June 7 is coming, and the last few primaries and caucuses will be taking place. They start with my state, California, a rich prize; after that, there’s New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico.

As far as the nominations go, we are at the end game. Trump is the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee and Hillary is very close to securing the Democratic nomination.

Even though Sanders’ campaign is fighting to contest how the primary and caucus system shook out, the current system is what it is until we figure out a way how to change it. Getting through the progression of the Democratic primaries, particularly after the melee at the Nevada Democratic convention last weekend, it’s a good time to take stock of where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Even as someone who decided to vote Clinton in the primaries for the nomination, I always thought Sanders’ message addressing the country’s economic inequality was strategic and timely. But not everyone felt that way enough to vote for him. For some it was thought that addressing economic inequities would alleviate the country’s social inequities of racism and sexism. But it was not enough, nor was it clearly communicated by the Sanders campaign to the people whose lives depended on it.

No amount of the theme of economic inequity can distract you from fear for your child’s safety. Not in the days of Black Lives Matter and George Zimmerman auctioning the gun that killed Trayvon Martin.

The Clintons already made inroads with African American communities that were decades long, and they had the right buttons to push. The one demographic that signified Clinton’s success in the 2016 state primaries was the higher percentage of Clinton support by voters of color. There are some who will argue that Clinton is a tool of the 1%, and is purportedly a hawk, yet she addressed social issues more clearly than Sanders. I know I will take flack for this, but the votes for Clinton by African Americans and other people of color, women and LGBT people also have to indicate the level people felt supported by her through her career and history.

The income and social inequalities this nation suffers was clearly expressed and responded to by the campaigns of these two candidates. Which brings me to the point of this phase — the end game: where Senator Sanders needs to conclude his efforts in the primaries and determine a next course of action, and Secretary Clinton needs to open up the flaps of the Democratic tent to bring Bernie’s supporters aboard. With their agendas as candidates separate yet equal, a unification of both would certainly heal the rifts caused by the political fissures we’ve experienced — most recently in Las Vegas — and elsewhere in the nomination process. And it would certainly make sense.

Ironically enough, Clinton’s slogan for the general election is “Stronger Together.” You can infer a lot from that silly phrase, but I hope it is a sign that she’s intending to open wide the circus tent of the Democratic Party to let Sanders and his supporters in. Because we need them, not only for their votes but also for their ideas and ideals. Based on the groundswell of support in the US from being a candidate who registered under 10% to almost catching up with the party front-runner in less than a year, the Sanders campaign and its ideas are here to stay.

After June 14, when the last primary — the District of Columbia — takes place, the two candidates can take stock, and figure out how to meet each other halfway. They both carry the best goals and deepest aspirations of their party. Why can’t the party platform include both? It is with that I leave with this message of hope: Even though we’re at an end game for one phase, this is only the beginning.

By Rob Moore

Are you finding yourself to be of two minds about physical intimacy and sex lately? Does the idea that we need to feel free to choose what we most desire ring true to you? Yet with sex does this feel like a grey area? There’s an awful lot in the current astrology that suggests any number of us could be ironing out such ideas for ourselves.

This weekend is the Full Moon in Sagittarius. Full Moons are renowned for heightened emotions and urges; Sagittarius is the adventurous sign with a reputation for racking up sexual conquests. I’ll let you do the math.

Add to that Mars retrograde bringing our focus inward, plus the Sun’s new arrival in Gemini, the sign of the twins. Desire, sex, ideals, contemplation and a duality of any of the above are on the radar right now. In addition to Eric’s more comprehensive lay of the land in this week’s Planet Waves FM, I also recommend a look at Amanda Painter’s suggestions on constructively navigating this time period.

In the broadest of terms, there are those who feel a soul urge to explore their sexuality, those with a soul urge focused completely elsewhere, and those who are focused on trying feverishly not to focus on their soul urge to explore sex. In what shade of this spectrum are you?

Just to look back over humanity’s more recent sex-related movements: First was the free love movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Then came the ‘love yourself’ and ‘unconditional love’ ideology of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, coupled with protect-yourself-from-sex campaigns that ensued following the AIDS epidemic. What came next was a sort of rebellion against the latter as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC ushered in an era of premature eroticism. I’m not perfectly sure what kind of corner that suggests we turned.

Wherever we are now, it is an era in which the term ’sex-positive’ is thrown around a lot. It was coined to represent the ideal that any consenting adult can have sex with any other consenting adult in any way they choose, as long as doing so brings no unwanted physical/emotional/psychological circumstances to anyone in the process.

Sounds wonderful as well as reasonable. I’m all in. And yet, the reaction that so often arises at the mention of sex still seems to be, “Bad” or “Naughty.” Or at minimum, “This isn’t really okay, is it?” Even if such ideas are very insidious and beneath the surface.

Sex is something that naturally lends itself to being very private; I will wholeheartedly give you that. In the grand scheme of things it’s only a handful of us in the artistic world who feel a strong urge to use sexual arousal as our canvas. And even amongst us, shame and embarrassment raise their heads during the course of our craft. Matter of fact, as much as I love creating erotic and compelling imagery, when it comes to joining sexually with another, I far prefer to demonstrate what I feel inclined to do rather than say what I’m wanting. Oh, us contradictory humans.

Okay, so maybe at least the one thing the majority of us living and breathing can agree on is that sex is a deeply personal matter that brings up many feelings. That’s okay. So does music. And great cinema. But then those latter two are art forms that are removed from real life just enough for the feelings to be considered safe. Now if we can just get okay feeling what is undeniably in our face, in our bed and very, very real, I’d say we’d be getting somewhere.

In so many ways, I don’t find sex to be our only innate internal conflict. It’s many things: It’s death. It’s over-excitement. It’s vulnerability. It’s chaos and confusion. It’s more going on than we know what to do with. In a nutshell, it’s feelings. I have certainly found the sooner I can get to a place of ‘it’s no big deal’ — about sex, anger, death… anything that seems all-consuming — the faster peace is restored.

In my college years, I think I mentioned one time that I liked Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Can. Funny the things people take to heart. For my circle of friends, this was one of them. I was frequently taken to Warhol exhibits and given posters of his work, which made more people later in life conclude I was a hardcore fan. Anyway, for a long time I had an ongoing Andy Warhol theme happening in my life.

For my birthday one year a friend gave me a book on Warhol. It included quotes by him, many of them quite vain if not asinine. But an almost blank page in that book revealed what he claimed was his life philosophy. It was quite simply, “So what?”

Warhol explained briefly that he applied it to any situation and anything he might be wrestling with. This tiny notion turned out to be one of the most fundamental building blocks to living my life freely and peacefully. For a good year, I would stop cold and apply it to anything that was unravelling me:

For the third time this month the neighbors saw a hookup leave my apartment.

So what?

They know what I’ve been up to.

So what?

They might think I’m a ho-bag.

So what?

I’m embarrassed.

So what?

So I don’t want to feel that way.

So what?

So I don’t want to feel a way that I don’t want to feel.

So what?

Hmmm… so… maybe this is all about getting over a feeling.

As simplified as that example is, it always comes down to a judgment and how we feel about it. And although it can technically involve somebody else’s judgment, it ultimately comes down to our own judgments and our own feelings.

One of the more recognized ideas from A Course in Miracles is, “Guilt is always totally insane and has no reason.”

Just for the record, when I studied this channeled work in my late 20s, I didn’t merely buy such ideas hook, line and sinker. Just as Eric approaches these ideas each week in The Miracle Hour, I dissected such seemingly too-good-to-be-true concepts, turned them inside-out, flipped them on their sides and everything else.

In connection with other metaphysical works that spell out the same idea, I have come to realize that guilt is indeed totally insane, which completely supports the notion that ‘there are no big deals’. None. In this light, any sex we feel moved to have would better serve our overall lives by being completely embraced — as well as the feelings that are an integral part of the package. I do not mean a flip disregard as if it were nothing. I’m talking about a deliberate, considerate, caring integration into the whole of our lives.

I don’t find being scared of sex or repulsed by sex to be very metaphysical. I am more inclined to see such conditions as barriers to the metaphysical.

Another brilliant gem, which is credited to numerous sources: “Be for something and against nothing.” I really don’t care who said it or where it came from, I call it a ‘gem’ because my choice to actively live this way just feels so much more transcendent than grinding against a list of things. From this perspective, I identify more fully with someone who’d rather stay home and read a book than have sex than I do with someone who’s on a soapbox pushing abstinence.

I embrace — or at least fully consider — all forms of mutually consenting sexual expression. BDSM culture therefore figures into the landscape. As such, I quite frequently come across those who have gone from the extreme of fundamentalist abstinence to fundamentalist satanic worship. This is of no interest to me. I already walked away from Christianity. Satan worship merely serves to further empower Christianity; it’s all part of the same belief system. Besides, I went to such extremes in my youth. Balance in all things is what I seek now.

It has been my experience that making the choice to live a life unencumbered by guilt — and therefore taking the steps to recognize feelings of guilt for the nothingness they are — is far more than merely living without a care. It actually comes with a sense of gravity. You begin to see that you are totally responsible for your actions and how they may affect others. With no hell or punishment in the wings, it becomes imperative to uphold the highest ideal in all matters. For your deepest gratification and for that of all others involved.

I think the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians is a great example — in theory anyway — of personally upholding a high ideal. And while we’re at it, let’s consider what doctors do. Doctors wrap their heads and their hands around every body part and everything that comes out of those parts. Nothing is off limits, disgusting or prejudged. And doctors are members of society who are generally revered.

Similarly — if the Bible has any historic accuracy — then Jesus made the conscious choice to hang out with prostitutes. I suspect this wasn’t about trying to score with them, but rather about their firsthand experience of human nature. Some of my best friends are escorts. I have found them to be able to see, live and embrace a bigger picture that incorporates an absence of judgment, not unlike that of trusted doctors. Matter of fact, there are doctors who pay their way through medical school doing escort work. I personally know of two.

As we delve into Gemini energy in the coming weeks, there is much to support bringing such double-sided topics like sex into our own personal consideration. Actually, flipping any number of coins over and re-familiarizing ourselves with the other side could serve us rather well. The whole exercise may reveal something we couldn’t have noticed until now.

After all is said and done, who knows? Whether it’s meditation, video games, art, literature, fried chicken, a musical composition or sex, maybe the only thing we ever need to ask is, “How do I want to experience this very moment?”

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By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

In the culture of the last century, my generation was schooled in civics and encouraged to stick up for our principles; if we had some, that is. Sadly, it seems that a lot of the Boomers have given up principles for comfort, and many of our younger citizens haven’t thought much about theirs.

Once identified, refusing to betray our standards may not be an effortless path, but it’s the one that allows us to feel good about ourselves, to sleep well at night. That may explain the epidemic of insomnia in America.

As I write, a television commercial in the background (promoting stock investment) insists that we must do whatever it takes to care for our families, which may explain why so many people aren’t bothered by working in jobs that routinely cross ethical boundaries. I’m calling a pox on having to choose between two concepts about which I feel so strongly, which probably also explains why I kept jumping off the corporate ladder, eager to distance myself from feeling ethically compromised.

I suppose that also explains my unimpressive bank balance. A legacy of the era just past is that crime DOES pay, which is one of the reasons Obama’s standard line about ‘playing by the rules’ rings hollow and seems a sure road to becoming one of Trump’s losers. Ask the kid with a college degree and no employment. Ask the industrial worker whose job has gone overseas. Ask the whistle-blowers and the truth-tellers who had to run for their lives.

Denying Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, is, arguably, the Republicans standing on principle — the one where the black guy mustn’t get anything accomplished on their watch. They’ve stood by silently while somewhere in the neighborhood of a million people lost out on food stamps in April, because, well, because their passion for family values doesn’t include feeding them. They feel the same way about school lunches, even though that’s the only real meal some kids get. Responding to the wishes of 80 percent of their base, they’ve rushed to embrace Donald Trump, although it seems as though they all despised him just twenty minutes ago.

In fact, some 67 percent of Pubs have decided that Don shares their values, 62 percent think he’s honest and trustworthy, and an astounding 54 percent think he has the temperament to do well in America’s top job. I think that the majority of those polled (NYT/CBS) were male, since Trump is champion of white males, but we can’t tell for sure. Women’s blanket bi-partisan disapproval of Trump does not guarantee political behavior.

In a recent conversation, my dear friend, Fishin’ Jim, said, “If you were a Republican woman you’d vote for him.” I answered, “If I was a Republican woman I would probably vote the way I was told.” My bias may be showing in that response, but anyone who could chart Trump’s patronizing of females he fancies, while directing mean-spirited attacks on those who cross him — all to be forgiven, it seems, with a sheepish, child-like “excuse me” (@ 6:41)  — and still champion him as the answer to America’s problems, has no authority over their own perceptions, let alone their reproductive decisions.

No, even with the Koch brothers pulling out their funding (warning: to focus on state candidates) and the religious contingent keeping mum, the GOP establishment is rushing to embrace their presumptive. Trump had a ‘great’ meeting with Paul Ryan on Tuesday, resulting in both announcing progress in ‘unifying the party.’ Later in the week, Donald met with Henry Kissinger for a friendly chat. Too bad Nixon isn’t still with us, the two share a level of cynicism and paranoia (read that pathology) that would lead to some fascinating sound bites.

Ultimately then, Donald Trump IS emblematic of today’s Republican Party, running from the party discipline of the old GOP and recreating it in his own image, which is so much a shape-shifter’s that it’s hard to tell what November will bring. Meanwhile, the Dems still have some sorting to do, despite Hillary’s announcement that she is, indeed, The One. The establishment candidate lost the Oregon primary and tied Sanders with less than a half percent ​ in Kentucky, similar to her win in Missouri with less than a full percentage difference. The Daily Beast called it a ‘razor thin’ win. It also called Hillary wounded.

Hillary was wounded going in. She represents all that’s solid and fixed — bought and paid for — at a time when none of that is welcome. Despite her numbers, it ain’t over ’til it’s over in the race for Democratic nominee. Yes, Hillary has the super-delegates. No, Bernie can’t collect enough to beat her. And yes, the system is rigged — SUPER delegates? Really?

No, Bernie is not likely to get the nod. Yes, he has a better chance of winning against Trump than Hillary does. And no, the establishment may (?!) win the fight for the status quo in 2016 but it will not — repeat, NOT — win the future of the prog​ressive movement. That is already well begun.

Over two decades of Clintonism — right-leaning triangulation and deference to corporate interests — have established loyalty to the system and its patrons as paramount for congressional lawmakers, especially with Citizens United poised to throw an expensive monkey-wrench into the works of those who don’t behave. While Bernie hopes that the super-delegates get a clue about who holds the stronger hand on the left, the cost of breaking ranks and turning toward the progressives is high indeed.

Any super-delegate who wishes to jump on board the Sanders express faces immediate punishment from the Democratic Party, which will withhold funds, important contacts, and positions. The very thought of it has put the whole left-hand establishment into panic mode, creating such an uproar over the Nevada caucus that you’d have thought those pesky Berners were actually Trumpeters, punching and bloodying those innocent Clintonistas.

That didn’t happen. Nothing was thrown but words. It’s difficult for the Berners not to be passionate about their candidate, since he’s the only one who is actually representing a progressive ticket. Noam Chomsky confirms that the Dem Party is actually an organization of moderate Republicans, all serving the same corporate masters. This is where Hillary fits nicely and will hardly work very hard to pass the left-leaning policies she’s been pushed to promote.

Sanders, on the other hand, is the real deal, the New Deal. If you’ve waited (your young life) to entertain the possibility that the principles of democracy and the promise of the Constitution could come to life in front of your very eyes, it’s impossible not to become impassioned. The press and the Dem establishment are trying very hard to make these millions of voters the enemy of the democratic process right now, and some will believe it, but don’t be blindsided by the PR. Even Nancy Pelosi, hardly a progressive zealot, thinks Bernie’s doing just fine, getting more people involved in the party.

I’m hearing a lot of stereo about the Sanders movement this week, and I’m going to leave you with a weekend read to encourage you that, whoever wins, the movement itself will continue. It’s by Seth Abramson, who tells us that Sandersism has already defeated Clintonism in the mind of the public, and I think he’s spot on. There are also groups coming together to capitalize on the Sanders platform, creating a larger network of progressive politics. This movement is just begun.

I’d say progressivism has made a come back, but, well, it never actually went anywhere, did it? Bernie Sanders has been ​making the same arguments for decades, waiting for us to catch up with the desperate need for checks and balances. What ‘came back’ was the need for democratic principles and a longing for ethical governance.

It’s going to be very ​difficult to put a stop to this movement Bernie has made the heart of his campaign.  ​This is the foundation of our political future.​ Trying to convince people who are newly invested in civic responsibility and political principles to just forget about it is like trying to stomp out a forest fire with your bare feet. Seems to me that anyone who tries is just gonna get Berned.

Insight often comes unexpectedly, and from unusual sources. Often it takes the form of a small stimulus to help you recall something you already know. Such was the case when Amanda Painter shared her inspiration for reminding readers of yesterday’s weekly subscriber edition about Eric’s Spring Reading for 2016. 

To help the Planet Waves Core Community appreciate how Eric’s perspective on our current season could come in handy now, Amanda got a bit of insight by drawing a card from her tarot deck. 

According to her account, the card Amanda selected was, “the 7 of cups from the Rohrig deck, with `Frustraton’ at the top.” Unsurprisingly, that’s a theme that resonates with the astrology of this particular moment (and very possibly with your life).

After all, the Sun moving through the final degrees of any sign (as has been the case for the last few days) often corresponds with a conscious experience of frustration. The same can be said for planets in the same situation.

Additionally, any planet slowing down as it prepares to pivot and change direction on the zodiac can stimulate something of the same feeling. Yet, after all such times have passed (as they inevitably do), it’s not unusual to recognize that you have been there before and come through it all better than you thought you could.

Sooner or later your experience adds up. Eventually you learn to take periods of frustration with aplomb because you you have been there and done that. After a while you realize that things do change for the better as often as not (and that you change for the better even more dependably). The great thing about astrology is that it helps you to anticipate and catch the turning of trends as they happen.

If astrology is indeed any indication, several trends are turning now, and if anything for the better. Following the Sun’s ingress to Gemini earlier today, the Moon will enter Sagittarius tomorrow to oppose the Sun for a Full Moon representing the culmination of our current lunar cycle. Following the climax of its opposition to the Sun, the Moon will gradually and reliably wane to remind your emotions to unwind in kind.

Then, on Sunday, the end of Mercury’s retrograde in Taurus will be followed by a slow but accelerating recovery to gradually ease your mind.

Next week, first Venus, and then retrograde Mars, will complete their own respective tenures in their current signs (Taurus for Venus, Sagittarius for Mars).

Venus and Mars will then assume a new sign position: Venus enters Gemini and Mars will retrograde back into Scorpio. As they do so, they will essentially re-enact tomorrow’s Full Moon with an opposition of their own. It’s as if they’re reminding you that you have seen this before and emerged stronger than ever each time.

In each case of what’s coming up above (and what can be expected to correspond here below), you have been there and done that countless times. The fact that several iterations of previous experience are implicitly taking place at once can indeed correlate with frustration, but only if you allow yourself to be caught up in the moment and forget the insights conferred by what you already know.

In other words, this is a time for you to remember that there is nothing about the end of May 2016 that you are not familiar with. If you can simply manage to recall how it feels to come out of such a period, you will be able to use next week to get set for more fully appreciating yourself and your life, as opposed to setting yourself up to only wonder once again what all the fuss was about.

Be confident. You got this. 

Offered In Service    

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By Amanda Painter

You’ll be happy to know that Mercury finally stations direct in Taurus Sunday at 9:20 am EDT. Before you breathe that sigh of relief and go buy the new car/grill/phone you’ve been eyeing, however, remember that the days around a Mercury station are often the most challenging part (they can also offer key pieces of missing information).

So that’s a reminder to take things slowly and consciously, especially anytime you get behind the wheel this weekend.

Along with the usual advice to read the fine print (twice) and noticing whether you have your keys with you, the part about alert driving at legal speeds is especially important this weekend. See, we also have a Full Moon brewing. Mars is involved in that aspect directly, adding a need to stay aware of impulses based in anger, impatience or ego/resentment.

Even if you don’t have the urge to cut someone off on the highway to ‘make a point’, you’ll want to watch for that kind of behavior in others, and temper your reaction to them. I suspect that since Mars is still retrograde, how you handle your reactions and your beliefs about what constitutes ‘justified’ behavior are important for your own safety.

About that Full Moon: the Sun enters Gemini Friday at 10:36 am EDT. The very next day, the Moon enters Sagittarius (where it conjoins Mars).

A few hours later, the Moon opposes the Sun to make a Full Moon. This is the Sagittarius Full Moon, exact at 5:14 pm EDT Saturday.

Now, the question is, given the confrontational nature of a Full Moon, and given the potentially scattered or glitch-y tendencies of Mercury stationing direct, how do you go beyond basic mental housekeeping and safety precautions to actually use this energy creatively?

Yes, there is tension in the chart. But the solution to tension is not paralysis. The solution to tension is making a decision when faced with a choice — and noticing what you use to guide that decision.

You might find yourself guided by empathy as part of your natural tendencies. For most people, however, empathy must be a conscious choice. Look around at all the horrible things that people are doing to each other, including ‘casual’ cruelty online, and you’ll get a better sense of just how often empathy is not chosen. When faced by someone who needs some understanding and assistance, what do you do?

I suspect that for most of us, news reports about the inhumane treatment of Syrian refugees or yet another natural disaster are totally overwhelming. It can be hard to know what to do beyond making a donation.

One friend of mine, faced with a feeling of helplessness toward the Syrian situation, remembered Mister Rogers’ famous advice to “look for the helpers” in scary situations. She now blogs regularly on a widely read forum, featuring ‘the helpers’ who are doing what they can to assist the refugees, and points out ways that readers can get involved and know that their efforts, money or supplies will go to those who need it most.

That’s just one example. I’m sure you can think of others, some of which might be very direct and personal for you: the homeless person you see on the corner as you walk to work each day; the co-worker struggling with personal issues or an oversized workload; a friend who expresses that she is feeling cut off from friends lately and Facebook just is not cutting it.

Speaking of which: the very technology that lets us know about global suffering or a friend’s rough day also allows us to detach from it under the guise of ‘sharing awareness’ of an issue. Re-posting an article tells others about it, but what else can you do? Typing a heart emoticon lets someone know their pain has been seen, but it’s not a phone conversation or an actual, in-the-flesh hug.

Beyond the Sun moving into Gemini and the Moon into Sagittarius this weekend, we have a lot of planets in mutable signs right now (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces). That emphasis is going to continue for quite a while. In fact, Eric describes in his Planet Waves FM broadcast for this week how this Sagittarius Full Moon and the Gemini New Moon in two weeks are connected — and have an important message.

One of the key traits of the mutable signs is flexibility. That is, that ability to move from one state of being (or thought, or action) to another as necessary.

Have you ever thought about the difference between being grounded versus being resistant for its own sake? You could say that being grounded places you firmly in reality, whereas being resistant to change or to making a choice or taking action actually detaches you from reality.

You are being asked to make a decision. Are you resisting? Can you make the choice of empathy, and can you bring it from the ‘virtual’ into actual reality?