True to Uranus-Eris and the age of the internet, it would seem quite a few of my fellow Brits sleep-voted on Thursday. Certainly the morning-after regrets are bitter as we all wake up to the nightmare that is Brexit.

The Leave campaign: not at all racist, honest guv. Billboard illustrates an apparent line of migrants entering the UK, sold as a reason to leave the European Union. Photo by Reuters

The first twinges of horror undoubtedly occurred as Nigel Farage swiftly backtracked on one of the best-known campaign promises. (Admittedly, you’d have to be daft to believe the present government would give any extra money to the National Health Service.)

Next came the startling discovery that frantic Googling on the question “What is the EU?” had actually hit a spike just after the polls closed. As if that wasn’t enough, some Leave voters have said they didn’t understand the implications of Brexit and would now choose Remain. And now a petition calling for a second referendum — ironically started in May by a Leave supporter, just in case — now has over three million signatures.

Three days after the event, and we’re already beyond Monty Python style farce, into something so much more surreal it hasn’t yet been named.

So as we enter this brave new world and begin to clear up the debris, what exactly are we facing? As yet, no-one really knows. But there are some worrying indications.

Firstly, this is about much more than a quiet little divorce between the EU and the U.K. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar all voted overwhelmingly for Remain (in Gibraltar’s case, it was 96%). That means we’re looking at another independence referendum in Scotland, and Spain eyeing up the little rock to its south.

The consequences for Northern Ireland are a tad more serious: the Good Friday agreement was ratified on the back of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Where the border with Eire existed only in theory, now it’s suddenly more concrete.

A message to Glastonbury Festival-goers. Photo courtesy of Linda Rock. Click to enlarge.

Speaking of the ECHR, this handy little document — alongside some important workers’ protections, such as the 48-hour week and paid parental leave — will cease to be effective the moment we’re out the door.

Further, there has been a rise in racist and xenophobic incidents. I’ve heard a few people suggesting the Leave argument was much more complex than simply fears about immigration. I’ve thought a good deal about that over the past few days, and have finally reached this conclusion: bullshit.

Certainly, the EU is very far from perfect. It is a capitalist organization that serves big business as fervently as does the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — with some notable exceptions. But forgive me if I display skepticism at the idea of a campaign run by the likes of Farage and Boris Johnson centering on the delicate ethics of how best to eradicate world poverty, or to help developing nations. On the contrary, both campaigns have been criticized for their negative focus. Even the murder of an innocent and kindly MP seems, in the end, to have taught this nation nothing.

The apparent somnambulism at the ballot box speaks volumes about the level of consciousness of the entire referendum; as do the absurd afterthought reactions. It’s as strange an event as any involving the Drumpf. And frankly I am running short on patience, because it’s evident how little thought was given to the likely consequences of a result we may all now have reason to sorrow over. And despite the regrets and petitions and protests, there would seem to be no turning back. The sleepers have been rapidly and sharply awakened; and all Europe is feeling the jolt.

by Amanda Moreno

Happy Solstice, everyone. Feels good to have a layer of cardinal energy back at the forefront, even if sometimes the thought of Cancer as cardinal puzzles me a bit. Or perhaps it was that incredible Sagittarius Full Moon. Whatever the case, energy seems to be moving again — at least for me personally, at least in the past three days.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

The mutability of the last few weeks (or has it been months?) has had me feeling so swimmy that I’ve taken to answering the questions, “How are you doing,” or “How are you feeling,” with “I can’t remember.”

I was, however, amazed to discover a long-forgotten list of things I wanted to accomplish this year, written at the winter solstice, and amazed that I could actually check a few of the items off.

There has been some productivity and meaningful goal-accomplishing, even if I can’t quite find a way to cure what feels like a now-perpetual state of being untethered in time. Maybe it’s a phenomenon that is exacerbated by the fact I have been self-employed for four months now, and so the normal workweek structure has lost its meaning. Sometimes I wonder if there’s something to those woo-tastic claims of dimensional shift I often see floating around the internet. Is that just the New Age equivalent of the End of Days? Seems likely.

What a lovely metaphor the idea of “dimensional shift” can be, though. I mean, who actually knows what that would feel like? Is there even an agreed upon notion of what dimensions are? Perhaps there would be a measure of surreality — I know I experience that one a lot when I let my gaze shift out of the bubble I live in to other parts of the world.

For example, it is reported that for the first time ever, the number of refugees and displaced people rose above 60 million in 2015. I cannot even grasp what that means. Can you imagine? Or perhaps that’s too detached. Can you empathize? What would it be like to experience that level of displacement, especially with so many other people?

Dimensional shift perhaps shows up at the personal level as well. My dreams have been amped up for a while now, but one in particular a few nights ago really grabbed me. In it, someone I know who is in the spirit world was assisting my spirit animal — the one I work with the most, who was ‘retrieved for me a few years ago’ — through some dark, murky water. The animal was in bad shape, broken and clearly sick. My dearly departed loved one was trying to gingerly help the animal out of the water.

I awoke feeling concerned and a bit shocked. Is my power animal dying? Unwell? Is that a thing? And what causes it?

On the train that day, I did a quick little journey to see if I could check in with my spirit animal. He seemed sick. Quiet. Wasting away. And suddenly sadness hit me, both for whatever he was going through and because I realized how much I love this animal. This ally who has brought so much into my life. I didn’t have the time then to delve deeper, but knew I would need to do a more significant journey once I was back home again.

That day, I recognized many things. That particular spirit animal has a form of medicine I have really needed in the past few years — and that I still feel like I need. That said, I wondered if it was indeed passing out of my life, and whether a new form of medicine would come in or is needed. I felt at once a sense of urgency to do the right thing, whatever that might be, while also knowing that it might be time for that medicine to come out of prominence in my life. More openness to letting go. Again.

At home that night, I made my journey to the lower world, the home of vast landscapes and animal allies. When I finally found him, there was more of an energetic exchange than any kind of concrete, logical knowing what to do.

In typical Amanda fashion, what ended up rising to the surface was intense amounts of love and gratitude for this being’s presence and medicine regardless of what happens next.

I then journeyed to the upper world, to have a chat with my guides. They were able to give some more concrete insight — which I could actually sense clairaudiently, through sound, which is something that is quite rare for me. It was helpful. And it’s apparent that I am once again moving through a major shift — a dimensional shift, if you will.

One other thing that stuck out for me on the journey was a lot of activity coming through that seemed to be… noise, both visual and auditory. Images that I could qualify as negative or bad if I chose to, but that didn’t necessarily feel energetically “bad.” I wondered if it was just a sensitive attunement to the astral realms and all the stuff kicking around there, or stuff that I actually needed to pay attention to.

At some point, I did meet up with my departed loved one, which is a story for another time. There is so much to learn as one progresses in this kind of work, and sometimes I just have to trust my own judgment in the moment. This world — this dimension — and the others are wild and weird.

I don’t honestly know why I’m sharing this with you. Sometimes I think it’s helpful to just put the stories of journeys out there, especially to invite more openness to the process and a “you can do it too! If you want!” attitude. It also seemed a fitting metaphor for this long, rolling paradigm shift we’ve been immersed in for so long now. And perhaps there are other reasons for sharing, which will only become clear as you individually connect with different parts of what’s here.

That’s another part of what came through in the journey — the need to trust. Trust self, trust source, trust the universe that what happens, and what we are being asked to let go of or engage, are what is needed right now. In whatever time and space we find ourselves in.

For now, back to the list of goals. I have six months left to accomplish a lot. I’m not usually that stern with myself when it comes to timelines and concrete goal setting, but… it’s nice to try something different every once in awhile.

Attention anyone with a Cancer Sun, Cancer Moon or Cancer rising: Eric will be recording your birthday reading for the next 12 months — nicknamed The Cancer Illumination Kit — shortly. You can secure the lowest price we offer by pre-ordering now. Not familiar with Eric’s audio or visual readings? You can listen to last year’s reading here, as a gift.

We are now in a new season, defined by today being the first full day of 2016 with the Sun in the cardinal water sign Cancer. In the context of the rest of the astrology, this new season has an apparent theme. That theme is definition.

More specifically (and realistically) one might say we are now in a season defined by an imperative to re-define on both the individual and collective levels. You can see the process playing out in recent days through individual writers expressing themselves here at Planet Waves.

You can also see at least the potential of collective redefinition taking place in the U.S., Great Britain and other places as regards to political issues and candidates currently in contest. In all probability you are also facing either the necessity of adapting to, or the incentive to create, new circumstances in your life.

For astrologers, an all but stationary Mars in Scorpio is part of the picture. For you, it’s probably a big part. Normally, Mars moves around the zodiac at the pace of a degree every two days or faster. Like all planets nearing the end of a retrograde period, however, Mars is now all but stationary.

Specifically, Mars is currently in in the midst of moving very slowly in the narrow confines of one single degree of Scorpio for more than three weeks. Imagine being an energetic little kid attempting (or being obliged to) hold still for more than a few seconds, and you will get a clue about how Mars may well be said to be manifesting in your life now.

Even as much as you may be feeling it, a restless Mars only begins to define our new season on the whole. There is a deeper, more widespread and more prolonged level with which the impatient energy of Mars is connecting. That connection is so precise as to be profound in its implications.

Exactly 150 degrees away from Mars in Scorpio, Uranus and Eris are sharing the same degree of Aries at the same time. Astrologers refer to two planets in close proximity as a conjunction aspect. Hence, Uranus and Eris are conjoined. A separation of 150 degrees, in turn, is called a “quincunx” aspect. In general, the more precise an aspect, the more powerfully it expresses.

Among other things, a conjunction represents a marriage of sorts — two objects merging into one. When you take the revolutionary nature of Uranus and combine it with how Eris seems to correlate with issues of identity, the implication is a redefinition of self. Having Uranus and Eris conjoin in Aries reinforces the picture. That’s because the nature of Aries may be expressed through the declarative statement “I am.” Add in the fact that both Aries and Scorpio are ruled by Mars, and the current quincunx relationship between the Uranus-Eris conjunction and Mars takes on an even greater potency.

Among other things, a quincunx represents a time for adjustment. Depending on the constituent planets that make up the quincunx, and its context in rest of the zodiac, the adaptation implied may be either desired or required. It would not be surprising if you are now experiencing a bit of both.

Any proverbial itch currently originating from inside you probably correlates with Mars. That’s because Mars is usually thought of as a so-called personal planet. One reason personal planets are so called is because they complete their cycles many times in the space of an average human life. You can think of the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars as being quite personal.

Uranus and Eris, on the other hand, take a long time to orbit the Sun and make a circuit of the zodiac’s 12 signs. That length of orbit corresponds with the more impersonal forces expressing in your life — such as economics, politics and history. As such, the role of Uranus and Eris right now correspond with any push to adjust that originates from outside you at this time. The phenomenon may take the form of social pressure, the actions of an employer or the behest of a governing body, among the many possibilities.

Your place in the astrology of this new season very much parallels your relationship to what a change of season most usually corresponds to: a change of weather. When the weather changes, you need to adjust in order to attain or regain comfort. It’s not so much a question of whether you adjust to changing weather, either. It’s more a matter of when and how. The same might thus be said for who you are and your place in the world right now.

Whether any discomfort you are feeling about your identity or place in the world originates from the inside, the outside or both, it’s not so much a matter of whether you will adapt. It’s a matter what form the adjustment takes and how long it will take before you can feel right again.

As such, in these days of a restive Mars combined with Uranus and Eris to provide motivation, you should be more concerned about the consequences of inaction than the results of action. That’s especially true when you consider what the other planets are doing and how other parts of the holistic astrological picture are giving your some guidance. We will examine at least one of those other planets, and its role in the big picture, later this week.

For now, let your need for comfort guide the choices you make and the actions you take. Also, pay attention to whether and how the phenomenon of resistance (whether originating from inside or outside of you) may be contributing to or detracting from your ability to make mature and responsible adjustments to the current climate of your life.

Offered In Service

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.

I am openly a Jane Austen fan. She was sophisticated, witty, funny and a truly gifted writer. Even the fact that she was published under her own name in the early 19th century makes her a feminist icon. I’ve read all six of her completed novels, several times over, with very good reason.

So when I found this passage in Persuasion, you can imagine my disappointment:

Believe it or not, I have the body of a goddess. This is Venus of Willendorf, from c. 25,000 BCE. Photo by MatthiasKabel

They were actually on the same sofa, for Mrs Musgrove had most readily made room for him; they were divided only by Mrs Musgrove. It was no insignificant barrier, indeed. Mrs Musgrove was of a comfortable, substantial size, infinitely more fitted by nature to express good cheer and good humour, than tenderness and sentiment; and while the agitations of Anne’s slender form, and pensive face, may be considered as very completely screened, Captain Wentworth should be allowed some credit for the self-command with which he attended to her large fat sighings over the destiny of a son, whom alive nobody had cared for.

Personal size and mental sorrow have certainly no necessary proportions. A large bulky figure has as good a right to be in deep affliction, as the most graceful set of limbs in the world. But, fair or not fair, there are unbecoming conjunctions, which reason will patronize in vain — which taste cannot tolerate — which ridicule will seize.

This makes painful reading, especially so since nearly two hundred years have passed, and this stereotype is still in place. The word “fat” has the edge of a weapon, and obese people are more often than not portrayed as lazy, stupid and coarse.

Austen here displays the difficulty of characterizing an obese person with any kind of refinement; a problem that seems to have followed us all the way into 2016. In stories of all kinds we’re still the comic relief; swept off to the sidelines, unlike the devastatingly attractive hero and heroine. If we are allowed emotions, they tend to be of the cruder sort: near-comatose stupefaction, primitive anger, unquenchable cheerfulness. Or depression linked to the fact that we’re fat, and therefore ugly.

It would probably surprise many people who know nothing of me but my appearance that I’m thoroughly literate, that I enjoy intellectual pursuits, or that I care deeply about the state of the world. Or that my chronic dysthymia has no original causal relationship with my weight, other than in terms of the rather horrible upbringing that contributed to them both.

Working for Planet Waves and being exposed to Eric’s writing has shocked me into one realization in particular: that I’ve been living in denial of my sexuality. As a fat person, I’m not only considered undesirable; but I am not supposed to even feel sexual desire, except in the darkest recesses of my (obviously warped) mind — certainly not to express it. Sure, we’re a porn fetish genre. But definitely not mainstream; and an object, not a person.

It’s not exactly a healthy existence, physically or emotionally, to believe oneself ugly, disgusting, repulsive; to file away every compliment as given out of pity; to think one’s feelings are best kept under the hat, so as not to alarm or revile. Being the bloody world champion of unrequited love, and not being able to conceptualize real love coming in the other direction, is a dreadfully lonely place to be.

And I can’t bear it any more, so I intend to sort it out. I apologize in advance if my desires, hopes, dreams and affections offend my readers. But I’m afraid that as of today, I refuse to pretend they don’t exist.

Sorry, Miss Austen.

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.

Several months ago, after a long tenure as the so-called ‘morning star’ rising in the east before sunrise, Venus disappeared into glare of the Sun. The brightest planet has not been seen in the night sky since that time. It would be fair to say it has been missed.

Venus has not been visible since March because it has been moving on the other side of the Sun in relation to Earth. Next month, it will finally be possible to see Venus again on a new horizon, in the west after sundown. It would be fair to say the sight will be welcomed.

Today, shortly before 3:39 pm EDT (19:38:41 UTC) Venus will enter the sign Cancer almost exactly three days before the Sun does the same thing on Monday. With its ingress to Cancer today, Venus anticipates both a new season and its return to visibility.

When the Sun enters Cancer shortly after 6:34 pm (22:34:07 UTC) Monday, it will initiate a solstice and the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. Among other things, a new season represents a fresh start. It’s more than just symbolism. It’s something you can see. After nearly six months of rising and setting farther and farther towards the north, the Sun will quite literally turn around. After Monday, sunrises and sunsets will begin taking place a little further towards the south with each passing day.

Interestingly, this year’s Cancer solstice will be preceded by a Full Moon in the very last degree of Sagittarius just hours before — at about 7 am EDT Monday. The implication is that our current season and all that came with it is even now coming to a grand culmination.

Hence, our astral environment this weekend is one of overlap. Old trends are implicitly on their way out of your life, moving towards a final lunar crescendo. New trends are indicated to be on their way into your life, clearly anticipated but not yet palpably precipitated by the Sun and Venus.

Based on the symbolism of the zodiac and the implications of events in the sky, you might think of yourself as about to enter a liminal state. It is almost as if you are now about to transition between worlds, and even between lives, without having to go through the inconvenience of physical death first and starting over as a baby after. It would thus behoove you to be aware of how rare and special this weekend can be made to be.

Without your conscious awareness and participation, all that takes place above will not have anything but incidental correlations here below. That’s because you are not incidental to the universe. As a sentient being, gifted with self-awareness you have a role to play.

Your part is first to comprehend through observation, and then to manifest through corresponding action. Your job is to bring the heavens down to Earth, or not. Through you and other people, events here below are made to be coherent and consistent with events above, or not. Such is your place in the order of things. It is more than reflecting on old trends culminating. It’s more than anticipating new trends. It is your place to participate.

If you want to see world events turn around in coordination with the Sun turning around on the horizon, you will need to turn at least one thing around in your life. If you want the return of Venus on a new horizon to have meaning, you have to do something to bring it.

Being in a liminal state can feel a little apprehensive because you are neither entirely here nor totally there. Yet, there is an advantage to being between worlds, in that you can see both from a single perspective. If there is anything to astrology, such a perspective will be yours this weekend. If you want to do something with the perspicacity even now becoming available to you, allow an anticipation of better (or at least different) times to temper any apprehension of uncertainty and guide you to the other side. See you there.

Offered In Service

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.