Dear Fellow Traveler:

We are now in the season of eclipses. These happen twice a year; the last time around was during the holiday season of late 2009. The first of the pair was on June 26 and the second will be July 11. They are in Capricorn and Cancer, the signs that contain the most energy and information about family patterns. In the month of July, we have the opportunity to release the old patterns that have kept us anchored to the past. Some are mental; most are emotional. They include our old ideas about marriage, obligation and seeming tradition; what we get to embrace instead is balance, equanimity and a sense of our own vital presence in the world. For a while we may seem to be in two worlds at once: but reality will have its effects.

Yours & truly,

PS, remember to sign up for your Midyear Report while the subscriber discount is still in effect. If you missed yesterday’s product description letter, here is the link.

No excuses: this is your time to take territory in life, in your profession and within your own personality. There are almost always thoughts and ideas that interfere with this, and a lunar eclipse in your 10th solar house of career and ambition is clearing away parental emotional patterns, especially the fears of your mother and grandmother. The catch is that circumstances that depend on your remaining in the emotional role of child are going to get shaken up. Plan to have a series of events wherein you take back all the power you gave away as a kid, and the psychic patterns that keep you stuck in this mode. You cannot do this in theory. You can only do it through experience: that is, a direct confrontation with your insecurities. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

Aries Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

To the extent you wish to be free, remember the role that religion plays in our society: which is to make people feel small, scared and confused. Whether you’re a minister’s daughter or were raised by communists, you’ve been influenced by the church’s supposed values, which of course have nothing to do with anything except making sure you do what you’re told. There is an emotional dimension to this, and a lunar eclipse in your sympathetic earth sign Capricorn will help you shed several layers of that material. If you encounter the feeling of ‘I’m not sure what to believe’, then you know you’re in the right place. If you fear that your deepest desires or emotions would offend someone, you’re in the right place. If you question any belief you’ve carried around for decades, you’re right on time.

Taurus Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

Few people admit the extent to which they are driven by their emotions. We like to think of ourselves as calm, rational and reasonable people, though anyone familiar with the most basic rules of logic knows that they are hardly ever followed. If your astrology means anything, you tend to fit this description. What you desire changes like the tides. You often feel you ‘need’ things that are not important to you. And you are driven by your sentiments more than befits someone with such an astute mind as you have. You’re in the process of letting go of much of this stuff, and when you do, you will notice that you’re no longer so easy to influence or control. You’ll be willing to stand your ground in your relationships (and they will be more fun when you do).

Gemini Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

Many factors this month point to the theme of cleaning house. Whatever this may mean spiritually, I suggest you start digging out closets and filling trash bags. Once you start, you’ll feel so good you won’t want to stop. The same process may be underway in your relationships: you no longer need to live your parents’ notion of wholesome partnership. Usually, it was nothing of the kind, and the ideas they suffered were passed down from antiquity. One of the great challenges you face in this lifetime is modernizing your concept of what a ‘secure’ relationship is; which means facing up to the many ways that idea failed. Are you ready to take an original approach to the matter of love? Events this month will guide you steadily in that direction, and it begins with two ideas: truth and trust.

Events this month will offer a portal into a dimension of your emotional life that is always a few shades off the visible spectrum. You don’t need to dive into these feelings; rather, start by feeling your way around the edges, and getting a sense of the dimensions of the territory. You can enhance your understanding by giving words to what you notice, even when the sentiments involved are fearful or difficult to articulate. Your mission now is learning to be undaunted by your fears. Exceedingly few of them are valid. They simply run you in circles, and oddly, you often don’t always know what they are. The veil between you and this inner realm is growing thin, and you need the information that’s in there. Keeping it out in the open will make your life and your relationships easier.

Saturn leaves your sign this month, ending an unforgettable two-year era of your life. Yet the same theme repeatedly turns up in your charts, and I do mean going back at least seven years: you are confronted by people who are innovative, electric and alive, and they make you nervous. You worry about your stability; you judge yourself as frail in contrast to the seeming might of others. Here is one way to consider the issue: In your relationships, you tend to put yourself in the position to respond or react, rather than a co-creative role. You think others call the shots, which is only true if you abandon a dialog. Make a list of what you refuse to talk about and you’ll see where your power goes — and where you can claim it back.

Saturn returns to your sign this month, arriving for a two-year journey. You may read predictions that treat this like the embodiment of all that can go wrong or set a limit. Let’s go back to traditional astrology. Saturn is the exalted ruler of Libra: it has a potent and core-level relationship to your sign. The experience of Saturn is about aligning yourself within the physical world, defining your purpose in a clear way and coming into your full strength and freedom as an adult. If there’s a catch, it’s about your relationship to what I will call ‘appearances’. It would help if you made a promise to yourself that you will drop your persona, facade or attempt to play a role, and instead present yourself as you are. This may be challenging at first, but you will eventually love how much it saves you in needless energy and useless complication.

Despite the cynicism unfairly pinned to descriptions of your sign, you’re deeply sentimental and have a strong connection to the person you were when you were a child. Now, that particular angle of your horoscope is coming into focus. I suggest you do three things on this occasion: look at every goal you have today and ask yourself how long you’ve had it for, and whether it’s still valid. Check whether you’re still adjusting your life to meet the expectations of your mother. Then, one last thing: as a child you had some idealistic visions for yourself; you had glorious plans and bold confidence about them. Where did they go? If you get everyone else’s fears and expectations out of the way, you may decide that they are every bit as meaningful today as they where when you were little.

You are in rare form, and you don’t have to stop. The ideas you’ve been having recently will provide creative fuel for the next year. You may feel like there are times when you’re running your creative engines too hot. You will cool down soon enough, which will help you orient your ambitious creative goals on the longer territory you will need to cross to make them real. Your charts say you’re having a series of breakthroughs. Then you take what you learn and accomplish, slow down the process and then, using a different kind of creativity, develop things to the next stage and bring them back into the world. Remember, this is all about focusing an experiment based on discoveries you’re making now. You have no reason to doubt and every reason to affirm that you are in a rare and brilliant zone.

Abandon all the ideas of safety and security that your parents and grandparents drummed into your head. You’re not betraying them; you are honoring them by going beyond their petty fears. Be aware of the extent to which those fears have influenced you — and how much better you’ll feel when you let them go. While those fears seemed to center on money, home, family and security, they have translated into your life as reluctance to express yourself boldly. If you want to feel safe, be resolutely yourself. If you want to feel like you belong on the planet, express your boldest thoughts, feelings and passions. The world will move over and make room for you. Where you fear judgment, you will encounter respect.

For every truth you discover in yourself, there seems to be an equal and opposite potential. Yet it can grow tiresome never being able to make up your mind about which is the valid path. You’re aware of this, at least: the opposites you perceive contain one another; you know they are part of the same thing. They are integral to one another. Your ruling planet Saturn is about to enter your 9th solar house, where you experiment with your ideas about life and formulate the plans that get you to the next place. Saturn’s presence is about drawing from both sides of any seeming paradoxes, concepts or theories that you use as the basic fuel for living. Now you get to experience the strength, confidence and clarity that come when you integrate your seeming polarities.

Aquarius Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

Focus on feeling good. If you reach the blue spot, keep moving. If you catch yourself feeling like you ‘don’t deserve’ anything, focus on affirming your existence and remind yourself that you contribute far more than you take from the world. Indeed, you are a resource that is only available when you are feeling positive and strong, and this resource feeds you as well. Remember, there is nothing you need to do first in order to be enlightened. Well, nothing except to want peace of mind and abundance. In your particular chart setup, this involves remembering who you are all the time, and simply being that person. There is no game here; you are who you are, and as you experience this, the flow of life energy will increase and be available for whatever you choose. And those are the key words: you choose.

Pisces Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Jupiter and Uranus arrive in Aries this month, forming a spectacular, visionary conjunction on the Aries Point — the first degree of the zodiac. For all of us, this is a leap-ahead point; a chance to embrace a new dimension of potential and to release the emotional and mental baggage that has held us back in the past. I know that every self-help book ever written offers a prescription to help us do precisely this. Victor Hugo said that nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. Now, imagine this applies directly to you.

Yours & truly,

Note to my Gemini cousins: I’ve finished your audio birthday recording — we just need to produce the introduction letter, which we will have out by morning. The birthday report is 60 minutes of astrology and 20 minutes of tarot in high quality audio. Look for that letter! This is an exciting birthday report. Aquarians, you are next on the queue, and for everyone, I am working on midyear audio for all the signs. Stay tuned…efc

There are times when we try to redefine ourselves, and times when we simply discover that we’re someone new. Despite your best efforts to assert who you are, events this month will give you a whole new basis for how you know yourself, think of yourself and relate to your own existence. This sounds like a tall order, I know, though the astrology is not subtle. You’re likely to discover that the most significant developments are ones that were in progress for many years prior to their becoming obvious. And they relate to whom you associate with as much as how you consider yourself: the two are closely related. Let new encounters give you the space and freedom to be a new person.

Aries Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

You exist with a ‘self within yourself’, and this can be confusing, or challenging, because it’s not always possible to access that inner being. Then there are times when that entity announces its presence and gets your attention. You may find yourself making decisions based on entirely different criteria; you may find yourself in a struggle to resist or deny the inner changes you feel. It’s never easy to be at odds with who you are. True, being entirely oneself presents certain challenges, but at least they are part of a quest for authentic existence. We are entering a time of mandatory integrity — and for you, that means being true to your existence from the inside out.

Taurus Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

You don’t ask too much from life, but rather far too little. Life is offering you a series of opportunities to see what is possible, and to allow that to expand the bounds of your perception. Observe the extent to which you’ve allowed the groups of people you surround yourself with to define who you are. You’ve been tired of this for a while, and you appear ready for the alternative: to make your own scene. This means to step out of what’s expected of you in such a vivid way that you take leadership in your own life, and in the world around you. When you’re done, you will be surrounded by people who you influence more than they influence you.

You now have the freedom to break through any glass ceiling that’s holding you back: particularly in your career, but in truth, in any other aspect of your existence. In your continuous quest for perfection, or truth (depending on the day), you may have overlooked the prerogative to define your existence in your own way: this, as a divine right. It is true, your parents thought of you a certain way, and as you grew older, you made a series of revisions in the name of practicality. The options you now have, and the potential that is about to come due, will help you break free from the past, and assert your freedom to choose in ways that you would have never imagined possible.

We are all limited by our beliefs, and by our idea of what we think is possible. You seem to be aware that how you define yourself simultaneously defines your potential experience. Therefore, stretch all your definitions of yourself: what you’re capable of, where you will travel, how far you will take your creative aspirations and most of all your faith. It’s true that the angle where the most spectacular astrology occurs this month is on the angle where we look for information about religious influences or ideas about the ‘higher self’. For you, I would say that agenda item one is: having faith in yourself. Logic and reason will get you so far; then you will take the leap.

One of the most popular discussions in self-help circles these days involves the notion of ‘sacred contracts’. An extension of the idea of karma (cause and effect). Caroline Myss, a proponent of this idea, says, “I believe that we each agree to the terms of our contract before entering the physical realm of this world.” But since most of us don’t remember that realm of reality, it’s a little like waking up and telling you that you’re subject to an agreement you made while you were talking in your sleep. For you, this is a moment of choosing as regards all contracts, agreements and understandings, whether made ‘consciously’ or not, whether in this realm or some other. To do this will require being alert and awake to an unprecedented degree, though that is always the price of freedom.

Everything is a relationship, and every relationship comes back to the one you have with yourself. Now is the time to take it to heart; to see the process in action. Certain events this month will seem to be coming from ‘outside of you’ — that is, originating entirely in circumstance, or in the minds of others. And yes, you have the ability, the responsibility and indeed the privilege of responding. Yet what, that you are experiencing, has its origins in your own consciousness and life path? What choices have you made that have led you to this moment? Note, you’re subject to those choices but you’re not a prisoner of them. In fact, the more clearly you see that your vision is what you get, the more you’re likely to refine your vision and therefore create what you want.

After 20 years of doing metaphysical consulting I have come to the conclusion that most people don’t know they exist. I know that many think they know they exist, but thinking you know something and actually knowing it are two different matters. You are in one of those moments where you discover, and know beyond any doubt, that you are actually part of this world. Yet to maintain that awareness takes vigilance. It’s not like collecting your bachelor’s degree. It is possible to forget that you are both in and of the world, and that your awareness and therefore ability to choose is the most prominent driving factor of your experience. You are about to have some radical wakening experiences, and to make the most of your life, you would be well served to remember: that you exist.

You’re entering one of the most creative, adventurous phases of your life. In the process, you’re likely to encounter shadow material: fear, guilt, hidden issues and unexpected consequences of past actions. You might say, ‘I wish I could have the creative part without the shadow part’. Yet one of the gifts of authentic creativity is to give the shadow a purpose, and to use it to advance your life rather than set you back. This, you see, is the true creative process: it not only creates what is new, it deals with what has come before, and reinterprets it. Indeed, I doubt there would be much creativity without the abundant shadow material on our level of existence. Hopefully it won’t be long before oil companies figure this out, but if your chart means anything, you can get the benefits of this equation right now.

You are likely to have a vision this month for what would set you free emotionally. You might even experiment with taking action, though one thing at least is clear — you will feel the bounds that surround you, and the bonds that hold you. You will see the influence of the past and have an extended moment where you know that you have an option to experience your life a different way. Despite the liberating, revolutionary nature of the moment, you may not take action, fearing you’re not quite ready — even if you know certain developments are inevitable. I suggest you decide in advance whether under ideal circumstances, you would choose something new when you’re feeling frustrated and defeated, or positive and optimistic.

For someone devoted to ideas, none is ever too good. Yet there are authentic breakthroughs. When you encounter such a concept, it’s not an idea in the conceptual sense but rather a living, breathing archetype that takes up existence at the core of your life. You are approaching such a juncture, where your personal values, your highest ideals and what you do with your days are coming into alignment, or rather, to fulfillment. Much that you previously could categorize, sort out and study has become so real that it defies intellectualization. Indeed, this is your opportunity to stop thinking of your existence in mental or intellectual terms and to move from your core, with full authenticity. One result of your considerable growth and introspection is that no other option is viable.

Aquarius birthday audio is coming soon — it will have its moment.

Life can move slowly for a Pisces. It’s as if you’re watching existence from the caboose of the train, and yours seems like the last car to pull into the station. Then all of a sudden things surge forward. What happens this month may have the feeling of being premature, but you need to remind yourself that you’ve worked for it, and that you’ve endured many delays and diversions on the way to getting to this point. This particular encounter is a portal to the future that you will have the opportunity to go through; and also be a moment of vision quest, wherein you can see your trajectory in life clearly enough to envision something different and beautiful, make corrections and reach for something that has long eluded you. The key is to remember these facts when the time comes — and it is boldly arriving.

Pisces Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

Dear Planet Waves Subscriber:

Remember as you move through the next few weeks that Mars retrograde is still working itself out. That event, from the first day of winter through March 10, drew Mars in Leo back like a bow string, and how we are slowly watching Mars proceed forward through this sign. Mars retrograde was for many complex and frustrating, and now we’re in a process of disentangling ourselves from the issues that arose or that we somehow created.

Photo by Eric Francis.

Mars is still moving slowly and, to give you an example, Mars is covering the first little slice of Leo (five degrees, an amount arbitrarily chosen) between early February and mid-April. If you have a planet or angle anywhere early in Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius (and many of us do) you’re getting a Mars transit that is unique to your experience of your chart; you’re not accustomed to this energy there. So of you’re having a series of weird experiences that you don’t recognize or don’t know how to process, or experiencing feelings to which you’re not accustomed, you can look to Mars as a way of processing those feelings. The riddle may be something like, “Where did all this anger come from?” or “What do I do with all this drive and determination?” or better still, “I have to find an outlet for all this passion and desire!” Yes we can!

Mars is the ruler of Aries. Sometimes the ruler of a sign and the events in a sign will have some fun correlations. While Mars is doing its one-of-a-kind thing in Leo, there has been lots of interesting stuff in Aries and there is more to come — the really exciting stuff, in June. You’ve no doubt read something about the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction coming in the first degree of Aries — the Aries Point — in early June. Astrology is the art of “it’s not just a coincidence.” We’ve had the whole [Northern Hemisphere] winter and will have much of the spring to get used to an unusual level of Aries energy. When the next stage takes over, two slow moving planets rarely in Aries making a conjunction in that sign, we will have had some practice. And then we will have Mars newly in Virgo, suggesting the need for awareness and precision in our use of all that Martian passion. And these are passionate times, no doubt. It’s just that a lot of us have been conditioned by notions of purity, and the threat that if we express any lust, desire or saucy form of love at all, everything goes into a tailspin. Or we’ve been told we’re too old for that stuff, but you’ll never hear me agree with that.

On the way to unraveling ourselves, all kinds of weird stuff can indeed come up, and I suggest you let it do so. You who were passive may find yourself being snippy and demanding. You who lacked an opinion or held it in may find yourself fighting for justice and insisting you’re right. You who denied that you had any need or desire or passion may find yourself craving the presence of those fully in their body. Let this work itself out and teach you how to become someone new, someone unfamiliar but who you knew was there all along. Mars is still going by, stoking the fire, stirring the pot and making you go digging for your paints, the first draft of your novel or the phone number of that hottie you met three months ago.

Catch you Friday.

Do you know those situations where someone holds in all their passion and energy for months on end, wanting to be well-behaved and spiritually pure and in control, and then one moment, under the influence of perhaps a little alcohol, decides to let it go all at once and do all kinds of crazy things and then wakes up and regrets it? I thought you might have heard of this. Whether you are the party type or not, this metaphor applies to your life, and I suggest that as the next few weeks go on, you unfold yourself gradually, gently and intentionally rather than explode with all your plans at once. In other words, for maximum fun and creativity, easy does it — for now.

Aries Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.

Are these big fears you are confronting, or small ones? Is there really a difference? I would say not. Fear, insecurity, uncertainty, jealousy — it’s all the same thing, as far as your current situation is concerned. Dance with that for a moment; notice the specific elements that they all have in common, which elements may involve one of your parents. That is where we get most of our fears. You could say that it’s where we get most of our talents, except for one thing: talents are usually more difficult to acquire because they require the development of potential. Fears are generally easier to acquire because they have effects whether ‘true’ or not. I suggest you decide which you really want, and which you really don’t.

Be grateful that you’re having an issue seeing both sides of the story. I think one side of whatever it is you’re experiencing is enough to reveal the many facets of what you’re confronting in your life, mostly the truth that the world as you know it is the product of your ideas about yourself and about life. It’s really true that you seek completion and the full expression of your being through your ideas, whether you do this professionally or not. I suggest you keep your current search on the deeper level of a search for yourself rather than a search for ‘what is true about life’. See if you can eliminate any abstractions; go directly to your inner source; be yourself and describe your inner reality directly, persistently and most of all gently.

These have been weeks of contrast, and if my reading of your charts is vaguely accurate, you’ve made a good few choices about what you want and what you don’t want. You’re not done making these decisions — not only do I suggest you get used to the process, I suggest you embrace the necessity and beauty of a total reevaluation of your life. Everything you discover that you don’t like is coming up specifically so you can move on from that very thing and create room for what you desire. Further, you can subject to a conscious decision everything you discover that you don’t want to be true about yourself. Don’t just trust my word: try it and see.

Draw your energy close to your center, physically and spiritually. Be cautious what you reveal about yourself and your beliefs. Keep your body warm, including your extremities, but particularly your core temperature. Watch where your money goes, your effort, your energy, your thoughts. Be careful when others try to define you, and know this when you see it: specifically, beware of when others try to dictate what you want. By conserving your energy, you will be able to focus enough strength to tune into your long-term vision, and to shift your sense of identity in that direction. Over the next 10 days or so, you can tune in and feel the person you are becoming, and identify with that fully.

Who exactly is keeping secrets from you? Accuse who you will, but it would seem like you’re hiding hostility from yourself. Perhaps it’s about whether you feel fairly treated in a close relationship, which you are blaming yourself for. Alternately, it could be your deepening desire, indeed, your need, to transform yourself creatively or sexually, yet at the same time feeling like you’re obstructed from doing so. In either event, the main part of the blockage is your struggle to tell the truth to yourself. This truth may involve something you have long denied: a desire, a fact, an understanding with yourself that you came to previously, perhaps more than once. Be real with you, and grant yourself some relief.

Finally, you’re seeing that it’s healthy to invest some of your self-esteem in the service you offer to others; and that far from taking anything away from you, your ability to offer yourself is a gift you give to yourself. If you’re not quite seeing that, I would offer this as a proposal. The more you offer to the people you care about, and by more, I mean in terms of quality and innovation as much as in labor and effort, the more you will discover that you have, and that indeed, you are. We see the opposite equation play out too often, reinforcing a belief that to give is to lose. Yes, it’s important to give consciously and carefully, following an ethos of love.

Make your moves one at a time. Yes, work with a vision; work with a clear idea of what you want; but make one move at a time. Live one day at a time. Respond to something present in your environment that is actually present, rather than what you think might happen or are afraid will happen. Mars coming to a halt and changing directions on such a sensitive, personal angle of your chart (as Leo is for you) is going to have some strange effects, and one way to handle any potential distortion is to make deliberate moves close to where you are now. You will very likely feel the need to be impetuous; I strongly suggest you let your mind rule over your emotions.

While the ‘home’ angle of your chart — Pisces — is getting the really hot transits (Mercury, Jupiter, the Sun, Venus and Uranus, all at once) I would say that you feel the world is your home and your oyster and you are raring to go. I suggest you make contact with why: it’s the feeling of resonance with your environment, and of comfort with yourself, that’s drawing you into new experiences. This is a rare-enough experience for a human on the planet, particularly in a time when we are taught to perceive everything as a threat. Those who preach the doctrine of threat and danger are the ones who would do better to stay home. You are not playing this game, and if you’re sitting on the fence, I am here to tell you that a many-layered adventure is calling you.

Your friends love you, and they want to help make your life not just easier, but a celebration. Some of them have precisely the qualities you lack, or that you struggle with expressing, and that your current transits are doing their best to cultivate: unfettered passion, spontaneity and the ability to express yourself from the depth of your soul. You will benefit from the examples of those who have set aside or gone beyond their own struggle with freedom, recognizing it’s as much of a necessity as structures and boundaries. You have gone far enough in the direction of integrity, safety and purity. Naughtier times are calling your name.

If you are thinking about how to make money, take a day or two or better yet, three, and do what you want to do the most. Try this as an experiment. See how you feel. By ‘want to do the most’ I mean what gives you the most pleasure for the doing; what you yearn for; what you care about, regardless of its monetary value. I say this knowing that money is on your mind. I say this knowing, as well, that far more important things are on your mind — such as fulfilling your life purpose. I know that many who reach for their purpose seem to sacrifice financial wealth, but I am not here to speak for them, or to them. I am here to speak to you.

Drop your resistance and stay open to all the possibilities. Get used to this — a process of opening and allowing rather than trying to be pure or even positive. It is easy to allow the energy to flow through you and around you, and you may find it easier yet if I remind you that you are protected, and that your deepest desires are resonating with the world around you. All you need to do is get out of your own way. Is this easier said than done? In theory, no; in reality they are closely related. Make a commitment to yourself. Recognize the incredible good that is around you; embrace the people who love you, and observe your life with the trust of a child.