First Again”, “Make America One Again”, and “Make America Work Again.”

I think a great many of us here are very over the message the Republican Party has to offer. So over it that I think even some Republicans are through with the party as it is. The one thing this week-long visit to the mind and heart of American darkness provides is that it is a way to wrap up any doubts we may have had about holding onto the past: the principles that the Republicans have been desperately trying to hold onto since Barack Obama took office.

But it’s 2016. Mars, Uranus and Eris are in motion and we need to get ready for the future. Changes are going to come. We need to be ready to meet them intelligently, compassionately. It’s time to glance back — albeit briefly — over our shoulders to the shit show on national TV this week and focus ourselves forward in response to it.

It’s as Eric always says: make art, music, sex and noise. Do it as much as you can now. Do it as a response to what you see and hear, and fight the lies that hold us down and back. We’ve got to keep scratching, pulling and pounding on the door this week that some so desperately want to keep closed. The future waits behind it. Let’s go there.

Better orgasms? Isn’t that a first-world problem?

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Editor’s Note: Carla Sanders, a longtime Planet Waves reader and commenter going by “Diva Carla,” shares here some of her writing as a sex educator; she most recently contributed an essay to the 2016 annual edition, Vision Quest. We looks forward to your comments about the piece below. — Amanda P.

By Carla Sanders

I teach people how to have sexual pleasure.

Meanwhile, thousands of refugees are trapped in limbo between bombed out homelands, death squads, and closed borders.

Terrorists bomb restaurants, concerts, and shopping centers.

In the United States, home-grown terror, armed at the neighborhood gun shop, mows down adults and children at work, dancing and going to school.

Police murder of African-American men happens almost every day.

Rape is commonplace all over the world as a violent act of private or collective conquest.

This isn’t even counting natural disasters, disease, famine and climate change.

Media eats it up like news crack, and throws on gas on the tension and fans the flames.

As violence and desperation continue on all continents…

I am writing an article on foreplay.

I hear a whisper from my inner judge.

“Isn’t the quest for sexual pleasure and the ultimate orgasm a ‘first-world’ problem?”

Searching my Soul for the answer, it only takes a moment to see it, as if written in glowing red paint on a wall of a holy cave.

There is nothing more important than healing the wound that all of humanity carries in this tender place labeled “SEX.”

Cultures, religions and governments have split off sexuality from the rest of life, made it evil, tried to lock it in a box and throw away the key.

As a result people all over the world wander through life cut off from a core aspect of self. Individually and collectively, for generations, modern humans search for their lost parts and try to fill the void. What cannot be expressed freely as love and pleasure has a way of turning sideways and toxic. It becomes violence.

We see the effects in depression, dysfunction and violence in families, violence towards the environment, and violence in the streets. It becomes systematic rage, war, genocide. It spews forth hate as oppression of women, other ways of loving, other races and nationalities and religions.

We learn to suppress ourselves.

How can you help others if you are suppressing or struggling with your greatest power?

Look inside.

Look at that dark, silent little box where you were told to put your sexuality. Feel who you are. Feel where it hurts. Look at where the bandages are hiding your wounds (yes, that’s where the light enters).

Even if you are sexually open and have a great sex life, look anyway. You’ve put a piece of yourself, maybe a very large piece, inside that dark, secret box. There isn’t one of us on the planet who hasn’t felt this way.

That place where it hurts, or feels shameful, or like a failure or disappointment — that’s where the light is.

For now, just hold the box. No one will make you open it before you are ready.

Remember this: You are inside that box labeled ‘sex’.

If you’ve hidden away a piece of your Self in there, what else did you hide with it? What genius, what greatness, what love? How much work is it to hold yourself in, so that box stays closed?

Consider all these things, and what it’s costing you.

What is it costing all of us for you to hold your power in?

That’s why I write about foreplay — it is where where sex meets daily life and gets practical. Most of us experience sex through relationship, or desire to do so.

Foreplay is where we use our best erotic skills, intimate communication and creative love play for our own and our partner’s pleasure. It’s also where we rub up against each others’ wounds, expectations and secret hidden emotional triggers.

If over half the people having sex claim to be unhappy with their foreplay experience, then there are a lot of people who do not have full access to the power of their sexual life force. Something is locked away in that silent dark box. Sometimes just a little lovin’ or a little information will let it out. Sometimes more work, healing and education is required.

Foreplay is an erotic playground, and a sexual healing ground. If you are having trouble opening up the box where you’ve hidden your sexy communication skills and erotic confidence, practice your skills. If you don’t have a partner, practice foreplay with yourself. When you masturbate, give yourself as much erotic time and attention as you want to share with a lover, as much as you hope your lover will lavish on you.

Collectively we have a big mission — to live together peacefully on Earth. It is not an impossible mission if we each start the only place we can: within our own bodies and souls, soothing the sore spot where we are at war with ourselves. Love yourself into healing, and offer it to the people you are most intimate with: lovers, partners and self.

You are not a first-world problem. Neither is your sex life, or doing what it takes to enjoy your sex life more. Your pleasure — everyone’s pleasure collectively — is necessary to creating a more peaceful world.

Carla Sanders teaches sexual pleasure and orgasm, and guides women and men on their path of initiation. She believes that sexual expression is your birthright and an infinitely renewable personal power source. She lives in Maine where she swims, dances, stargazes and makes art. Her website is Orgasmicalchemy.com.

Everybody Can See

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Everybody with serviceable eyesight can see the Sun, weather permitting. The same is true for the Moon during the days approaching and achieving its fullness. Those are two important fundamentals for human beings to remember at this particular time on planet Earth.

So happens we are now in the days approaching the Capricorn Full Moon, which will take place this coming Tuesday, July 19. From now until then the illuminated portion of the Moon will be growing in size, until Luna is as fully lit as it can be.

In addition to “waxing” into fullness over the next handful of days the Moon will be visible during the early evening hours when most people are still awake. That’s how it works coming up to a Full Moon.

What the Sun and Moon are doing right now is something everybody can see so long as clouds don’t get in the way. The same cannot always be said for even the brightest planets. Even Venus, which is the only celestial object besides the Sun and Moon to shine bright enough to cast a shadow, can sometimes be elusive. Other planets are even less bright, and even more subject to being obscured by the lights and buildings of the cities in which so many of us dwell.

Fortunately, using the Sun and Moon alone we can at least infer a good deal of what is going on with the astrology. That’s especially true for the impending Full Moon, which will take place in the 28th degree of Capricorn shortly before 7 pm EDT (22:56:31 UTC) on Tuesday. That’s because the 28th degree of Capricorn is where Mars is exalted.

As Eric put it in the Planet Waves weekly edition yesterday, Mars is at “center stage” from its current position in Scorpio for astrologers right now.

Unfortunately, everybody can see how the front and center presence of Mars in our current astrology is now predominantly being expressed on Earth. The recent series of tragically violent events all over the world can fairly be correlated with the less fortunate downside of Mars. Yet, that’s not all there is to how Mars manifests in actual practice. There are in fact two sides to astrology’s Martian story.

Ancient astrologers divided up celestial objects into good guys (“malefics”) and bad guys (“benefics”). Beginning in the 20th Century, astrologers like the late, great Al Morrison challenged that antiquated prejudice based on how things actually work out in the world. Now, most modern astrologers agree with the greatest living astrologer, Robert Hand. In the October/November 2014 edition of The Mountain Astrologer Mr. Hand flatly declared that “There are no benefics and no malefics.” Instead, astrologers now interpret planets to be consistent with what everybody can see.

Based on actual practice, everybody can see that every planet, every sign and every aspect has both an upside and a downside. The question of which side is expressing at any given time is usually resolved by context — where one object, sign and/or aspect fits into the whole. That holistic way of looking at things will provide both a useful and hopeful framework in which the implication of next Tuesday’s Full Moon can be understood.

One way in which anybody can understand the world is that things often go as far in one direction as they can before they must swing the other way. That’s obviously true of many natural phenomena, such as the seasons. It’s also a pattern that tends to evince in both large and personal scale human events. Astrology is no exception either.

The Moon, as it goes through its phases, is yet another example of moving from one extreme to the other that everybody can see. Indeed, one common way of interpreting a Full Moon is as a culmination after which Luna can only subsequently wane. Therein is reason for you to believe that you can act and make a difference to turn things around in concert with the skies.

Planets do not simply express from where they are in the sky or on the zodiac. Mars, for example, can be found to manifest from the signs it rules (Aries and Scorpio) and where it is exalted (Capricorn) at any given time, even if it is moving elsewhere.

A Full Moon precisely in the exaltation degree of Mars (which does not happen very often) implies that the violent downside of the red planet has gone as far as it can go before it must turn back and begin manifesting in more life-affirming ways. Given the importance of context, however, a fortunate outcome is not certain. A turnaround must be made to happen. That, as always, is where you come in.

That’s because astrology is not a spectator sport. You are part of the holistic context in which astrology plays out. It’s up to you to manifest the potential of next Tuesday’s Full Moon. Fortunately, you or anybody can see how to do it.

In a phrase, eschew violence. Act without violent means. Speak without violent expressions. Advocate for love, and against war. Be an example for others to do the same. Indeed, in the U.S. at this time you can commit the equivalent of a revolutionary act by simply not owing a gun. You don’t have to take it upon yourself to change the world. You don’t have to do the impossible. You simply have to do your part by not bringing any additional violence into the world.

If there is anything to what next Tuesday’s Capricorn Full Moon is telling us, the best time to do your part is now. Everybody can see that there has never been a more appropriate time to become an advocate for love and peace.

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The Planet Waves Boutique has plenty of balm for your soul. Come pay us a visit, put your feet up, and enjoy discovering all the wonderful readings we have to offer.

When the Whole World Feels Like a Scraped Knee

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By Amanda Painter

What do you do when you have a cut or scrape? Do you ignore it or keep picking at the scab trying to form? When resources, knowledge, motivation — or a value on healing — are lacking, those can seem like the only two options. But there are others.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

Depending on how severe the wound is one might need stitches, or surgery to remove a foreign object; maybe a simple lancing to release the pus.

You might choose to apply an antibiotic cream to reduce infection and stick on a band-aid to protect it from dirt and unnecessary contact while it heals. Maybe in addition you’ll try some ancient technique or wisdom: a little Reiki, an herbal salve.

Perhaps you’re the type to research the wound thoroughly and ask everyone you know what they would do. If you’re a child (or feeling small and tender and in need of some TLC), a loved one might kiss the boo-boo — and whether or not it heals the wound itself any faster, you feel a little better. It’s hard to measure that effect, yet it’s real.

People in the US and elsewhere are in a lot of pain right now — psychic, energetic, emotional pain — and could describe you. Specifically, the events of last week feel rather like someone has picked the scab off a giant wound we’ve been trying to ignore; one that has been festering to various degrees for decades or even centuries.

And suddenly, none of our usual methods of dealing with it seem up to the task. Ignoring it sure as shit won’t work; that’s partly what let it get so bad. Cutting into it with more violence will not work, despite the seeming need to remove something from the situation.

We can’t just cover it over and leave it alone — though a bandage made of empathy, a desire to understand, and the willingness to take responsibility for whatever part of it belongs to each of us might form a container in which healing can begin. Ancient wisdom — whether in the form of energy work or the most heart-centered religious and cultural teachings (“Love thy neighbor” comes to mind) — certainly seems to have a place.

Yet to be effective, that wisdom must be put into physical, active practice on an ongoing basis. That takes effort and awareness and devotion, and that can be exhausting.

What about kissing the boo-boo? Not exactly appropriate in any literal sense for dealing with complex racial and socio-economic class issues. At the same time, variations on that gesture might be absolutely crucial on a personal level, especially if you have directly experienced a trauma.

I’d even say that we all need to engage in some self-care and extra compassion for each other when the news (or life in your own community) is seething with images of violence, and the fear, hate and defensiveness that go with them. It’s not about being parental or childish: it’s about interrupting the constant firing of the adrenal glands so that you (or another) can relax a little and let your mind and heart do their jobs from a clearer space.

Which all brings me to the current astrology. The sky has been busy as we grapple with, seek to resolve and try to stay sane within the context of last week’s murders of two black men by white police officers and the subsequent murder of five white police officers by a black man. Race and class are complicit in a culture that is far from ‘black and white’, yet the unhelpful pull to polarize the situation is strong.

The Cancer Sun is squaring the Uranus-Eris conjunction (exact Friday through Saturday; Sun squares Eris first and then Uranus). You might say this is where we see the illustration of the compulsion to do something: to take care of the situation in some way; to care for yourself and those you love; to assert your identity. This might be especially true if you have felt marginalized culturally, or if you are surprising yourself with how willing you are to question national identity tropes (and question your friends and yourself on social media).

At the same time, the Sun is in a grand water trine with Mars in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces (exact Saturday through Sunday). Trines are all about flow, harmony and ease.

Yet, I can see how this particular trine could keep some people swirling in circles with all the pain in the air, since water signs are all about emotion. But self-care is not the same as withdrawing from the world and ignoring the wound; ideally, self-care allows you to reach equilibrium again to facilitate engaging the world and active healing.

In fact, noted astrologer Barbara Hand Clow writes that Mars trine Chiron “cuts down on the general tendency for trines to be lazy,” and instead can facilitate breakthroughs. She says that Sun trine Chiron attunes us to transmutation and “encourages a very creative view of the universe.” Her words are not a magic wand, but they are encouraging.

Finally, Venus (the planet of love) entered Leo Tuesday and Mercury, planet of intellect, did the same yesterday (early Thursday UTC). As Len Wallick pointed out, this would be a good time to emulate Venus and Mercury in the sign ruled by our life-giving Sun: let your mind follow your heart.

Stitches and band-aids and kisses might be good for scrapes. But in the realm of deep societal wounds and the personal pain we feel as a result, love and empathy must accompany awareness and action if we want to heal — even if we’re not done uncovering the severity of the infection yet.

The Planet Waves Boutique has plenty of balm for your soul. Come pay us a visit, put your feet up, and enjoy discovering all the wonderful readings we have to offer.

Follow Your Heart

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We live in times that test our capacities. Our physical capacities are tried by a physical environment different from that in which our species has spent most of its history. Our mental faculties are likewise subjected to an intellectual climate defined by information overload.

From a spiritual perspective, even just the basic facts of modern life are enough to challenge the strongest aptitude for belief. Finally, and perhaps most of all, current events are proving to be an emotional test for anybody paying attention.

Yet, if there is one proficiency that distinguishes nearly any individual human, it is the ability to endure. Your expected lifespan exceeds that of most animals. Time and time again you have demonstrated amazing resiliency.

While there may be no scientific explanation of your abilities to persevere in a functional way, you probably know the answer. It’s heart. Both in terms of the muscle that circulates your blood, and in a metaphorical sense, the heart that gets you through. Consider the final testimony of the late, great Muhammad Ali.

In his final moments, Ali’s organs failed one by one. Yet his heart kept beating. To the astonishment of loved ones who were there to witness his transition out of this mortal coil, Ali delivered one final demonstration of his greatness — and your own. Nearly half an hour after his mind and body had otherwise shut down, he sent a message from his heart to yours.

That message is to follow your heart. No matter what your mind may tell you, at least listen to your heart as well. No matter how you choose to believe, only your heart can vindicate your faith. No matter what you set out to do through the means of physical body, unless your heart is in it, it won’t get done. Of all the things you trust, you know that your heart is the most reliable.

Those who distinguish the bodily energy centers called chakras discern that the heart is the center of them all. It is the place where earth and sky come together. It is where all other complementary principles and phenomena are reconciled.

Similarly, astrology’s zodiac may also be said to have a heart. It is the cusp where the single sign ruled by the Moon (Cancer) and the solitary sign ruled by the Sun (Leo) come together. Late tomorrow (or early Thursday, depending on your time zone), Mercury will cross that cusp.

Among its many earthly correlations, versatile Mercury corresponds to the mind, thoughts and intellect. In other words, capacities of your brain. It is customary to assume that the brain is the boss. As a matter of fact, that assumption goes so deep as to be almost (and ironically) unconscious. Yet, as Muhammad Ali proved after losing consciousness, the heart — and all it is associated with — can and does go on even when the mind does not.

Interestingly, the planet perhaps most associated with the heart’s highest capacities has led the way. When Mercury enters Leo tomorrow, it will be following Venus. For the time being, at least, the planet most properly associated with the heart’s ability to love is out in front of Mercury. It is not an example to be ignored.

During these times when your capacities are being put to the test, you could do a lot worse than to follow the example Mercury and Venus are now setting. For the time being, at least, let your heart and its capacity to love lead the way for you. To be sure, it would be wise to follow up with some sound and consciously aware thinking. For, just as Mercury and Venus are but parts of a larger system, so are your heart and mind.

For the sake of your own system, however, rely on your heart. At least until Mercury catches up to conjoin with (and then pass) Venus this weekend, depend on your strongest part — your heart — to get you through any confusion, any challenge, any trial. If there is indeed any harmony between what’s above and what’s down here below, you won’t be sorry for letting your heart lead the way for now.

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