You made it. If you are reading this you lived to see the Sun enter Taurus again, which it did at about 11:30 am EDT (15:30 UTC today). The Sun in Taurus matters because you matter as matter. The implication of solar Taurus is to proceed with the flow of the seasons to confirm your tangible self.

No matter where on Earth you are, there is now no denying the reality of the season that started about a month ago. Because the seasons of Earth are synchronized with the cosmos, there is also no denying your connection with the universe.

Furthermore, because you are part of both the Earth and cosmos, there is also no denying your physical existence and all that goes with it. Among other things, that’s what solar Taurus is about.

Now you can implicitly diversify your life beyond conforming to the requirements and expectations of others, at least a bit, and at least for a while. The best way to do so is to give your body some equal time to tell you how to confirm as well as conform.

For it is from the realm of physical needs, desires and understanding that the teaching of solar Taurus are best received. Being a fixed earth sign ruled by Venus, the Taurus season functions to confirm your special place in the universe. While it is entirely well and good to search for life elsewhere in the solar system and beyond, it is also essential that such explorations be grounded in the daily miracle you are a part of.

You are representative of a miracle: sentience grounded in and interacting with the physical. It is no small thing that you can move about from one place to another at will and with conscious intent. It is significant that you can ingest parts of your world and integrate those parts into a meld of body and mind that is continuously changing and exchanging with its surroundings while at the same time remaining a distinguishable continuum of identity.

Yet, in an age when digital connections often serve as a proxy for physical contact, it’s easy to take your body for granted. It’s the path of least resistance to live in and for what is abstract. So far as we know, however, your physical existence remains the necessary requisite to your mental existence.

One planet with a firm correlation to your physical existence is Mars, which stationed retrograde over the weekend in Sagittarius. Mars retrogrades are not exactly rare, taking place roughly every other year. It has been much longer, however, since a Mars retrograde has symbolically moved from one state of existence to another by moving from one sign to another. To have such a retrograde happen now is thus excellent timing, because it can serve as a metaphor to help get you get more fully and consciously into your body during the season when it is most appropriate to do so.

Fortunately, Eric has you covered. The work Eric has put into your Spring Reading for this year is focused on providing you with an awareness of how you can interact and exchange with the Mars retrograde much as you do with your physical environment. Eric’s approach will allow you to ingest information about what would otherwise be an abstract celestial event, so you can tangibly improve the quality of your physical existence.

As regards to both the bigger picture and longer term in which both the Mars retrograde and the current season exist, Planet Waves has you covered there as well. During a time when the often pernicious influence of campaign financing is a hot topic of discussion, it is also an appropriate moment to contemplate the degree to which financial support of any kind holds sway nearly anywhere.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s 2016 Spring Reading. You may Order all 12 signs here at a value price. Includes video readings!

It has been said that money talks. If that is so, then it can also be said that big money from corporate interests screams so as to drown out any competing or divergent message. The hegemony of corporate funding is at least as pervasive as the digital environment, and an alternative grounded in the truth of your physical existence is just as necessary.

Becoming a member of the Planet Waves Core Community is one of the few ways you can avail yourself of an alternative to always hearing what the corporate plutocracy wants you to hear. The information, perspective and tools that continuously flow to Core Community members are financed only by subscribers. What members get in return is content focused on your priorities, and presented so as to further your interests. As a fringe benefit you receive a continuous connection with others of like mind.

So take advantage of the season. Avail yourself of the connections less often made. Whether through your own body or through tangible participation in the Planet Waves Core Community (and hopefully both), there are options available to you. From those options you can choose. With your choices you can confirm that you are indeed a miracle manifested in matter with the power to make a difference for yourself, for others, and for the world in which you live.

Offered In Service

By Sarah Taylor

What an interesting and absorbing reading — at least from this tarot reader’s point of view. First, there’s the more immediate, easily accessible layer to the three cards laid before us. Then, there is another force of meaning that rises up to meet us as that upper layer is parted to reveal what lies underneath.

It’s also a potent reading. Potently feminine. (But not lacking in masculine. Oh, no.) Bear in mind that we all hold feminine and masculine within us, and our psyches host a dance between both that is ever-moving. So if you feel this reading isn’t for you when you look at the two figures on the outer cards, then perhaps you can think again.

The Empress, Six of Cups, Queen of Cups from the Haindl Tarot deck, created by Hermann Haindl. Click on the image for a larger version.

Let’s go for that upper-most layer first. We have a balance in the reading in that we have a Major Arcana card (The Empress); a “pip,” or numbered, Minor Arcana card (Six of Cups); and a Court Card — also part of the Minors (Queen of Cups). We have a second balance in that we have two distinctly feminine cards flanking the Six of Cups.

This is not only a celebration of the feminine, but a call to the feminine — the feminine in each and every one of us. This is a call to understand, embody and embrace the complexity of “feminine” — questioning and redefining our assumptions about her if necessary.

The feminine isn’t some sexualised add-on — known primarily for her fertility and her Playboy-esque buxomness that emphasises tits and ass over substance. The feminine is not simply some statue to add to our altars, without embracing her wholly in our hearts. She isn’t some frippery that frills out what it means to be driven in a driven world — some motherly respite and haven from the legitimate business of going out and getting things done; of being taken seriously.

This feminine — this wholistic, all-shade celebration of the feminine — means business. But it is business in her own way.

So if your business — whether professional, familial, financial, intimate — somehow feels slighted, or insignificant; if you feel like what you are embodying in your lunar, watery, intuitive, sexually independent and aflame, creative, cyclical femininity is not taken seriously — no matter what sex or gender you are — then it is time to look at the figures of The Empress and the Queen of Cups and hear what they have to say to you.

I am woman. Hear me roar, sing, laugh, cry, create, destroy, birth, bury, intuit, know. I am all of these things, and more. I am the beginning, I bring the end. I was there at your birth, I fed you through life, I nourish you now. I am the upper, and I am the under.

And I meet the masculine in my full force, as he meets me in his.

And this is where the second layer comes into the story — that meeting of the feminine who cannot be her full self without the masculine. The Mother of Cups (the Queen), who cannot be who she is without a Father. The Empress, the figure of Demeter, who descends into the realm of Pluto to find both her daughter, and herself.

The Six of Cups corresponds to the aspect Sun in Scorpio. Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Pluto — both masculine. If you look at the card itself, there are four cups on the left, bathed in the light from The Empress, and two on the right, in the darker earthiness, which is both the terrain of the Queen of Cups (as the goddess of Willendorf) and the god of the underworld, Pluto. But it is the two cups on the right that hold me, as they seem to come together in the darkness, a star falling into the top one (the light of The Empress), as they birth a bubbled embryo between them.

Persephone rises. There is birth; there is spring. Demeter and Pluto have come together to create a new way forward.

The only way this birth happens is for the feminine to have her full place in her world — in our world. Nothing can be birthed when she is relegated to a two-dimensional figure that pays lip-service to a role that is as integral as the egg is to sperm. That egg has to be viable; it has to be whole. The egg of creativity and potential is not a charm to be placed on a mantle, to look pretty. It holds and nurtures life.

So wherever it is in your life that you are holding back because your feelings are an inconvenience; or you are complying to some outward expectation of femininity, sexuality, sensuality; where you play down your intuitive abilities, your beauty (inner and outer), your shine, your razor-of-light-sharp knowingness that can guess the game in an instant. Wherever you are denying your connection to your body, to nature, to the world and its people while they call to you: this reading is the call back to nurturance of self and others, and the marriage between body and mind.

Both are richer for the union, and one has been sorely underestimated and under-used for a long, long time.

And, what do you know? Once again, the tarot cards are reflecting the astrology.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s 2016 Spring Reading. You may pre-order all 12 signs here at a value price. Includes video readings!

The Empress, as Venus, gives birth to The Emperor/Aries, associated with Mars. The Six of Cups is associated with Scorpio, which Mars will be retrograding through in a matter of weeks. We are shifting into a time of inner (feminine) contemplation of how we act in and move through the world (masculine).

The 2016 Spring Reading from Planet Waves covers this combination of inner and outer, higher self and physical self, spirituality and sexuality. And I know for myself that Eric’s readings are the most phenomenal piece of equipment to carry at times like these.

To get your own copy to help you navigate through the coming weeks, sign up here.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: The Empress (Venus), Six of Cups (Sun in Scorpio), Queen of Cups (the watery aspect of water)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.

By Rob Moore

I must tell you I haven’t felt all that connected of late. At least not to the degree that I feel most confident and at ease. I know why. It’s because I haven’t been having sex.

“Inner Contact” by Rob Moore.

Setting out with the intention of getting it on with someone (or someones) is something I have found to be among my most hallowed ground.

There is just so much going on throughout a sexual experience for all involved.

There is the merging of our energies as well as our physical matter. Emotions, passions, heat, fluids, questions, concerns, hopes, desires and a mutual goal to enjoy the moment to the fullest runs through us all during this incredibly intense and personal event. In consideration of all that, I make my most focused effort at being clear and present as I prepare to enter such connections.

Well, it’s that very exercise that’s gone missing for me of late.

Like my sex life, Mars has pretty much been sitting still in the sky recently from our view here on Earth. Tomorrow Mars officially turns retrograde. In the weekly Planet Waves newsletter that went out Thursday, Eric writes about the influences we will likely notice as Mars moves from apparent station to reverse motion.

Where in your life have you eased off the gas pedal as Mars has slowed toward retrograde the last few weeks? For me, a number of factors has had me taking a break from sex and my usual haunts to reconsider a few priorities. Topping the list has been the quality of my sex connections — which, I must say, is echelons above where it was only a few years ago. That has everything to do with the desire to be fully present today.

From what I can tell, it’s simply part of the human experience to ask, “What next?” once we’ve reached certain plateaus. As gratifying as sexual connections in the moment — and for the moment — tend to be for me, I have been feeling pulled toward these same types of connections with one key difference: that those of us involved allow ourselves to repeat the experience. In my past, that was synonymous with becoming ‘a couple’ and moving in together. Now I want it to be a testament to our satisfaction with who we are individually.

For some, this was accomplished long ago and they called it polyamory. Such has not been my experience, and the basic concept is one I desire to bring to personal fruition. Among the barriers to realizing this goal, however, is a tragic inability for so many people to fully own their sexual experiences.

Shame following sexual engagement continues to be a prevailing condition with us here in 2016. And I continue to be rather baffled by it, too. Especially in regard to my sexual tribe — homosexual men — who frequently and rather proudly advertise their quest for recreational sex. Great by me. Let’s go for it. And give it our all. And call it a day. Period. But how about at least saying “Hi” next time we run into each other?

Strange as it seems, the concept that ‘sex equals marriage in the eyes of the Lord’ appears to have been handed down even to those who do not subscribe to religion at all. Matter of fact, right this instant I’m recalling a friend telling me several years back that he realized this very idea was lurking around in him from somewhere. His hippie parents sure didn’t verbalize anything of the sort to him. Collective consciousness, maybe? If so, kinda scary.

The concept that I am quick to embrace from that dogmatic idea is that those of us who have sex together are indeed joined by the experience. I mean, come on, we just shared something very personal and intimate. That doesn’t happen with everyone. But neither does it mean we need to conjoin physically for the rest of our days. Or ever again, if we’re not both on board with it.

Yet I believe more of us are on board with going there again than we usually admit. It’s that idea that we’ll be ‘a couple’ by the end of the month that halts the proceedings. (Or perhaps the fear that we won’t be a couple, for some.) I’m now proudly advertising I want to experience a breakthrough in this area. And most recently, I’ve felt as though the planet of sex has been hovering right over the top of me asking, “So, where is it you wanna steer this ship next?”

While we’re asking questions, what kind of sexual experiences do you want for yourself? Be honest with yourself here. It’s just you in there, after all. Okay, now, what kind of sexual experience do you think a guardian angel or a higher guide or even God of the Universe wants for you? Not very many years back my honest answers to those two questions would have been radically different. Then I had a profound inner experience.

My personal meditation and reflection practices have always taken a wildly oscillating path. Sure, I’ve been a little off my game lately, but there have been periods when the most I could do was stare into space while clutching my morning coffee. That was what I needed at that time, though, so I let it be okay.

On the other extreme, there have been periods of higher-connection that were almost off the radar. During one such period, upon connecting with what I now consider to be the higher ‘guidance-octaves’ of myself, I was led into a most unexpected state of sexual arousal.

Thinking I had let my thoughts stray off topic, I tried to bring myself back to a higher place only to find — and to be flat out told by my guidance — that I was already in it. This state of ecstasy rose higher and became so intense in heat and passion I found myself physically held against the wall. The whole time my guide, who I was able to visually perceive, was right there in apparent total control of this scene.

This was already a surreal experience for me but it crossed the line into virtually unbelievable as I was brought to full orgasm. Very strongly attuned to audible perception during this period of my life, it was pointed out to me that this connection — which had more than adequately been demonstrated — was all I ever needed to access; particularly when connecting sexually with others; regardless of how off-center the physical nature of the activities.

I had intellectually deduced many years prior that what we consider ‘holiness’ and what is at the center of sex were likely of the same essence. That audible guidance I was getting from (seemingly) out of nowhere I most certainly considered holy. The holiest of holies, actually. Having that holy presence direct me into a sexual experience was all I needed to realize with my whole being there was no separation between the two.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s 2016 Spring Reading. You may pre-order all 12 signs here for less than $40. Includes video readings!

I must tell you, dear reader, that even with such a consciousness-expanding experience, it still took years for me to fully assimilate it and put the idea into practice. And in many ways, Mars retrograde looks to be just the right catalyst at just the right time. Conditions have become such that I’ve slowed things down long enough to really see where I stand with both my sex goals and my higher-connection goals.

In a post several weeks back following an undesirable experience with sexual enhancement herbs, I indicated my increasing understanding that the sexual results I sought centered around being more fully in the moment. I also indicated that I did not feel ready for such a tall order.

Just as Mars began to enter shadow phase, I had an excellent chance to offer myself to an encounter wherein ‘being in the moment’ was the defining factor of the physical outcome. I was filled with gratitude as I found that — without any special effort — I was staying in the moment with all the right organs responding enthusiastically. I came to realize I had been fully ‘in the moment’ during my sexual experiences for some while and just wasn’t giving myself credit.

It almost defies explanation how readily we can sometimes discount our experiences and where we presently stand.

As Mars begins its return over Sagittarius ground this week, is there anywhere you have cut yourself off from a truly inspired answer? Is there anything that has attracted you that has appeared too good to be true? Or just plain not realistic? At minimum, it is a fortuitous time to look again. There is much to suggest that what looked unlikely before may begin to show signs of promise. Who knows… by the time this cycle is complete, you may discover you’ve been ready for some particular something all along.

Eric will have the exciting new Spring Reading for you by April 17. Pre-order today for the best price, and get the lowdown on Mars retrograde. Includes video!

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Much of the political world has foot-in-mouth disease, and although news of it tends to send our blood pressure up and down like a yo-yo, it’s refreshing to finally hear something besides prepared patter, carefully crafted to befuddle our brains. The occasional blurt acts as counterpoint to canned responses and talking points designed to deflect legitimate questions and muddy the waters. Here are some examples:

The Donald went on talk radio and told anxious Republicans in Wisconsin that their governor, Scott Walker, had seriously wounded the state’s ability to function by refusing to raise taxes. While Donald’s style is one many conservatives admire — authoritarian, ‘the boss’ — that statement told the base more about Donald than about Walker. What was there to discover? Donald isn’t really a Republican.

Bill Clinton faced a group of black protesters to defend his putative 1994 crime bill — the one that has contributed to the incarceration rate ballooning into a bloated for-profit industry — by suggesting that the African-American community not only got what they wanted at the time, but deserved the harsh penalties established as law. Essentially, the Big Dog let his white privilege show and finally drove a stake through his honorary title as first black president, at least with the younger generation. He also confirmed that, much like his wife who is pitching a program of triangulation, moderation, and incremental accomplishment, Bill isn’t really a progressive.

Some blunders are on purpose, and newly crowned ‘establishment’ candidate Cruz made one awhile back. Jimmy Fallon hosted Ted this week, and when asked what he meant by ‘New York values,’ Cruz — responding to Fallon doing a Trump impression — displayed his clever but fairly creepy and off-putting ‘Green Eggs And Ham’ humor by saying “I love New York City. It is the greatest city in the world. When I said New York values, I was merely trying to say I value New York. But I was saying it backwards, the way Yoda would say it.”

Cruz has made little attempt to stump in New York, moving on to states with more potential. And while Donald has kept a low profile as well, expecting the vote to fall to him, New Yorkers will probably note, at least in Ted’s case, that his actions speak louder than words. Or maybe that earlier ‘values’ dig was plenty loud enough to reveal his bias against anything liberal, diverse, or secular. Bernie gave a pointed message to Ted on the Larry Wilmore show that you should see if you missed it. (So THERE, Ted! So THERE!)

Ted is not really any part of the Republican establishment, which clearly despises him but would rather lose the election with Cruz than allow Trump to shatter the party (too late!). Ted is better prepared to paste his radical theocratic absolutes across the Constitution than uphold it, a huckster more interested in the sins of masturbation [sic] than the well-being of the public. It should be noted that while being accepted as the ‘likely,’ not ONE legislator has stepped up to endorse him.

The fact that Mars is set to appear as though it’s moving backwards for a bit, giving us opportunity to re-think, is an important piece of information, but let’s applaud Mars in Sagittarius itself, for providing us a timely level of candor and ‘blurt’ that continues to strip the hubris off the bones of politics. The stumbles in rhetoric are legion, although we’re still figuring out who hears and awakens, and who simply interprets from the established playbook.

There was a major blurt on the campaign trail in New York this week, on the same day that Bernie joined a Verizon picket line, telling protesters that “Verizon is one of the largest, most profitable corporations in this country, but they refuse to sit down and negotiate a fair contract.” He called Verizon “just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans.”  That wasn’t the blurt, of course. That was Bernie being Bernie, in old-fashioned, Democratic, pro-labor fashion. He has marched with Verizon workers before, and likely will again. Verizon is infamously hostile to unions, and a major Clinton contributor.

The blurt of note came later, as medical doctor and activist, Dr. Paul Song, spoke at a Sanders rally. Song said:

Secretary Clinton has said Medicare for all will never happen. Well, I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo. Medicare for all will never happen, if we continue to elect corporate democratic whores who are beholden to Big Pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us.

Mainstream media and the Clinton campaign came unglued. Song has since apologized for his choice of wording, if not content. Me? I don’t think he should have apologized for either. When did the word ‘whore’ become unmentionable? Who can argue with ‘bought and paid for’? Are we really going to debate the possibility that democracy isn’t for sale after years of revelations about the Koch Brothers, ALEC, and Citizens United?

If there is anything REAL about what this campaign speaks to in 2016, THAT’S IT! Do we tell the truth about how things are in a nation gone materialistic, corporations gone predatory and capitalism gone rogue? Or do we continue to pretend that the way things are can’t — or won’t — change, but must continue for fear that something much WORSE will come along?

For all the current squabble about the pros and cons of political correctness, the concept of democracy for sale is off the table? Seriously? If that’s off the table, so is everything else that opposes the status quo!

In last night’s debate, Bernie Sanders should have made news with his declaration that Palestinians were people too and deserved safety, jobs, and healthcare, but his position quickly became a purity test about who stands with the sadly besieged Netanyahu administration and who doesn’t.

Clinton made her loyalties obvious — yes, she’s worked side by side with Bebe on so many occasions and will continue to — while Sanders finally made his position clear in no uncertain terms: “There comes a time—there comes a time when if we pursue justice and peace, we are going to have to say that Netanyahu is not right all of the time.”

Esquire published a compilation of their exchange on Israel under this title:

We Saw Bernie Sanders’ Greatest Weakness Last Night

At least, that’s what the Clinton camp is hoping you’ll believe this morning.

Once again, I’m struck by the arrogance of beltway politicians, so sure that the nation hasn’t moved on from considering Israel its 53rd state. As speculative as the meme that Bernie’s socialism makes him too radical to win, the opinions of the American Jewish voter can no longer be taken for granted. Nor can the sensibilities of our younger voters, who have a different view of Middle East issues than older citizens who saw justice in the Jews’ return to their homeland, decades ago.

Tradition is giving way to innovation, and we simply cannot count on ‘what was’ to remain so. That, by the way, is called change, and it sometimes rattles us. It’s also known as progress, and lately considered evolution. Perhaps before this is all over — before the ‘i’ is dotted and the ‘t’ crossed in this amazing shift we’ve inhabited — we will discover it to be the social and political revolution we’ve all been waiting for.

To prepare for the challenges ahead, if you haven’t considered giving yourself the gift of a Core Community Membership, this is the right time, and the upcoming Spring Reading will inspire you to become your very best self.

No matter how good things get for you, there’s always going to be room for improvement. Fortunately, you live in a world where things can (and often do) get better. Even so, and paradoxically, two important conditions that make betterment possible also have a bad reputation.

The first condition necessary for progress is change. Yet, somehow, change can provoke fear as easily as it can stimulate hope. Although it’s not quite as clear a requisite as change, the other proviso for amelioration is uncertainty.

If you stop to think about it, change would be impossible without uncertainty. In spite of that simple fact, however, it’s entirely natural for even the most reasonable person to confront the unknown with apprehension.

So here you are, a reasonable person in between ways of being with your world. You are capable of thinking one way, but also prone to feeling an entirely different way about two of most fundamental conditions of your existence. Fortunately, there are two things you can do to move away from being stuck in between, and move towards improvement.

The first thing you can do is orient yourself. For as long as there have been people on this planet, it’s been essential to know where you are in relation to both where you have been and where you are going. Going back as far as we know of ourselves, one sure way to get your bearings is to look at the sky. Even though the sky is constantly changing, order and patterns are still discernible. Astrology, in turn, provides a systematic way of deriving discernment.

The second thing you can do to welcome change and embrace uncertainty is get perspective. Your own life provides some perspicacity. Insights from your friends and teachers offer a valuable supplement to your experience. Beyond what you and our contemporaries can bring to the table, however, is the perspective only an exceptional astrologer can provide.

Exceptional astrologers combine the distillation of thousands of years of lineage with a stable, realistic personality, a trustworthy ethic and a capacity for innovation. Few offer that combination more reliably and affordability than Eric Francis. Furthermore, seldom has there a better time for you to avail yourself of two of Eric’s current offerings.

Yesterday, Mercury entered the narrow corridor of Taurus in which it will spend nearly eight weeks moving forth, back and forth again.

That’s right, we have a Mercury retrograde coming up, beginning April 28, and Mercury is even now moving over a slice of the zodiac it will revisit two more times. That’s another way of saying Mercury has entered the so-called ‘shadow phase’, which proceeds the actual retrograde by about two weeks.

If there is anything in astrology that provokes the same sort of paradoxes as the words ‘change’ and ‘uncertainty’, it’s a Mercury retrograde. If there is any astrologer who can provide you with orientation and perspective, it’s Eric.

For purposes of figuring out where you are in relationship to where you have been (as well as where you want to go), perhaps nothing can orient you better than Eric’s Spring Reading. That’s because the upcoming Mercury retrograde will not take place in a vacuum.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s 2016 Spring Reading. You may pre-order all 12 signs here for less than $40. Includes video readings!

Mars is also about to station retrograde for the first time in two years, and for the first time in nearly a decade the Martian retrograde motion will bridge two signs.

Where your own memory of what has gone around to come around again might fail you, Eric will reliably have your back with an innovative video format to serve as your compass for the remainder of this season.

Finally, when it comes to ongoing perspective, Eric and Planet Waves have you covered as well with a Core Community membership. By becoming part of the world’s only comprehensive astrological resource that is not littered with commercial advertising, you will continue to benefit from the astute and grounded perceptions of everybody on the Planet Waves team — long after this particular season of change and uncertainty has concluded.

Eric has purged some of Mercury retrograde’s undeserved reputation by proposing that we refer to its current phase as an ‘echo’ rather than a ‘shadow’. With that simple word substitution, he showed us that it is possible to reorient yourself and gain a more healthy and hopeful perspective about the often paradoxical — yet ultimately fortunate — realities that go with the privilege of being alive on Earth; perhaps the only place in the universe where things can get better.

Offered In Service