Category Archives: Monthly Horoscope

Monthly Horoscope

Welcome to Virgo (and Your Monthly Horoscope)

Dear Friend and Reader:

Wednesday afternoon, the Sun ingressed Virgo, beginning the third and last month of the season. This is always true of the mutable signs, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. At the end of each of those signs, the Sun begins a new season. Virgo is an earth sign, ruled by Mercury. Though many people are taking time off from work this time of year, the mental quality of Virgo is a great time to accomplish challenging tasks that require a high level of focus.

Photo by Eric Francis for Book of Blue.

In German, the word for Virgo is Jungrfrau, meaning young woman — that’s a bit more literal and easier to understand than our word, which implies virginity. However as you’ll read, there is something of a mystery embedded in this sign.

I’ve said this a few times, though it’s worth another reminder: for the first time all year, the inner planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars) are in direct motion, and none of them are about to station retrograde. While our complex lives never quite facilitate the simplicity we dream of, it helps at least in the midst of complexity to have the inner planets moving forward, and eclipses out of the way as well (the next Mercury retrograde, and the next eclipses, take place in November, both of which will directly affect the U.S. presidential elections — more about this soon).

While it may be tempting to relax after the turbulence of the past seven months, I suggest you strike a balance between easing off and easing into some real accomplishments. Set your agenda carefully, and make sure you include your most significant goals.

Meanwhile, the Sun is opposing Neptune. That was exact earlier today, but we’ve been feeling it all week and it’s in full effect through the weekend. While the Virgo Sun is mentally focused, its meeting with Neptune in Pisces is calling for some imagination. It may also be inviting you to indulge in many of the things for which Neptune is famous: things that change your consciousness, art, music, cinema and intense fantasy. The Sun opposite Neptune can feel like a mystical kind of Full Moon, though more inspiring than agitated.

Just remember to keep a grip. When there’s a lot of Neptune in the picture, there’s a necessity for maintaining your integrity (tell the truth, drive sober, and don’t finalize important decisions till the aspect passes). This aspect has an idealistic streak, which will tend to overlook the details; give the details time to come into focus.

That will happen soon enough, as the Sun gradually slips into an opposition with Chiron in Pisces. That is exact on Aug. 30, and is a turning point in the tone for the Sun’s transit through Virgo. That’s how Chiron almost always works; it’s a moment of clarity.

Chiron (relatively new to its visit to Pisces, a sign it occupies for about eight years of every 51) has a strong association with Virgo (not exactly rulership, but rather in traditional terms, something that feels more like exaltation or natural resonance). Chiron is about a kind of hyper-awareness, and in Pisces, it represents a focused spiritual vigilance.

Photo by Eric Francis for Book of Blue.

Sun opposite Chiron asks two questions: one is, what is the mode of expression of that vigilance? The Sun is about expression, illumination, creativity and a measure of glory in what we’ve accomplished. Chiron is holding up a powerful mirror to the Sun. Do you feel like you’re adequately expressing yourself? Do you want to go deeper into what you’re doing, expressing yourself from closer to your core?

What arises around the time of this opposition will help you see how you can do that, though beware that you may have to confront a sense of inadequacy as you do. Think of Sun opposite Chiron as the acupuncture needle that guides you to direct your energy with more focus and purpose. What I’m saying is that this will be easier and more pleasant if you maintain your awareness through the Sun-Neptune part of the trip, and don’t zone out into denial — to which Chiron invariably serves as an antidote.

As for Virgo itself.

In traditional astrology, it’s ruled by another planet — Mercury, which is always worth considering when we’re mulling over the meaning of this sign. Fred Gettings, in his excellent astrology dictionary, describes Virgo as a sign “deeply committed to the intellectual process.” Those of us who know and love Virgos are familiar with intelligent, clever, somewhat nervous people who can never seem to do enough. But this is not mental activity for its own buzz; there appears to be something inherently spiritual, transcendent of ego and dedicated to world service that is apparent in who many Virgos are and what they represent.

Virgos had best put these qualities to good use. They have a lot of energy to burn and have an inherent need to be of genuine assistance to the world. When they are fulfilling this role, they are generally quite happy and involved; when not, they can become annoying, particularly to themselves. Many astrologers feel that the keywords of Virgo are I Serve, and many born under this sign know exactly what they’re talking about.

Alice A. Bailey, in her 1951 book Esoteric Astrology, addresses some of what may be going on beneath this impulse. (Note, if you buy this book and try to read it and can’t figure it out, please write to me; it’s also worth a short ‘reader’s guide’ kind of article on how to work with it.)

“The sign Virgo is one of the most significant in the zodiac,” she writes in her introduction to this sign, “for its symbology concerns the whole goal of the evolutionary process, which is to shield, nurture and finally reveal the hidden spiritual reality. This every form veils, but the human form is equipped and fitted to manifest it in a manner different to any other expression of divinity and so make tangible and objective that for which the whole creative process was intended.”

I think the first sentence of that statement is pretty easy to grasp, but I had to read the second one a few times. Remember, she is writing from an esoteric or occult viewpoint, which takes the view that the physical world is like drapery hung over the inner life. One could just as easily reason that all of nature, including human nature, is the living expression of divinity at every moment.

Photo by Eric Francis for Book of Blue.

She is saying, essentially, that every form in nature veils the inner life of spirit; that the soul is hidden within what we see every day. But there is something in the human form (represented by Virgo) that is in a position to make divinity tangible in a way unique in all the world (or universe), and which is the intent of the entire evolutionary process. This notion rates the human experience as the most important on the planet (debatable, and also a position held by some religions), but maybe if we took that seriously, we would be kinder to other living things and the planet herself. Humans really are in the position of noblesse oblige. Many humans claim that we’re special; certainly, much has been given to us. The concept suggests that “noble ancestry constrains to honorable behavior; privilege entails to responsibility.”

Next, she adds a bit of interesting, ancient data, which we don’t have any conventional way to verify. “The word Virgo itself is a descendant of and corruption of the ancient Atlantean root name which was applied to the mother principle in those far-off times. This Virgin was the founder of the matriarchy which then dominated civilization and to which various myths and legends bear evidence and which have come down to us concerning Lilith, the last Virgin Goddess of Atlantean times.”

In other words, the sign Virgo represents the feminine principle of divinity in its entirety. We might think of that as the spirit that animates mater-mother-matter, our entire earthly life, our bodies, and all we do and create within the material plane.

Bailey also associates Virgo with Mary, “who carries the [evolutionary] process down to the plane or place of incarnation, the physical plane, and there gives birth to the Christ child.” She adds that “Virgo is, therefore, the opposite pole of spirit and stands for the relation of these two after they have been brought together.”

In other words, Virgo represents the physical embodiment of spirit; the form into which the soul incarnates.

Everyone has Virgo somewhere in their chart, and thus, working in their lives. I would offer the idea that the urge or impulse to bring the divine force into our lives tangibly, as healing and service, that each of us encounters where Virgo is in our charts is the impulse to give birth to something intended to heal the world.

Let’s see where that takes us this month.

Lovingly,

Photo by Eric Francis / Book of Blue Studio.

Midyear Career / Financial Report Rings the Bell

Dear Friend and Reader:

I’ve been doing 12-sign audio reports for a couple of years, and we’ve never had one that’s had the kind of response the 2012 Midyear Report is getting. This is the first with a specific theme: I cover the relationship between employment, financial security and calling. This is the issue that I have been hearing about the most, and I am starting to receive many requests for private business and career consulting. It’s a perfect use of astrology to help people focus on their true calling, their true service and their creative passion.

In this particular reading, I work with the possibility that you might be considering a career change, looking for work, or venturing into starting your own business. They are all related, and I study those relationships. I look carefully at the Uranus-Pluto square, the sign change of Saturn and many other key transits now, and present my findings in not just clear but motivating language and energy.

This reading is indeed a motivational talk, but one keyed carefully to your current astrology.

The report includes all 12 signs, so you can explore your professional life from several angles. The readings (recommended for your Sun, rising sign and career house) are each 45 minutes long. Response has been incredible. These readings felt strong and solid coming through, though I never expected a reader to say: “It touched me so deeply. Even thinking of it right now, after some time has passed, I have tears. I look forward to the info moving through me for many days to come.”

Another wrote, “I listened to the Virgo report last night; so astute, so in depth. Thank you, Eric. Always amazed at how closely your interpretations fit my life, as though you were writing for me personally.”

And another: “I just listened to the midyear report for my Sun sign only. In all the years I have been getting your reports (9 years or so) I have never heard one so right on! Thank you! I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off my mind.”

This kind of response is truly an honor to receive.

You can order the 2012 Midyear Report at this link. Please let me know how it works for you.

Lovingly,

Uranus square Pluto: Whose Revolution, Exactly?

This week as the Sun ingressed Virgo, the sign of the goddess, the Republican party outdid itself, putting into the national platform the statement that it supports a constitutional amendment banning abortion — basically, a ‘right to life’ amendment. Its candidates for president and vice president support this position.

We know where this can go: Margaret Atwood wrote about it in her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s the story of a theocracy taking over the United States, which turns all pregnancy into a government-controlled commodity. In it, Handmaids are fertile women whose sole function is to bear children for the ruling elite. They dress in a red habit, and are produced by re-educating fertile women who have broken the gender and social laws. Owing to the need for fertile Handmaids, the government gradually increases the number of gender-crimes.

Also this week, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, the Republican candidate for senator from that state, claimed that pregnancy from rape is “really rare” because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” His statement caused an uproar that has spread internationally.

It’s led even the most zealous members of his party to try to distance themselves from him, demanding that he drop out of the race, though he refused to, and a key withdrawal deadline passed this week. As we might expect, Akin is not going to pull out.

According to his reasoning, abortion even in the case of rape is not necessary, and should not be a legal right. What he meant by “legitimate rape” is actually “forced rape,” which is redundant. This, as opposed to a false claim of rape, or some other form of rape, all of which are deconstructed in this searing article that appeared Tuesday on Jezebel.com. Anyone who has to say “forced rape” understands neither rape nor sex.

Most contemporary abortion opponents, at least the ones participating in politics, believe that women should be legally compelled to carry to term a child conceived by rape or incest. This is another way of saying that women would have no control over who impregnates them or whose child they give birth to. Many believe that even if the mother’s life is threatened, there should not be an exception.

The way these views get traction is because most people do oppose abortion, as a personal option, and in principle — and most people understand that circumstances sometimes compel many people to go against their views and make a difficult choice. You might call that the mature approach to the issue, and one that leaves room for personal choice and values that we cannot foresee or that are deeply individual.

Republicans had to push back against Akin’s statement, trying to get him to quit his senate race; he refused to, allowing a critical deadline to pass on Tuesday. The problem here was that most of the people pushing back agree with Akin; they just don’t put it in such clear terms. Looked at one way, Akin is outing his colleagues, and their attempts to distance themselves are a big charade.

Let’s briefly key this into the current astrology and see how it describes this development. We’re in the midst of Uranus square Pluto, which spans from 2012 to 2015 with a wide margin on either side. This is revolutionary astrology, characterized by the square’s placement close to the personal-is-political Aries Point — an imaginary cross in the heavens that spans the first degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

Uranus in Aries can be militant and egocentric; Pluto in Capricorn is about fundamental changes to the structure of society. It is arriving with some collapse, some reform and a wild sense of uncertainty. Pluto in Capricorn also opens up the scars of the past: of family patterns and political oppression. Of all the signs, Capricorn is the one that most clearly describes legacy material, and Pluto is going deep into this territory.

Birth scene from a 2003 opera version of The Handmaid’s Tale, produced by the English National Opera. Sam Meier, in her article for Policy Mic, notes its alarming resonance with Akin’s statements and the war on women by the American Taliban.

Uranus square Pluto is revolutionary, though we need to ask: whose revolution? Whose vision for society will be implemented? At the moment, the rear guard — the people who are doing everything they can to reverse a century of political and social gains by women — are the ones who seem to be taking control. Said another way, women are the latest focus of a power-grab, with intensity similar to what we saw directed at terrorists after the Sept. 11 incident.

Whether people who understand what’s going on — and in particular, women who understand what’s going on — rise to the occasion and address the real issues, remains to be seen. This is an intelligence test for women, and not just in the United States, because these views are spreading. But for now, it’s a kind of political IQ for American women.

Part of why this whole infection can flourish is because so many people have been denied real sex education, and instead have been subjected to Abstinence Only indoctrination. This is the program of religious zealots who are now taking advantage of the ignorance they have propagated.

It’s telling that the issues of rape and abortion have been conflated into one viewpoint that seems to support rape and not merely oppose abortion, but to criminalize pregnancy. Consider that if abortion is made illegal, then the termination of any pregnancy — no matter how it happens — becomes a potential crime scene. Virginia already tried to pass a law making it a crime for a woman not to report a miscarriage, presumably because it might have been an abortion.

This week, one of my readers wrote to me: “I live in a state in Mexico (Guanajuato) where there are women in prison because they have either aborted or miscarried and were unable to prove that it was through natural causes. In Mexican Spanish (at least), the word for an abortion and a miscarriage is the same, abortar. You have to clarify natural causes through the words espontáneo or no provocado.”

In the past, I have said that Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that makes abortion a constitutional right (which is related closely to the right to use contraception), is the closest thing we have to an Equal Rights Amendment.

However, lately my views have evolved. I now believe it’s the only thing between women and the possibility of being prosecuted for murder if they have a miscarriage, or choose to abort a pregnancy, even one caused by a rapist. That would be revolutionary indeed — but I don’t think it’s your kind of revolution.

Planet Waves monthly horoscopes provide a broader perspective that surveys the themes of the coming month and often, the weeks that follow. The September Monthly horoscope is below in this issue. Inner Space for August was published Tuesday, July 31. The new Inner Space (a short, concise monthly) will appear Tuesday, Sept. 4. The August Moonshine Horoscope was published Friday, Aug. 17. Please note that the longer monthly horoscope (what you have below) is being incorporated into the Friday issue after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space still publishes on Tuesdays.

Planet Waves Monthly Horoscopes for September 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign DescriptionsVirgo Birthdays This Week

For those with a birthday in the vicinity, it’s going to be helpful to keep your relationships in perspective this year. You may have an inclination to be idealistic, though it could be so subtle that you don’t even notice it. One key to happiness is going to be finding a balance between expressing how you want things to be, and noticing how they actually are. You may be inclined to overlook certain issues, though those issues will resolve themselves more easily if you pay attention and keep the discussion going. Note carefully the influence of alcohol and other substances on your emotional environment. Moderation is key, as is understanding the way that substances might cloud your judgment. There are, in truth, no secrets that you can keep from yourself, and there are certain facts that are pressing for acknowledgment. I believe you’ll be much happier when you keep them closer to the surface, which will facilitate healing and keep denial to a minimum. Note to Virgos: I am nearly done with your birthday astrology and tarot reading, which focuses on relationships — and which I plan to have ready Monday. The reading will also work for people with Virgo rising.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — There are people who insist that the best sex happens after a huge fight with one’s partner, and this is one description of your charts right now. We could however apply it to many areas of your life, and many different kinds of partnerships. The way the astrology is describing it, your MO seems to be resist until you decide to submit. While this is helping maintain your reputation of someone who is not afraid to stand up to authority (in whatever form it may take), I don’t think it’s helping your peace of mind. If you’re looking for some dependable success and/or a stable situation in a relationship, it would help if you expressed yourself in a way that invites collaboration. I’m aware of the sensation of giving up one’s individuality to do that. However, I would propose that it’s the best way to find your identity. Your astrology is configured in such a way that you are extremely, boldly and assertively yourself, and then in equal measure (on a half-moment’s notice) you’re able to have your identity disappear into a relationship. You can consider your rebellious moments as attempts to define your identity within a partnership. This would be a lot simpler if you didn’t view this process as standing up to authority but rather an experience of meeting another person on level ground. The boring part of this is that it’s not as dramatic or brimming with pathos. The sensation is more like a conversation across a table, which can go anywhere you mutually decide.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You are seeking freedom, and it looks like you encounter the same obstacle over and over again. This is an attribute of your character, as it’s currently set up. Something has suddenly shifted over the past few weeks, where you’re aware of this obstacle in a new way, and more determined than ever to let it go. What you’re doing in these weeks of your life can serve as a foundation or entry point to the process. You have the potential to see and understand the issue in a new way. This will prove to be helpful if you remember what you’re learning. Unraveling whatever block, interference or past injury you’re working with may take a while — figure about 18 months from now, if you stay with yourself. What you’re working with goes back longer than you may recognize. To work it out in so short of a time will be a miracle, and your willingness is essential to that happening. I suggest one thing. What you think the problem is may be incorrect. What you think the solution is may not actually be the one. It’s essential that you consider your situation as a moving dynamic, and that you consider yourself a work in progress. I would share with you some lines of the poet T. S. Eliot, who understood a lot about the human condition. He wrote: “I have heard the key / Turn in the door once and turn once only / We think of the key, each in his prison / Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.”

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). If you would like to hear your Taurus birthday reading, please visit this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may have a tendency to be overly reactive with partners, loved ones or colleagues this month — and the closer you are to the person, the more reactive you might be. Lurking underneath this is an expectation that people will be like you, or perceive the world as you do. And there is something else with how powerfully you can identify with people close to you, and how self-conscious that can make you feel when the identification no longer works. Underneath all of this is something about identifying with your mom, and part of the reason there is some struggle here is that you’re not her. Yet there is some bond that I suggest you look at; that may be how you respond to her sense of loss that you’re now an adult, or how she responded to you in the years when you were becoming an adult. I suggest you ask yourself an honest question: did she resist your becoming an adult? Did she strive to delay any aspect of your maturity? If so, I suggest you get inside this dynamic and understand how it still may be controlling your life. One angle to look at is the expectations you have on partners. Another is how you respond to drugs or alcohol in your environment. And there’s one last: do you ever feel like you’re concealing an iron fist inside a velvet glove? It may work for some things, though it’s not that helpful where intimacy is concerned. And there is another approach.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Gemini birthday reading is ready! Click here for an hour of astrology plus a tarot reading by Eric.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You’re figuring out that you need more room for yourself — both outer space and inner space. You may think it’s taken you a while to understand this, but really, not as long as you might imagine — and you’re really ready. Over the next couple of months, your creative aspirations are going to take a step forward. This strongly implies you’re getting serious about desires that may have only seemed like fancy ideas in the past. If you’re feeling like you have to rearrange your home or office, or get into something bigger, that’s probably a real signal. Then there is the more elusive concept of inner space. That’s another way of saying: is there room in your life for you? If there is not, it’s time to start making some adjustments. This will begin with your positive priorities — not what you need to cut. I suggest you focus on getting clear what you want to do, and what your space needs will be. Then start clearing things out of the way. This will help you focus your efforts. If you start by clearing out your time, you may not quite know what to do first. So I suggest you set your agenda and then make room for what you know you want to do. The upsurge in your creative energy will have a way of displacing what’s not necessary, what’s redundant and what’s no longer serving you. Meanwhile, if you’re feeling cramped, consider that a good sign — evidence that you’re about to molt, as crabs must often do, though this is a big one.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Cancer birthday reading is ready! It includes more than an hour of astrology plus a tarot reading, and has been wildly popular (also great for Cancer rising people). Use this link to order.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Your mind is getting bigger, and it’s likely that your physical space will soon need to accommodate your growth. This may not happen tomorrow, though if you’re feeling antsy or restless, consider whether your home environment actually accommodates who you have become in recent years. Yet there is also something here about outgrowing certain long-held emotional tendencies that have shaped your psyche. As a child, this may have led you to a kind of submissiveness that you seem ready to let go of. That letting go may come with the feeling of getting a grip on your emotions, taking charge of your space, and recognizing that you’re the only person who can make sure that you’re not manipulated by others. What may be useful for you to know is that the way that’s most likely to happen is when others pick up on your passion and use that against you. With Mars becoming more active in your chart for the next couple of months, you may be able to observe how this happens — and figure out what you can do about it. While you’re considering ways you can make more space, along the same theme, I suggest you create emotional space for yourself. Space translates to time and peace of mind, though in the event that you move locations, make sure that some part of that structure belongs to you and you alone. Create a sanctuary that’s free from the influences and ideas of others, and this will become a living metaphor for your emotions.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). See below for a description of your 2012-2013 birthday reading, which is available now.

Hello Leo and Leo Rising! I’ve finished your 2012-2013 birthday reading. This is composed of two 35-minute astrology sessions, plus a combined tarot and astrology reading. It covers all of the major astrology happening now — with an emphasis on recovering a childhood dream. I also cover the influence on your relationships, your home environment and your finances. Astrologically this includes Mercury retrograde in your sign, the Leo New Moon, the Uranus-Pluto square, Saturn in Scorpio and more — all in clear, easy to follow terms. This report is designed for those born with the Sun in Leo but is equally applicable for Leo rising. Visit this page to get access.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — During the past few years, you’ve learned a lot about what’s the most meaningful to you — and a lot about what you do with your money. The lessons and learning have come in many forms and have covered many topics, including the value that you place on relationships. Yet if you’ve been even vaguely responsive to some powerful astrology, the main thing you’ve gained is a new level of self-respect. You may not walk around every day humming about how good you feel about yourself, though you have built a foundation, and you’re standing on it. Think of that foundation as a conscious relationship to yourself. You may be noticing how many people around you seem to be standing on nothing at all, and who seem to lack any conscious relationship to who they are. If you’ve learned nothing else in the recent years, it’s that you must engage with yourself consciously, and that this inner encounter is the foundation of all your other relationships. It’s not merely the floor you walk on; it’s what holds up the floor. You’re embarking on a time in your life when your outer-world encounters with others are deeper, more provocative and call on you to possess actual maturity. Not everyone has the integrity that you have, and not everyone is interested. Others are in a learning process, and some will be profound teachers. When in doubt, come back to yourself, and remember that everything stems from the value that you place on your own life.

Hello Virgo — Eric will have your birthday report next week. He’s also written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Saturn is getting ready to make its exit from your sign. It’s been there since right around Halloween 2009, and its arrival may have been attended by all kinds of fanfare. Saturn’s exit is a time for a review not only of that two- to three-year phase of your life; it’s time for a life review, centered on the theme of coming to terms with yourself. If you’re familiar with astrology, Saturn in one’s own sign is a little like the Saturn return: it’s a get-serious point, and an opportunity to leverage yourself to a new point of maturity. The way the world is currently configured, that’s always a miracle; and it’s rarely easy. We’re conditioned regularly to deny who we are, and to pretend we’re someone else. As for maturity, many places that concept seems to be a museum piece. To the extent you’ve progressed along these lines, count yourself fortunate — though first I suggest you take stock of everything that’s happened since this transit began. When Saturn changes signs to Scorpio in October, the theme shifts to self-esteem — another astounding deficit in our society, and where you will encounter a phase of enforced growth. These processes are always easier if you understand yourself and your agenda, and have a sense of what you need to accomplish. It’s always a bit more than you think — though today I would remind you that in the past few years you’ve come a lot further than you may believe.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Be mindful of your tendency to expect disaster in matters of the heart. Nothing else would serve to create that more dependably than negative expectations. This works differently from superstition or ordinary paranoia. For example, the fear that your house might burn down is not particularly incendiary. You can check your extension cords, the stove and candles. But similar fears projected onto a relationship can have a profound effect on the emotional dynamic. Your fear will tend to increase as passion, interest and vulnerability become more real to you. This is a situation calling for mindfulness, and for honesty. Yet the one thing that is not called for is control, which will only stoke your fears. And nihilism — expectation that all is for naught, so what’s the point anyway — is a form of attempted control (mainly, of your own emotions). Your fear level will drop as you set yourself free to have the experience. If someone in your life means a lot to you, be willing to go where the situation takes you. Be willing to share yourself in a way that’s more generous than you might ordinarily, and by share, I mean generosity without expectation. Withholding is yet another form of attempted control that will serve only to strip you of your influence. I would remind you of this: we tend to love who and what we take care of. When you subtract that from the equation, you’re trying to limit your own vulnerability, which is like trying to have sex in a Tyvek suit.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You may notice that people around you are especially reactive to what you say and do — as if it takes exceedingly little to set them off. Even stranger, you may notice that their reactions bear no resemblance to anything you said, or anything you consciously think or feel. So what’s going on? Well, often intense reactions are both powered and assigned their theme by the one having the reaction. You might serve as a catalyst and then as a projection screen, though it will be helpful if you keep an arm’s length on anything people close to you are experiencing, without disavowing your responsibility. It’s as if you’re in an extended training program of learning how not to take things personally, while remaining accountable. As a Sagittarius you’re supposed to be aloof. Yet you get as emotionally invested as anyone else, and you’re in particularly deep these days. You might also be wondering why it is that certain people respond or react to you the way that they do, if for no other reason than promoting peace and harmony in your life. This is a great time for an inquiry into your ethics and your boundaries, and that would start as an inner journey — and your ancestors are involved. I suggest you investigate the different sides of your family as individual projects, going back as many generations as you can. You may think you’re the union of all these different clans, though their influences tend to operate a lot more independently of one another than you may think.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Just in time for the equinox, Uranus makes its second of seven squares to Pluto in your sign. Translated into plain English, this is about getting a fire lit under your ass. The sensation may be like a restless emotional stirring that you just have to act on. However, I suggest you concentrate your energy and not make any moves in a lurch. Saturn, your ruling planet, is getting ready to make one of its relatively rare changes of sign; it ingresses Scorpio in October. You may want to make some decisions now, before that happens — the kind of moves that will shape your life and help you create your future.
Yet while Saturn is in Libra, you’re still working through unfinished business, and you’re still getting a sense of what you want. So I suggest you take this bit of astrological experience I am sharing to heart: wait until Saturn changes signs before making any significant structural changes in your life. Focus on completion, and on getting clear about what agenda you want to create for the next two-and-a-half years. You have considerable potential to develop your income — particularly from business-related activities. You’re likely to see a return on what you’ve worked so hard on during the past few years. Remember that your single most valuable asset is your reputation. Your second most valuable asset is your adaptability. And your passion not just for what you’re doing but for who you are is a close third place.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You’re getting ready for some big professional moves — or depending on how you think astrology works, the universe is preparing to unveil some of its plans. As this experience unfolds, I suggest you place a high value on the role of collaboration. There is a prevailing view (seen in many political ads these days) that the only way to succeed is to ‘go it alone’ and succeed by the grit of your teeth. In fact, you always succeed by collaboration. This is more or less true for everyone, though it’s especially meaningful for you. As you engage in these collaborations, you have to walk a number of fine lines. Control is a theme, whether it refers to you seeking power over others or they seeking power over you. The other side of this is learning to engage energy in a meaningful and creative way, no matter who is the boss or who ultimately controls the resources. Then there is the question of who sets the agenda. Given certain facts of your chart, this has to be a transparent process, where the agenda — that is, the goals, and the values that inform them — are considered something of a sacred text. Most significant is that you have to be you in your partnerships. So make sure that as you enter into new ventures, there is room for who you are and who you’re becoming, and that you choose collaborators that you actually admire for their ethics and sensitivity, as well as for their achievements.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Who exactly is in your life, why are they there and what do you exchange with them? These have become significant questions the past few years that Saturn has been in Libra. You’ve had little choice other than to look at them closely, and do the growth work necessary to get some actual answers. You may have been through a long phase of paring down who you think of as a friend. You may have decided at some point that it would make a lot of sense to consider carefully who you engage with sexually, because so much happens in those encounters. Now as Saturn gets ready to ingress Scorpio, you’re about to begin a new phase of your life — and your relationship to yourself. I suggest you take this month as a review phase, and write a summary of your important relationships and what you’ve learned from them. This review could go back to mid-2009, when Saturn first ingressed Libra, or you could go back to 2007, when Saturn entered your relationship sign Virgo. I trust you’ve figured out that you have a responsibility to yourself that you must be vigilant about all the time. If you don’t rate that need as a priority higher than your responsibility to others, you will be of little help to yourself or anyone else. It is high time that you stopped allowing your tendency to share to be used against you, and interrupt the flow of situations where your loss is someone else’s gain. Existing on mutual terms is eminently possible, if you focus on that goal.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Mercury Direct, Nessus and Your Cue to Be One

Leave a reply

Dear Friend and Reader:

In August, the sky starts to open up and the energy flows more freely. The obstacle course that we’ve been running since January morphs into the art studio / healing space indicated by the Leo-Virgo line, which the Sun is gradually approaching. If you’ve been having productivity or creativity challenges, prepare to focus and move forward. Granted, this is happening in August when most people would rather be taking it easy.

Moon Rising. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Before we get there, though, there are (as ever) some highlights worth mentioning. Currently, Jupiter in Gemini is square Chiron in Pisces. This is an aspect associated with those who devote themselves to social causes; the wisdom attribute of Jupiter and the applied healing / focus quality of Chiron join forces in a provocative way. Start with yourself first and work your way into helping the world. Make your contribution from a solid place. As my friend Scott Kalechstein once said (as if describing this aspect), “get the word in before you get the word out.”

The Aquarius Full Moon is Aug. 1. This is the Moon in Aquarius opposite the Sun in Leo. When you see a Full Moon on the first of the month, that hints that there will be a second Full Moon that month — and that’s called a Blue Moon. I have absolutely no interpretation of this whatsoever; it’s pure trivia. (The Pisces Full Moon happens Aug. 31 — more on that in a few weeks.)

In all sincerity this seems like a reasonable, easygoing Full Moon (it’s trine Jupiter in Gemini, for example, which looks like a relaxed mental and emotional posture). Aug. 1 is a Wednesday, though that would be a great day to plan an extended weekend and (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere) start your midsummer holiday.

Next up is Mercury stationing direct on Aug. 8. It’s been retrograde in Leo since July 14. That will begin the first extended stretch of 2012 with all of the inner planets direct. That condition lasts a whole three months, until Nov. 6, when Mercury stations retrograde on Election Day here in the United States. [I’ll come back to that one as well — let’s just say that event will give us a moment to pause and reflect on the meaning of elections.] If you recall, we covered this in the Top Five Events of 2012 audio series.

Take advantage of this phase of direct inner planets, by which I mean tackle your biggest projects during this brief three-month phase. Use the remainder of the current Mercury retrograde (through Aug. 8) to prepare yourself for what you need to accomplish with all the red and yellow lights suddenly turning green. Summer is a nice time to chill out, though I suggest you keep your focus on your goals and intentions.

Photo by Eric Francis.

On Aug. 15, there is a conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Libra. There are a few ways to look at this aspect; I will sum up by saying that your sense of fairness is the thing to be working with as it approaches. This is not a time to cheat or to take advantage of anyone — it will blow back in your face. Keep your balance and use the energy of Mars-Saturn to develop your goals and as an opportunity to take action on an important professional matter. It might be a tense time in relationships; if someone is acting immature, deal with them on something other than their level.

We then have the Leo New Moon on Aug. 17. This is a special event, as the Sun and Moon will be opposite centaur planet Nessus. Nessus is the third centaur, with two layers of meaning. The first is about understanding the connection between cause and effect, and altering the cycle when necessary. The second is that it relates directly to themes of sexual healing, including the healing of abuse legacies (part of the reason I’ve introduced my four-part series on erotic themes on Planet Waves FM, which began with Wednesday’s edition). The essence of the New Moon opposite Nessus is cultivating an understanding of what is your material in a relationship and what belongs to someone else. Often we take on someone’s abuse legacy, or project our own into the partnership. This is a time to sort this out.

There is one more notable event in August — 1992 QB1 turns 20 years old. I keep mentioning this bit of space dust, which was the first planet ever discovered in an orbit beyond Pluto. That’s in a place called the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of space just past Neptune where there are millions of little icy and rocky planets orbiting our Sun. I promise you that you won’t read about this anywhere else, unless of course someone takes the lead from Planet Waves. I am planning a rousing tribute to 1992 QB1 in a late-August edition.

As you can see, 1992 QB1 is a planet with a temporary designation and no actual name. Dale O’Brien wrote to me and said, “It’s already named! Cue: Be One.” Now that’s an apple from the very tree I’ve been barking up since I heard about this point not long after its discovery.

Enjoy your horoscope, which I’m offering with a few other short features. I’ll see you Tuesday with the Inner Space monthly for August.

Lovingly,

Midyear Report Forthcoming

I am now working on your Midyear Report, a 12-sign audio devoted to putting your calling, your cash flow and your career in the same place. Many people are trying to do this, some of them spurred by our challenging economy — which I think presents special opportunities for resourceful people with ideas and energy. Look for an announcement of that soon; it will come out after Mercury stations direct.

Shades of Grey: 2012 Olympics Opens Friday

The XXX Olympiad — otherwise known as the 2012 Olympics — opens Friday night in London. The ceremony starts at 9:00 pm London time, which means it’s possible to cast a chart (for viewing purposes, please check your local listings for the time in your area). [View chart at this link.]

The 2012 Olympics were almost in Paris. This neon sculpture of the Olympic rings was erected next to (not around) the Eiffel Tower in 2005, which I photographed while I was living there. Photo by Eric.

This is a slippery chart full of all kinds of cryptic messages. There is tension behind the scenes, on many levels. For example, the Moon is void of course when the games begin (though it makes aspects to minor planets, which paint a nice complicated picture). As well, the ceremony happens just a day before the Sun-Mercury conjunction (the halfway mark of Mercury retrograde). That’s a way of saying that the trickster is in the air, which Mitt Romney just demonstrated on his trip to London (see POL section below).

In our current world, I think that the Olympics are especially necessary. They’re an example of what can be created for its own sake, without the Air Force being sent in, and where the profit motive isn’t particularly successful. They are a testament to actual human achievement for its own sake; a statement of our potential. Woe be unto anyone who turns them into something cynical.

Where Mercury is a factor, it’s helpful to look at what’s happening in the Mercury-ruled signs, Virgo and Gemini. Virgo is on the 8th house of this particular chart (which means it’s associated with money, banks, sponsorship and partnership). Gemini is on the 4th house — (home base, security, father). Of the two the 8th concerns me the most; there’s something dishonest about this Sun-Mercury retrograde setup. We could be looking at some sort of news about the games being rigged — or for that matter, bungles involving news coverage itself.

The 8th in this chart also includes Libra, and there’s a conjunction brewing there — Mars and Saturn. But that conjunction doesn’t happen till after the games end, so this is a setup for something that develops during the games that finally comes out when that conjunction happens. There may be a delayed reaction.

My buddy Astrodem notes that the Aquarius ascendant for this chart has an interesting Sabian symbol — “A man who had for a time become the embodiment of a popular ideal is made to realize that as a person he is not the ideal.” Translation: stern caution about performance-enhancing drugs. One Greek athlete has already been disqualified.

I think it’s possible that we may see something never-before encountered from the Olympics — a sex scandal. I am aware that the Olympic Village makes the old Studio 54 seem boring as a party spot; those kids know how to carry on, they have a ton of energy and this is their big moment. Athletes and sex go together like the ingredients of a peach melba. (As of Thursday night, long after this was written, Stephen Colbert was already doing comedy about sex and Olympic athletes.)

This newspaper headline appeared in Paris the day that London was selected to host the games — and the day that the 7/7 false flag attacks in Tube stations and a Metro bus happened there. That felt a bit ominous. Photo by Eric Francis.

Therefore, I hope this is not a sex abuse scandal (which would translate to some form of rape). There are some dark shades to this chart (Scorpio Moon square Nessus, and opposite the Black Moon Lilith). Where there is sex, there is shadow, and we’re looking right at it with that aspect. It would be lovely if we could relax and have the whole conversation — light, shadow, body, soul; this chart is an invitation.

Last, everyone who worries is wondering about terrorism. The thing that makes me nervous is that London winning the Olympic bid was announced on July 6, 2005, and when that made news the next day, we had the 7/7 bombings in London. That was a ridiculously false flag attack (that day the police were running terrorism drills in the same four tube stations as where the bombs went off). I am not so concerned about terrorism as I am about Terrorism, Inc. — that’s to say, some kind of staged event. However, as the games begin, I can say that I don’t feel that happening.

To the extent it’s possible, today or any other day, this is something we can help with. Holding the whole thing in the light is a real-life exercise in creative visualization. I believe the more chatter there is in advance, the less likely that something weird will happen. The element of blindsiding the public is the essential ingredient in false flag attacks; there has to be shock value or what’s the point?

Now as for all those fantastic athletes showing up from some 200 countries, who have prepared their whole lives for this event, nearly all of them in good faith — well, let’s see how they do.

Greenland Turned to Slush in Four Days

It’s been a hot summer, with record temperatures, droughts and wildfires, being described as the worst since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The American corn crop looks like it might fail as a result of the weather, which is expected to push up food prices (chickens and pigs eat corn).

Ice melt off in Greenland between July 8 and 12. This kind of thing has happened before — but has it happened in four days? Well, it just did.

Meanwhile, a massive ice sheet covering most of Greenland has melted over a record area this year, with the melt covering 97% of the ice in just four days earlier this month. This happened between July 8 and 12. While climate change deniers say this kind of thing happens every 150 years or so, they cannot say for sure how long it took — and four days seems pretty quick.

Though about half of the ice sheet normally melts during the summer months, the speed and scale of this year’s melt was extraordinary — the fastest in three decades of observation. One problem is that the melt off feeds on itself. Ice is white and reflects heat. When the ice melts, less heat is reflected and more ice is affected.

At its center, the ice sheet is nearly two miles thick. Melting even occurred at the Summit station, the coldest and highest place in Greenland. Ice core records show melting last occurred there in 1889. “When we see melt in places that we haven’t seen before, at least in a long period of time, it makes you sit up and ask what’s happening,” said NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati.

While this kind of melt off may happen every 150 years or so, it’s still alarming. The news comes just days after a massive iceberg, twice the size of Manhattan, broke off of the Petermann Glacier, one of the two main glaciers in Greenland. It’s the second time in two years that parts of the Petermann Glacier have broken off after an ice island four times Manhattan’s size cracked apart in August 2010.

Still, climate change deniers are on the march. One such website commenting on an expected rise of the oceans chirped, “An additional foot of sea level rise is about twice the amount the world has experienced since 1880. Our wealthier, more mobile, and more technologically advanced children’s children’s children should be able to adapt to it just fine.”

Romney Slips on Mercury Retrograde; Bum Over Teapot in London

Mitt Romney began his international “charm offensive” with a visit to England with the perfect gaffe — telling NBC’s Brian Williams Wednesday that some of the challenges leading up to the games had been “disconcerting.” Romney’s resume includes overseeing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which he promptly outsourced to China.

Mitt Romney’s astrologer forgot that Mercury was retrograde — or left that out of the reading as sabotage. Here, Mitt is outside the famous black door at 10 Downing, speaking with reporters. Reuters photo.

“The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials — that obviously is not something which is encouraging,” the presumptive GOP nominee said.

Apparently he had not been advised that Mercury was retrograde, therefore, to be quiet and just wave at all the nice people.

His remark prompted a reply from Prime Minister David Cameron. “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world,” Cameron said. “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

In later comments Romney forgot the name of British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. Even for Romney, he was in rare form. And it gets better.

After he stepped outside the famous doors of No. 10 Downing St., the current prime minister’s office, he admitted that he had been given a secret briefing with the head of MI6, the British intelligence agency. Aspiring U.S. presidents are not supposed to admit that they met with anyone in the organization, the existence of which was secret till 1994.

The Guardian asked, “Do we have a new Dubya on our hands?” Or as Howard Dean commented Thursday night on MSNBC, all that’s missing from this trip is a visit to the Cayman Islands.

As News of the World Turns (and Pholus Keeps Going)

The Fall of the House of Murdoch continues in its illustration of the ‘small cause, big effect’ indicated by centaur planet Pholus in charts associated with this event. Two ex-editors of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World — the original scandal sheet, profiting on the misery of others — face 19 charges related to phone hacking, including former top executives of the company. When we covered this last year, we demonstrated how Pholus feels like a runway reaction, and predicted that this scandal would keep going for a long time.

Cover of The Guardian, one of Britain’s left-leaning actual newspapers, from 2010, breaking the story of how News of the World writers hacked the phone of slain teenager Milly Dowler. After publishing her parents’ anguished voicemails in the newspaper, they deleted the messages, leading her parents and police to believe she was still alive. This outraged England and sent the news across the Atlantic, forced the closure of the newspaper and has resulted in nine arrests.

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are among seven former members of the now-defunct British tabloid charged with conspiring to intercept communications. Between 2000 and 2006, the phones of 600 people were allegedly hacked into — with the erasing of voicemail belonging to murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler’s phone leading to the paper’s closure in July 2011. Brooks, a former chief executive of the newspaper division News International, naturally denies the charges.

Coulson, formerly British Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief, also faces charges linked to the phone messages of Dowler and others. Check that out — the current prime minister’s former press secretary was charged criminally with hacking into the phone of a murdered girl, to sell more newspapers.

Last week Murdoch himself resigned from directorship of several subsidiaries of his News Corp, in a move announced as ‘corporate housecleaning’ in preparation for splitting Murdoch’s newspaper holdings from his entertainment enterprises. Included in that split is FOX News which will be kept with the entertainment division. Some speculate it’s more like a fire sale — and Murdoch and his top staff are holding the matches. While many are downplaying Murdoch’s resignation from his directorships as a public relations gesture, you can be sure it’s a lot more meaningful to him, stepping down from leading the companies he created as the world looks on in disgust.

As we wrote of this incident last year, “Something new seems to be escaping from a structure in a way that can never be reversed: the truth of what went on behind the scenes. With Pluto in Capricorn we have the energy of the unstoppable force, combining with Pholus in Capricorn (in the natal charts of Murdoch and News of the World) to wreak havoc on one of the world’s biggest companies and oldest, most established governments.” What we’re seeing is how the thing we rely on for supposed truth has become an instrument for disinformation and chaos. The consequences are only just beginning to clear out the whole toxic enterprise.

Groundbreaking Gay Activist was Historian of Cinema

If you have HBO or you can cozy up with a friend who does, don’t miss this documentary. It’s called Vito, and it’s about the life of early gay activist Vito Russo, also the author of The Celluloid Closet. He was the first historian of the depiction of homosexuality in cinema, about which his book was written (covering Thomas Edison’s early films up through contemporary cinema of the 1970s and early 1980s). The HBO documentary covers Russo’s life as well as providing many examples of his observations about the early history of film through contemporary times.

Planet Waves FM: Pleasure, Play and Healing

Late Breaking News — I was at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA this week, teaching astrology. I gave two presentations — one on the development of the minor planets, and the other on sexuality and astrology. The links take you to high-quality recordings of the seminars. These are both designed for people without prior astrological training. — efc

Author Sheri Winston.

This week’s guest on Planet Waves FM is Sheri Winston, author of Women’s Anatomy of Arousal: Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure. Our topic is pleasure, play and healing. Sheri is a gifted writer, teacher and guest and it was a real treat spending an hour hearing what she has to say. You can reach Sheri at her website.

I open the program with a recap of the news and a short summary of the astrology leading into this weekend’s Mercury-Sun conjunction, which is the peak of Mercury retrograde. I also cover the Sun’s aspects to Dionysus and Kassandra, which we’ve been writing about on this page as well.

Then we get into our conversation with Sheri, which I focus with my questions. As for Sheri’s philosophy, just to give you an idea — here is how she defines ‘wholistic sexuality’ on her website:

Wholistic Sexuality is about connection. First and foremost, your sexuality is about your connection with your Self — that’s your primary relationship.

Your Self includes all of you: body, mind, heart and spirit, past, present and future, genetics and environment — everything that makes you uniquely and completely you.

Your sexuality is about who you are, not who you do (or don’t) have sex with. Whatever you do or don’t do — you are a sexual being. Your sexuality is an inherent, inseparable and vital aspect of you.

I hope you’ll spend some time checking out her site, and I’d love to hear any feedback about my conversation with her in this broadcast.

Planet Waves

Monthly Horoscope for August 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — There’s this concept from psychology that everyone would benefit from knowing about: projection. Projection is when you see your qualities, issues or challenges in another person. It’s called ‘projection’ because it’s like having a light on your forehead that shines your material onto them, rather than being anything that comes inherently from them. This kind of transaction makes relationships difficult because when it’s happening, it verges on impossible for anyone to take responsibility for what is really their own, and thus open the way to have two people make their way through the world as conscious adults. This month, I suggest you listen to any accusation or claim you might make about another person and ask whether it has something to say about you. If you find yourself in any form of conflict, pause and do what’s called ‘withdraw your projections’. Start with taking full responsibility for being in the situation, and take ownership of your responses to it. Give others the opportunity to do the same thing, without pushing them in any way to do so; your example is enough. You’re likely to discover that this reveals the conflict for what it is, and puts everyone in a position where it can be resolved. The problem with identifying projection is that it can be psychologically uncomfortable and vulnerable. It can feel weird to observe what you’re doing, much less admit it. It’s easier to go on projecting, which only pushes the conflict deeper.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Love is a gentle experience and needs to be handled delicately. When we say love and really feel it, I believe that most of the time what we really mean is trust. Trust is about being on level ground with someone, and sharing mutual respect. Much of what we call love exploits inequities between people. Though we’re told these are economic issues, I’ve observed that most of them are emotionally rooted. Whose needs are ‘more important’ than the other’s? Who is an inherently more supportive or generous person? Who can handle crisis better? I suggest that as August progresses, in matters of the heart, you go for the slow, conscious evolution process. Make sure that you’re proceeding with trust first and affection second. When your affection runs ahead of your ability to trust someone, that’s the moment to pause, because it’s the moment when you’re most likely to feel like you’re out of control, and thus respond in ways that don’t make sense (to you or to anyone). If your life emphasis is currently on a relationship, I suggest you take a couple of weeks and focus on your own inner emotional needs — the ones that can only be met by growth, not by the presence of another person. Be aware of the unusual intensity that may be gathering around resolving a childhood issue centered on the theme of trust (particularly in communication). This will be far easier to resolve apart from a relationship than as the focus of one — for example, I suggest you address it with a therapist or counselor rather than a lover or partner.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed) If you would like to hear your Taurus birthday reading, please visit this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may be inclined to push your luck in a relationship situation. This could translate a few ways, and will apply equally to established situations, new ones or ones that you are reaching for. You may want the situation to develop faster than it’s currently moving, which could involve wanting someone to change or grow. You might be emphasizing the sexual aspect of a relationship when you’re not quite ready for that. You may be feeling frustrated and experiencing an impulse to break free, wishing it could be with someone rather than from someone. I suggest you get clear what you’re experiencing, then proceed to investigate the source of the feeling. The first question is, who is stuck? Who is experiencing inhibition? The chances are it’s equally distributed among the people involved. Take ownership of your part. I also suggest you account for anger. What might look like desire is more likely to be a form of resentment, and it’s likely to predate this situation — all the more reason for you to be well-versed in the deeper roots of what you’re experiencing. Last, I suggest you do a review of your relationship to risk. Go back about two years, and consider the kinds of chances you’ve taken, and why you’ve taken them. Do a little audit of how each of these has worked out, and why you think that is. The game of life is easier to play when you understand yourself, and when you stack the cards in your favor. What you learn this month will help you do both.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You seem to be outgrowing something — your physical space, your emotional orientation, a job, a relationship. You may be stoked and impulsive to make a sudden change, though I suggest you take a balanced approach to your situation. The change you make has to be the right change, and at the same time, it’s essential to use a moment when you’re really aware of what you want to change. This is the balance that you must reach, which comes down to knowing your priorities and keeping a focus on matters of timing. You may not be able to act at a moment of frustration, and it would be unwise to do so. Yet a mature person can keep a focus on what they need to shift or rearrange in their lives, and look for an opportunity to do so. At the same time, the world is changing around you, and events that take place a bit later in the year, especially in October, may provide the ideal circumstances — or arrive with even greater changes that obviate the things you want to adjust now. That may seem like a long way off, though in truth it’s right around the corner, and you may be able to get a sense of the trajectory of your life when Mars enters Scorpio later this month. You will, at least, get a taste of the territory you’re going to be entering, and if you’re paying attention you will learn enough to see, and address, certain obstacles well in advance of when you actually encounter them.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Cancer birthday reading is ready! It includes more than hour of astrology plus a tarot reading, and has been wildly popular (also great for Cancer rising people). Use this link to order.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The past few weeks have been an introspective time for you, and you may have gotten to know yourself in a whole new way. It seems you’ve made some deep commitments for how to proceed with your life; you’re willing to make adjustments. Flexibility is an excellent property for you to develop, yet it’s easy to have these experiences and then forget them. To remember, I suggest you begin making decisions based on what you have discovered to be true about yourself. That’s the best way to reinforce learning: to use values and self-discovery as a practical tool. This will come in handy mid-month, around the time of the New Moon in your sign, when you face what seems to be an especially significant choice. If you have the feeling that this is about a relationship, you’re correct, though really there are a lot more than two people involved. There is a family or a metaphorical family in the picture, and you have to be clear about how much emphasis to give their needs or their opinions. You might use Mr. Spock’s analysis — the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Or you might decide that what’s best for you is best for everyone by default, because you have to be happy. In any event, this seems bigger than it really is. If you’re feeling pressure, weigh and balance the two sides of the equation for a while and you will have the clarity you need. Trust that you’re well-aligned with your truth.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your solar chart looks like you’ve been having a beautiful experience of admitting to yourself what you really want, moving through often-impossible-to-access territory, as if you’ve been able to enter a dream consciously and ask all of the characters in that dream what they really think, and what they have to say about you. If your dream activity happens to be more prolific than normal or even if you’ve had one of those ‘big dreams’, make sure you write it down. It seems to me like you’re doing some of the deepest exploration of self-acceptance in many years. There is, however, a chance that this has felt like facing all kinds of unpleasant truths about yourself or your past: things that happened to you that continue to stress you out or knock you off alance, even if in subtle ways. The solution set remains the same: this material is coming up for review and awareness, and you’re situated perfectly to go into those places that you may have never accessed. If you seem to be stalking ‘the truth’ or if it seems to be stalking you, it’s not as dangerous or disturbing in reality as it may be in your imagination. In any event to resolve the material, or even to find out what it is, you have to bring awareness there. I will say this: what happened to you in the past matters, and it influences your life more than you may think. That is, until you do something about it.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — When the time comes to break free from your shell, do it gently. Given the astrology of the past month — particularly, Mars in your sign after spending eight months in one of the most introspective angles of your chart — you seem determined not just to think independently but be independent. Yet going back longer than this, you’ve been struggling with the authority principle: you simply don’t want other people setting your limits, telling you what to do, or rearranging your boundaries for you. And, after spending a lot of time dealing with various shades of lurking fear, you’ve started to adjust the circumstances in your life to reflect this basic truth. As the astrology of August develops, you’ll discover that you’re not done making changes — though as you consider your situation, I suggest you reflect on two things. One is the extent to which you’re adjusting your inner psychological and emotional landscape rather than the world around you. You’re in a challenging maturing process that, at the moment, is compelling you to see that in truth you live your life from the inside out. It’s not always so obvious and there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary, though as you strive to set yourself free from someone or something, remember that most of what you’re liberating yourself from is from you. Second idea — that something is a past concept of who you are. The past is gone, though now you’re finally challenging one of its most enduring emotional artifacts.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Commitment is a dance, rather than a fixed entity. In our quest for permanence in a world that seems to change ever-faster every day, there’s an idea that commitment is about grafting yourself to someone or something in a way that will never change. When you dance with someone, you hold them intentionally but gently, and with enough flexibility to move, and to let go and rejoin in another configuration. I suggest that this is the way to think of your relationships. Remember too that there are two things happening: one is the relationship or arrangement, and then there are your ideas about it. Your ideas will tend to dominate your reality, often obscuring the actual experience they’re supposed to be describing. The good news is that your ideas are flexible, as are you — and that’s your most useful asset this month. Probing a bit deeper, you seem to be unraveling a question: what is your point of contact with another person? What’s the basis of the relationship? Is it a conscious healing process, or is it an obsession with wounding? Is it an experience of emotional exchange, or is it more like a projection? Often one of these will masquerade for the other. This phenomenon is something worth investigating, even if you think you’ve gone down that road before. Your ability to take command of your life, something you now seem determined to do, depends on your knowing and understanding the difference — and using the information consciously.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Your relationships are like seeing your reflection in one of those mirrors that magnifies whatever you’re looking at, which in this case is yourself. Relationships tend to reveal our inner nature to both parties. However, what we see reflected is usually mistaken for some property of the other person involved. Though this may have an element of truth, I suggest you do an experiment where you take full ownership of whatever personal material you’re presented with. Mainly I mean your responses to someone, the choices you make, the words you say, and the ways you feel about yourself — in the context of the relationship. I am proposing that you assume this is all about you — not about anyone else. In case you’re inclined to be self-critical (a quality of your sign that’s described only in the fine print), remember that who you truly are is a lot more than the tally of your faults and your assets. Who you are exists alongside those qualities, though you are not them, no matter how much you may feel like it. One of the happier challenges you have now is to relate to others as that ‘who you really are’ factor rather than all of the details — and when you do that, it’s what you will feel mirrored back to you. The key to this is not to get distracted by judgment of any kind. This may seem like walking across coals, though at the moment, you have plenty of support.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Handle issues involving authority like you’re on the bomb squad. Rule one is, assume the thing is real. You don’t want to provoke any conflicts with anyone who has authority over you, such as traffic cops, the IRS or your boss. If you’re in a position of authority, carefully mind your ethics, your sense of fairness and most of all, your boundaries. If you practice a policy of holding the line, you will know where the line is. This is vital information if you find yourself arriving at a situation where you have to cross a boundary of some kind, exceed your authority or stand up to someone because the ethics of the situation demand that you do so. Do not do this casually or unconsciously. Rather, hold off on using this particular expression of power for when it’s clear that it’s your best (but not your only) option. That may happen once and once only in the next month. Meanwhile, if you feel anything like this brewing, I have one other suggestion. Additional information that may influence your thinking will emerge after Mercury stations direct on Aug. 8, and a second revelation is coming with the New Moon of Aug. 17. In the situation you’re in, knowledge is power, and you don’t have to impress anyone in order for that power to work. Your primary job is to know the facts, and to see the patterns develop as more information becomes available — which it will. Till then, bide your time.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Pay attention to everything in your life that seems to be running in a cycle. There are two kinds of cycles to watch for. One is when something keeps happening repeatedly, such as the sensation that you keep having a similar kind of experience because you don’t ‘get the lesson’. The second is when you’re involved in a series of events wherein one thing leads to another — and the buck stops with you. When you have experiences like this, it can be frustrating and distracting, though apropos of your current astrology, it can shake your faith in your ability to make long-term plans and carry them out. You might feel like you’re involved in a pattern that specifically makes believe that something you can envision and want to work for is unavailable to you. This is the time to challenge your beliefs, rather than feel like you’re limited by them. One indication that you might be up against a belief that you want to challenge is that you’re angry, though the anger isn’t directed at any one person. It’s more like being ‘angry at God’. This is another way of saying ‘angry at existence’, which I would say is a fertile state of mind — the kind of mental or emotional space where you know you want to make a change, but you may not be sure what change you want to make. Perhaps this question will help. You are someone who lives with a purpose, but do you have a mission?

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Many have commented on the dualistic nature of Pisces — you know, the two fish swimming in opposite directions, though connected to one another. This property runs deep in you, though it has its origins in the angle of your chart occupied by Gemini, the angle involving security and your emotions — which aligns with the sign of the twins. For the past 18 months or so, you’ve been making special progress resolving various splits within your emotional body. As you’ve done this, you’ve encountered those inner divisions in a more direct way, with the purpose for this being recognizing your situation and doing something about it. Now, you’re starting to see that these divisions that dominated your life for so long are beginning to heal. Elements of your nature that seemed to oppose one another are now more harmonious. Your living spaces are starting to feel more like you want them to feel, and you’re more at home there — the most significant living space being your presence within your own skin. There’s a real gift here for you, as you embark on a time when you’re much more likely to be in harmony with yourself than at odds with yourself. You will save time and energy, it’ll be easier to determine what you want — and to pursue that specific thing. And there is most certainly something that you want, which is the feeling of a settled life and a true home. The more you feed your passion for this, the more realistic it will seem as a creative goal.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

A Call to Awakening — and Action

Leave a reply

Dear Friend and Reader:

This weekend is the first exact alignment of the Uranus-Pluto square. We’ve been watching this one develop for a long time, both in the culture and as an astrological event. For those individuals born in the 1940s and 1950s, this astrology may be reminiscent of an exciting time in your life — a time when it seemed possible to change the world. For those born in the 1960s through the mid 1970s, you may be noticing your spirit called to awakening and action like nothing you’ve ever felt before.

Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool, during the 1963 March on Washington. Photo by Warren K. Leffler / Library of Congress.

Sometimes I’m concerned that we’re giving this Uranus-Pluto aspect too much emphasis, though it’s something that’s influencing everyone personally to some extent, and many people to a great extent — especially those who have natal planets in early Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn. These are the cardinal signs, the ones that provoke change and progress.

Much like the Saturn-Pluto opposition of 2001-2002 was a setup for the decade to come, the Uranus-Pluto square is truly a sign of the times and is setting the tone for our current era. We live in a transitional phase of history: a time when many problems will come home to roost, and when we will need to be at our most cooperative and inventive. Enlightenment is not a luxury now. It’s a form of maturity that will allow us to keep a handle on our lives, and gently guide the human community to a better place.

While the qualities of the Uranus-Pluto cycle are well documented, each time it happens there are new surprises. That’s another way of saying unexpected events.

The Uranus-Pluto square will make seven exact contacts, starting with Sunday’s and ending with the square of March 16, 2015. Studying the sequence of these charts, a lot is going to happen between then and now, much of it seeming to happen around us, with plenty of developments seeming to come out of the wild blue. Because we are among a relatively few people on Earth with access to the deeper levels of astrology, we have another gift that Uranus grants: that of foresight.

That’s one of the properties of Uranus, the faster moving of the two planets involved. It’s essential that we apply this power of foresight starting right now, because we need to be able to look ahead and, even in an atmosphere of the unexpected, consider some of the possibilities and how to work with them constructively. Uranus also connects to developments in science and art, which is another way of saying that we can think in new and radical ways under its influence. Taken consciously, life is indeed part science and part art — with ‘consciously’ being the operative idea.

Yet in Aries, we have some cause for concern, because to access the better nature of this sign (which each of us depends upon in our charts) is going to call for the kind of self-awareness that doesn’t grow on trees. Lacking that self-awareness, there can be a kind of militancy or aggression. Uranus is the planet of revolution, and through history, most of those have involved weapons (even when Uranus isn’t in Aries). So we need to focus on the other kind of revolution, the one that starts within.

This is a matter of personal choice, upon which much depends. There may be a good few situations in your life that boil down to the choice between aggression and awareness, in particular, self-awareness. You could say this is about slowing down a bit and looking where you’re going when you turn a corner.

Let’s consider Pluto in Capricorn, which we’ve been experiencing since 2008, when the transit began. Capricorn is one of the signs about the past. We humans tend to drag around a ton of material from both our personal past and our ancestral history, without considering the effect that so much dead weight has on our vitality.

The revolution starts with you. Photo by Eric Francis.

Pluto in Capricorn is about revitalizing the places within us that are stuck somewhere in ancient history, refusing to observe and engage with the present moment as it really is. Being stuck in the past, including the ancestral past (living out the hopes, pain and frustration of our ancestors) is a common condition on the planet. Speaking as an astrology consultant, I can tell you that bringing up the topic of family or parents with a client is often like lancing a boil that never seems to drain. Carrying these dead cells is a serious tax on our energy. Pluto in Capricorn is here to help.

Then there are the structural themes of Capricorn. We like to think of it as dependable ground we can stand on, though Capricorn is a cardinal sign. Like the Earth itself, which twists and thrusts and shakes, this deeper nature of Capricorn is being instigated by the unstoppable force of Pluto.

Now, put these two forces together: the revolutionary power of Uranus meeting the evolutionary drive of Pluto. Imagine this has been warming up for about three years, that it’s going to be exactly aligned for three years, and will have after-effects lasting at least another five years.

If you’re wondering why so many people are living through desperate times, that’s one side effect of so much tension and movement — and the threat of progress when these two forces — Uranus and Pluto — make direct contact. Anyone clinging to the past has a serious problem on their hands, and that could include anyone (not just ExxonMobil executives or crusty old senators).

There are lots of ways to describe this tension (for example, the drive for radical progress of Uranus in Aries versus the fear of cataclysmic change described by Pluto in Capricorn).

The square 90-degree aspect that we’re experiencing has its roots in a conjunction that happened in 1965 and 1966. By that time, there was obviously something going on. The Civil Rights movement was active through much of the 1950s, and the March on Washington that you see illustrated above had happened in 1963. Clearly, there was something in the air, but could anyone have predicted the turns of events over the next 10 years?

That’s about where we stand today. We know how precariously balanced our lives are, and what a fragile state the world is in. People are actually starting to notice that exceedingly few political ‘leaders’ and even fewer heads of multinational corporations are involved in solutions to any of the problems they’ve been so busy creating. Their game is to maintain the status quo, because it works for them, even as the system they’ve built threatens to crumble under their feet.

From the Occupy movement of 2011. Photo by Beth Bagner or Eric. Probably Beth! It has that surreal look, but it’s real.

We actual humans are being invited to participate in a different experience: that of waking up. One of the first signs of awakening is noticing that you’ve lived unconsciously in the past, and one of the next is noticing how many people seem to be sleeping. Don’t stop there. Awakening is something that you have to do every day, and the continuity of thought and progress that you develop from day to day and year to year and moment to moment is called awareness, or mindfulness.

As we go through this, I would propose that we never underestimate the lure of go-back-to-sleep influences. The prescription pills, the mind-numbing work, the corn syrup and the gratuitous violence are still flowing freely. Many people go through lives gradually becoming their parents, pretending to be unaware of that fact. Many people say over and over again that they’re going to go for therapy, never receiving the incredible benefits that can offer them.

One last trap is awareness going no further than a slight tickle in one’s brain and the vague hope that ‘things will get better’, which can easily be numbed out by the fear that if you dare to make a move, life will get worse. Part of the Uranus-Pluto aspect involves noticing and questioning the role of fear in our lives. That’s another way of saying it’s time to pluck up some courage.

There’s a good chance that the Uranus-Pluto square is working directly on your chart. Nearly everyone has some significant planets or other factors right in line with this aspect, which become the focal point of evolution, growth and progress. Learn something about your chart and you can spot the places where you’re under the most pressure to make changes. The chances are you know it, too — and you’re getting direct information about what, exactly, needs to change.

Yes, it’s time to stop being poisoned and voluntarily poisoning ourselves and being ripped off and voting for people who steal from us. It’s time to stop passively watching the destruction of the Earth. It’s time to stop wishing we ‘had a life’ and actually get one.

And as you know, it’s time for a lot more than that.

Action is the fruit of knowledge — and I mean this literally, not as some philosophical metaphor.

Let’s go.

Lovingly,

Cancer Birthday Reading is Ready!

Hello Cancer Sun, Moon and rising folk — and happy birthday to Cancer Sun readers.

The Cancer 2012-2013 birthday report is now available. This is a detailed reading of transits as they influence your sign, with a focus on career and relationships — and a special focus on home and security base. It accounts for certain factors going out as far as 2014 that begin to have an influence starting in July.

Photo by Sarah.

This is an excellent astrological product covering the transits you’ve been reading about in Planet Waves, including the Uranus-Pluto square, the Saturn-Eris opposition, Mars changing signs and the conclusion of Venus retrograde.

I also include a reading with the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless — cross-checking the astrology with the Tarot with some surprising results. The product includes photos of the Tarot spread, the chart, and access to last year’s reading so you can both review and check its accuracy against the events of your life.

If you have never tried one of my birthday readings, we’re so confident it will be helpful that we offer a full guarantee of your purchase. My intention is to make this the most worthwhile $19.95 you’ve ever spent on an astrology product, and I put the best of my talent into the work.

Note, this report is substantially different from the 2012 annual (Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check.) written with six months’ extra perspective and covering many other themes.

Here is your link to order.

This report will be effective and timely for Cancer rising and Moon readers as well. For other signs, we have a page that lists all of my birthday products for the past year or so.

Thank you for your business. Please let me know how you like the reading.

Lovingly,

East meets West: an Ayurvedic Conversation

This week’s featured interview from the United Astrology Conference (UAC), brought to you by Planet Waves FM, is a conversation with Nomi Gallo and Simon Chokoisky of The Ayruvedic Institute. Nomi and Simon shed some light on the nuances of bringing Eastern spiritual concepts to the West, noting both differences and universal ideas. They also emphasize the importance of preparing oneself to be healthy in mind, body and spirit, and to be well rounded, as necessary groundwork to becoming an astrology student. It’s an engaging, fun, illuminating conversation embodying the very simplicity of natural logic found in Ayurveda. Our UAC coverage includes well over 20 great interviews with astrologers, psychologists and other spiritual practitioners, and we hope you have fun exploring them.

This week on Planet Waves FM: All Hail Northern Solstice!

Here is this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, recorded on the eve of the solstice. I cover the Gemini New Moon — the Moon in the that odd 28+ Gemini (which I covered in the article Here at the Edge of the World).

Eric Francis.

We then take a song break, diving back to the late 20th century — my guitar teacher, Rusty Boris, made a CD and I play a track called “Thank You.” In the second segment, I talk mainly about Saturn opposite Eris — the seeming dichotomy of independence versus relationship.

If you would like to try to listen without any player at all, here’s a direct link:

http://planetwaves.fm/podcast/120620-podcast.mp3

Here is your program in the old player, where you’ll find the full archives and a downloadable zip file. Here is another version of the archives — organized with program descriptions.

We have LOTS of great Planet Waves FM editions planned for this summer — stay in touch!

PS, Note, here is the PDF about Eris that one of our readers mentioned in a comment on our main Daily Astrology and Adventure blog. I’ll put it on “free sale” today. I wrote this just about three months after Eris was initially named. Given how swiftly I moved after the naming, I’ve no doubt it’s the first full-strength attempt to delineate Eris, and it may still be. I’m curious to see how it checks out against your experience. If you do a Google search with my name, the word Eris and the word astrology, you will pick up dozens of other references over the years. Or, if you prefer, here is a compilation on Eris that includes some of my best work on the topic. We’ll be sending this out by email too.

Monthly Horoscope for July 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You’re about to experience what you can think of as a progress-check on your journey to wellness. You’ve been through a long phase of reflection, many experiences of learning how to change your mind, and gradually devoting yourself to healing. Yet it seems like the real demonstration of your progress is going to come through your relationships in the coming weeks. Part of what you’ve been working through is how to handle anger and aggression. Along the way you may have noticed what a big problem this is for so many people these days. Where you stand today is at the point of connecting theory to practice. You’ve studied the map, you’ve studied yourself; now as Mars moves out of Virgo and into your opposite sign Libra, you get to dive into the territory. This includes how you handle your own Mars-related emotions (desire, anger, aggression, fear) and how you handle those feelings in partners. You will need to notice carefully when you go into reaction mode, as opposed to response mode; it’s essential that you be able to distinguish whose feelings are whose; it will not always be easy. Most significantly, you become the guardian of fairness and balance, and this will necessarily involve situations wherein you’re the judge of your own cause. On one level I could describe the aspect structure of the next month as an experiment in integrity, which is to say, both inner wholeness and the question of what your relationships reflect about your state of mind.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Self-esteem is the core issue for you now, though culturally we have so many problems with this topic that it’s like trying to describe air. By all rights, you should be feeling great about yourself these days, though inside that feeling there appears to be a deeper question. It might help to think in terms of ‘as if’. Faced with any decision or circumstance, how would you respond if you valued yourself more? By that, I don’t mean responding to your fear — I mean your actual affirmative value on yourself, which extends into your environment and your community, since you’re so deeply dependent on your surroundings for your happiness. Your charts suggest there’s something you may be struggling to let go of, and to the extent you’re stressed at all, consider this. When self-worth is compromised, people tend to compensate other ways. Some do this by getting rich or famous. Some exert their power over others, or by fostering an obsession with physical strength. Some substitute the need for public adulation as a substitute for being loved by their parents. I suggest that you be vigilant about when any form of behavior is designed to make up for a perceived loss or lack. If you pay attention you will notice when this is happening, and you may also get the hint that it won’t work. No substitute for authentic self-value will ever work. So forget the substitutes and go for the real thing. It’s right within reach, and you’ll know it when you feel it.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may have been getting the message in recent weeks how crucial it is that you be honest with yourself — and various reminders of how easy it is to be less than honest. It’s not too late, and yet moving forward, it’s essential that you be scrupulous in your self-assessment and your dealings with others. Dishonesty is not always about telling outright lies. It also includes concealing your motives and intentions. It can slip in through being idealistic, exaggerating or denying certain facts. One thing that will help you is to consider your sense of proportion before you speak or take action. How important is something, really? How important is it that you get your way? In addition, Jupiter in your sign is offering you depth and wisdom, but its square aspect to Neptune cautions that you could dismiss what you know because you consider it inconvenient. This is another way of saying, don’t let your idealism get in the way of perceiving the truth of any situation. Rather, get under the surface and be honest about your motives — something that has not been easy for you lately. As the month develops, you could find yourself involved with a crusade of some kind, or at least, a crusading attitude. And if that turns out to be true, you’ll want your moment of commitment to be based on something authentic. Doing this well is first a matter of practice, then of preference. I suggest you start with the commitment to being all real, all the time.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You are starting to feel what’s missing, because it’s not so missing anymore. It’s as if you’re remembering your own presence among so many events and activities that surround you, though your awareness may occasionally drop below the surface before bobbing back up. When this happens, I suggest you ask yourself if you’re trying to deny the intensity of your own life, or your need for deep commitment to handle the many demands on your growth. One of them seems to be about playing a central role in the emotional cohesion of your family or circle of friends. I suggest you listen carefully to what children have to say, and keep your mind on their wellbeing — even if they’re not your own kids. See if you can remember your own observations about the world when you were much younger. There are things that didn’t make sense to you then, which still don’t make any sense to you today. What if you refused to pretend that they do? The things you held dear when you were much younger, such as the concept of ‘life’ itself, and your corresponding respect for existence, can be of significant help to you and the people around you. Nearly all of the problems the world faces emerge from the refusal to have even the most basic respect for life. You will be a lot happier if you don’t play this game, and you will set the example that it’s possible to focus on what really matters.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). Your Cancer birthday reading is almost ready. It will include more than hour of astrology plus a tarot reading. Check your email later today or early tomorrow for access.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Give up any desire to control how people perceive you and it’ll be easier for you and everyone else to see you for who you are. Though you may have your doubts lately, the thing that your friends value the most about you is your sincerity. This quality about you will work with an almost mystical power through July and into the next year of your life. The thing to remember, and the thing so often forgotten, is that all you can really be is yourself, so you may as well do that exclusively. The example you set is one of the most likely to be followed; you have the privilege this year of being a kind of trendsetter, though it’s best not to think in those terms. Rather, remember the wisdom of A Course in Miracles, which reminds us that “everyone teaches, and teaches all the time.” If you’ve ever noticed that people tend to do a lot of imitating of others, it’s time to take that to heart. While words are a vital part of this process — especially over the next few weeks, with Mercury making an extended visit to your sign, what counts the most are actions. If you do use words, remember to use them wisely; there is a pattern developing where you may regret what you say, and have to correct yourself. That alone sets a good example, as so few people can admit that they were wrong, though it’s preferable to get it right the first time.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Spring Checkpoint: Individual Signs Now Available

We will soon figure out that it’s actually 2012. The recent retrogrades of Mars and Mercury seemed to create a delay, but really this winter and early spring has been a phase of gestation. Over the next four weeks, the energy starts to pick up pace dramatically, and we will discover where we are and that something unusual, and beautiful, is happening.

Even as we approach the truly beautiful potential of the astrology that’s developing, many people are struggling with their day-to-day lives. There are more questions than answers; the economic and political situations seem hopeless; the pace of existence is going so fast that there seems to be nowhere to get in a little meaning, or seek some peace of mind.

Here is where astrology can help. Astrology looks at the longer cycles, and the deeper themes — and can help you see your life in context of the present moment, no matter how chaotic it may be. Context means a sense of where you fit in that will help you see your potential and make better choices.

For years, I’ve been helping my clients prepare for making the most of the astrology of the 2012 era. Based on this experience, and many years of study, I’ve prepared a set of readings for all 12 signs (and rising signs, and Moon signs) that guides you through this astrology, step by step. I cover the most challenging and energized developments of this spring, which includes eclipses, Venus retrograde, the Venus transit of the Sun, and then a few days after the Sun ingresses Cancer, the Uranus-Pluto square.

Each sign gets a half-hour discussion. These came through loud and clear, with strength and meaning. I spent a week designing and recording them, and I am grateful to be able to offer them to you as a tool to help you guide your decisions, as you seek deeper meaning along your journey.

Spring 2012 is a kind of checkpoint along the way to wherever you are going. But really it’s a calling into the adventure of existence, a bold invitation to go beyond your past limits and explore something truly new about yourself.

Signs are now available individually for an amazingly low price, cheaper than the paper shopping bag costs at Jimmy Choo — order your reading here. The report is getting rave reviews from people who are currently working with it, including these words from a customer named Donna: “OMG — thank you thank you thank you — just spent this morning listening to my [Spring Report] info, and am so blown away by the accuracy (and relief!) in this experience. Thanks so very much for your part in supporting this work and for showing up in the way that you do!”. Here is the link to order.

Please drop us a note if you have any questions.

Lovingly,

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mars has been in your birth sign since November, and on July 3 it heads for Libra. A review of this momentous transit is in order. Mars carries a rather different energy than Virgo, though the two are an essential combination. The point of this transit has been to teach you how to assert yourself. To do this, it helps to get clear with yourself and be coming from a unified position within your own consciousness. If you’re not in conflict with yourself, it’s a lot easier to stand up to the world. This transit has provided you with the opportunity to work out any misunderstandings with yourself that you’ve been carrying around. Next, when Mars is present in such a distinct way, it’s necessary to learn how to direct your will and your intention. Mars is a sharp object, and it has to be handled with both mental and physical precision; that is the role of Virgo. In sum, this transit has provided you with the kinds of benefits that a teenager gets from taking a martial arts class. Remember what you’ve learned during the past eight months of your life, because they are indeed valuable, once-in-a-lifetime lessons. Now with Mars moving into your 2nd solar house, you get to direct your will and intent into the management of your resources, including money. Mostly this will amount to an extended exploration (and use) of the concept of balance — the single most important skill when it comes to wise management of resources.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You’ve been learning a lot about fear the past few months — and soon the topic switches to faith. Fear tends to live in a self-contained world. That world follows its own rules and has its own internal logic, which is self-serving and, as it turns out, self-defeating for you. I suggest you make a list of everything you’ve worried about since late autumn and then note how much has actually come to pass. Fear is largely a creature of the imagination, of misdirected creativity. Faith works differently. It opens you up to a world beyond yourself. It is a power that comes through you. Apart from any difference in the subject matter, the energy flow is worth observing, because it’s a useful way to figure out what you’re actually feeling. Simply, stuck is of the nature of fear and moving is of the nature of faith. This idea is in harmony with something that Joe Trusso, one of my teachers, once said: the opposite of depression is expression. The next few months are all about you expressing yourself in a bold way. Per the characteristic of faith, that expression can have the sensation of something flowing through you. That something is ‘beyond yourself’ yet still distinctly recognizable as yourself. Among the seeming paradoxes we face in life, this is one of the most pleasant. We don’t often think of that thing beyond ourselves as part of us, though for sure this experience will help you recreate your understanding of who you are.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — The child in you is a revolutionary. I don’t mean a rebel — I mean someone with an agenda to set the world right. The challenge you have is to embrace the potential for change, healing and liberation with the youngest part of yourself, while at the same time bringing in the focus and maturity that is your prerogative as an adult. To this end, I suggest that you do a few things. One is to pace yourself. Yes, time is of the essence, and getting ahead of yourself is a good way to waste time. Take things in order, one at a time. Next, remember that while there may be revolution in the air, at least half of that equation is evolution; and this is a process of trial and error. Yet it can take vast leaps even when contained in an environment of orderly progress. Keep in mind that the unstoppable evolutionary force is in the sign that’s associated with how you think. So for you, as a revolutionary, the core theme is understanding your thought process, specifically for making corrections to what you can think of as your mental genetic code. Like any strand of DNA, this is based on ancient information — though you are clearly aware of the pressing need to bring this up to date. Your goal is to make sure that your thought process is current and not something akin to that of your ancestors who were roaming around the planet in 1895.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Relationships are said in many spiritual and therapy traditions to be a mirror. This is good in theory; somehow we all know it’s true. In practice, though, it’s easy to forget, and challenging to apply in a pragmatic way. Now would be the time, however. The first thing to remember about mirrors is that unlike a photograph, they present an image that is reversed horizontally. Plus, every mirror is a little different; at a certain point you choose the one you like the best. One particular mirror in your life is showing you the past. You can peer right into your own history, and make a decision about whether you resemble that person at all. Other mirrors represent your potential, and show you how much beauty and wisdom you’ve got available. The thing about those reflections is that you might not believe them. In fact, you’re more likely to believe the image that shows you who you were, since you’re more accustomed to it. I suggest you gradually cultivate your relationship to what you think is unrealistically positive. As you do this, you may notice certain emotional zones where you feel like you may be injured or fall short of who you want to be. As part of making peace with your potential, you get the opportunity to heal those parts of you that you might have decided are unworthy of love. This is a bold place to be; in a sense you’re confronting one of the deepest insecurities that people are capable of. It’s about time, too.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You are poised to take charge, though I suggest you work with a strategy. Step one involves something called power analysis. This is a conscious dissection of your goals (and figuring out what they are and why you have them); of who in the situation has influence over whom; and of your actual leverage in the situation. You need to place having a clear strategy above your tendency to react or respond emotionally, no matter how strongly you may feel about the situation. You’ve spent a long time analyzing the ethics involved, and examining your own psychological tendencies. Now that it’s time for action, I suggest you remember one thing. The scales of justice can be tipped one way or the other by a single gram. It is therefore vital that you use your influence wisely, and with precision. If you proceed in a reserved, understated way, you will gain the respect of others — particularly if you spend time listening. This process will also build trust. There will be many developments over the next month that seem to take on a life of their own — though I assure you that they’re reasonably predictable — and much more flexible than you might imagine, in case you want to sway things in another direction. The thing to remember is that exerting less influence is better than overdoing things. You want to be respected, not feared. And these days, fortune favors those who are capable of changing their mind — which is another way of saying capable of growing.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You tend to need a lot of reassurance before you take any kind of risk — and you have that now. Yet even if external validation is available, I suggest you emphasize what’s coming from within, because you are the person you’re most likely to listen to. Most of the time we think of achievement as something we reach for. It’s ‘up there’, away from us. The sensation of your charts is gently stretching your capacities from within. Think of it as being a bigger person, rather than a better one. Imagine that you encompass more possibilities, and that you’re friends with a diversity of potential outcomes, rather than being attached to any one. Contrary to popular folklore, Aquarius is one of the more conservative signs of the 12. This raises the question of your relationship to fear. You don’t really believe the worst-case outcome is the one that’s going to happen — though why do you so often conduct yourself as if you do? Now, life is encouraging you to take some chances of a sort that you have not experimented with in a long time. Yet you do have experience with stretching yourself in this way. You may feel like you need extra courage to account for the extra risk involved, though I would say that curiosity will serve you better. In its most valuable form, this would be curiosity about yourself — which will serve you many ways.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You’re looking right at the tendency in your relationships that you’ve wanted to work out very nearly forever. You now have the power of awareness not only to avoid making the same mistakes again, but better still, the courage to be free from fear if you do. Ultimately every relationship involves embarking on the unknown. At some point we have to decide that someone we care about really is being honest, and this is a feat that has its deepest roots in your ability to trust yourself. If you use what your senses and your intuition tell you, then you’ll be able to make clear decisions. I suggest you set a limit on the extent of using your past errors as a teaching device. You definitely need to understand where you’ve been, but more significantly you need to use your creativity to do something different. That’s to say, you cannot go forward merely by avoidance — you go forward by visioning what you want, setting a destination and then setting out in that direction. While you’re unlikely to arrive exactly where you planned to go, there’s a good chance you’ll end up someplace better, with unexpected rewards that come as a direct result of your willingness to take a chance and explore unfamiliar regions of yourself. One of the most exciting things about your chart is the strength of your inner presence. It’s as if a world is opening up within you, which will manifest first in your awareness, then in your home space, then in your immediate surroundings. Enjoy the trip.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Transit of Venus: Embracing the Solar Feminine

Leave a reply

Photos of the 2004 Venus transit of the Sun by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Dear Friend and Reader:

“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
— Sulamitis, from the Song of Solomon

On June 5 (June 6 in some time zones) Venus and the Sun form a precise conjunction, called a transit of Venus. Venus and the Sun align about once a year — though this one is different due to the fact that Venus will not pass above or below the Sun but rather directly cross its path. This is called a transit of Venus. Considered one of the most rare predictable astronomical events, transits of Venus arrive in pairs separated by eight years; the pairs themselves are divided by more than a century.

Events in astrology gain influence by being unusual — though this one will also be spectacular. If you can see the Sun during the event and use a special viewing filter, you will be able to watch Venus cross the disk of the Sun. (Beginning at 6:04 pm EDT, viewers in New York can watch until sunset.) We most recently experienced a transit of Venus in 2004. The June 5 event may be related to something that you experienced or a phase of your life that began eight years ago.

Melissa by Eric Francis — Book of Blue, New York.

The world will not experience another transit of Venus until 2117, 105 years from now. It’s a bit ominous that, barring some life-extending genetic therapy, nobody who sees this one will be alive to see the next one.

Speaking of omens, this kind of rare event indicates a check-in point with the state of humanity. It’s the single most distinct astrology element of 2012, a year that may break the record for how much prophecy has hung on its back. Yet we do stand in a moment when one logical use of celestial divination would be trying to figure out what’s going to happen to civilization on our planet.

By any objective measure, we are in trouble. It’s not that our national and global problems don’t have solutions. It’s not that there are insufficient resources. The crisis involves lack of leadership and ethics. Anyone trying for a solution must outsmart what amounts to a cabal of heavily armed thieves who are holding the planet hostage.

We face numerous hotly polarized situations of ‘us and them’, many of which come from a prevailing condition of inner division that has a grip on the human psyche. Which brings me to why it’s so excellent that this event is happening in Gemini. I believe that the political mess we face is a reflection of the deeper elements of our consciousness. Many of these are based on what I will broadly term gender issues.

In recent years, the political machinery has been using gender and sexual orientation — and sex in general — as some of its most effective wedges. Yet with the atmosphere heating up, with fracking consuming the United States and headed to Europe, with the economy in an extremely fragile state and our genetic code under assault from supertoxins-for-profit, worrying about who has the right to marry seems like a distraction.

Trying to blast reproductive rights back to the 1950s (as evidenced by the movement to repeal not just Roe v. Wade, which preserves the right to abortion, and also Griswold v. Connecticut, which preserves the right to contraception) is often described as throwing red meat to the conservative base. It’s typically analyzed as a political ploy that skews the discussion away from real problems and also preserves the jobs of politicians.

We all know there’s a severe imbalance on the planet, and there are many spiritual theories going around as to why that might be. Instead of treating the sex and gender issue as a symptom, I would propose that it might be a lot closer to the cause. People in political leadership are not known for their powers of deep introspection or their sexual integrity. Often they are in conflict and project that conflict outward as attack, attempted control and manipulation of people’s private sexual lives. People not in positions of public trust drive one another insane with this stuff as well.

Not a pinhole camera — gear used by Anthony Ayiomamitis to photograph the 2004 Venus transit of the Sun. Those images are shown at the top of the page. Many prior transit events were recorded only by illustration. Some examples of those drawings are below. Photo provided by Anthony.

This inner turmoil manifests many other ways, including lack of sensitivity for the Earth (the consequence of which is often accurately described as rape). Nearly all of the most potent toxins of industry attack the female reproductive system first, though we’re all soaking in an ocean of hormone-disruptive chemicals and all feeling the effects to some degree.

The transit of Venus presents us with a compelling metaphor and also a palpable moment of transition. It’s a junction (literally, a conjunction) where we can make a conscious choice. Think of this as starting within, where most (some would say all) of our conflict originates. Think of it as an inner reunion between the masculine and feminine elements of ourselves, appropriately happening in the sign of the interplay of opposites — Gemini.

Venus is a feminine symbol and the Sun a masculine one. When Venus intersects with the disk of the Sun, it’s a little like the Sun is being penetrated by potent feminine energy. Both will change in the process. My astrology colleague Adam Gainsburg (Soulsign.com) has been describing this as the emergence of what he calls the solar feminine.

“Despite the dominance of solar gods at the root of western civilization, the metaphor of light is actually more akin to the feminine principle than to the masculine. Light shines, radiates, illuminates. But from our viewpoint on Earth, the Sun also sets and takes the light with it each evening. This ebb and flow of light is precisely what the feminine is: the flow, the dance, the ever-changing pattern of light into dark and back again.”

With the transit of Venus, he said, “What becomes illuminated is how your feminine aspect self-radiates into the world — what you uniquely have to give to the improvement of our planet.” He adds, “The solar feminine is, literally, our ‘light body’. She’s the one inside each of us who leaves nothing uncovered, nothing unfelt. We experience the full range of our actual feelings as her body.” Yet the Sun is expressive, so this is about being moved to take creative action.

“The Solar feminine is a confrontational idea for many religions because her very existence fundamentally challenges the fragmentary, long-held assumption of masculine spiritual superiority. By re-acknowledging her, we begin to re-empower her. The solar feminine shines not just through the success and expression of women, but through the power of a man’s emotions received in his heart.”

I think what Adam may be describing is a process of men becoming more receptive and women becoming more expressive. That would help balance things out — and at least it gives us a clear idea of what to reach for. While there’s been plenty of ways in which our culture has slipped backwards in gender relations (especially when you factor in politicians), I believe there is a gradual balancing out of masculine and feminine energies within many individuals and in many relationships. With this eclipse-like event, we have an opportunity to deepen and accelerate that process.

Illustration of the 1874 transit of Venus at the point of ingress, seen at Sydney, New South Wales, and drawn by H. C. Russells.

The story of transits of Venus over the past few centuries gives us another metaphor to work with. Last year a book was published, called Transit of Venus: 1631 to the Present, by Nick Lomb (The Experiment, paperback, $24.95). Lomb describes the progression of how each successive event was seen by human eyes — and some of the implications. The following history is drawn from Lomb’s research.

No one is known to have seen the 1631 Venus transit — it was night in Europe. Johannes Kepler, who figured out the 1631 event, missed that there would be a second transit of Venus eight years later. Two people are known to have seen the 1639 transit: Jeremiah Horrocks and his friend William Crabtree, viewing separately from England. Amazingly, Horrocks figured out there would likely be a second Venus transit that century only about one month before it occurred. He began observing the day before his prediction indicated, just in case he had made an error in his calculations.

Edmond Halley (of Halley’s Comet fame) expected a Venus transit in 1761. He urged astronomers who would be alive at the time to observe the event. His calculations were off, but other astronomers worked out the correct timing. This was the first global scientific event, with 176 astronomers watching from 117 far-flung locations.

Eight years later, in 1769, there was another transit — the second of that pair. Up to 400 different calculations were presented to the Royal Society in London and similar elite European scholarly societies for the 1769 transit. The desirability of observing the transit in the South Pacific led to the founding of New South Wales, in what is now Australia; the British crown saw the need for calculations from the South Pacific as the perfect political cover story for its mission of seeking islands to expand to. In other words, modern Australia owes its existence to a celestial event. This adds the geopolitical expansion to the process.

More people observed the 1874 transit than any other previous one, reflecting the expansion of technology, science, education, industry, trade and population. It was also the first one documented in photographs.

Drawings of the 1769 transit by Capt. James Cook and Charles Green.

The corresponding transit eight years later in 1882 was widely observed and better documented in photos. The U.S. sent out eight teams, including to South Africa and San Antonio, TX. They made 1,380 measurable photographic plates (four times as many as in 1874).

The 1882 transit was visible throughout the U.S. for almost the whole event. Amateur astronomers set up telescopes in parks and on sidewalks of New York City, collecting dimes from those who wished to look. In Meriden, Conn., a fire alarm bell was rung when it started, and people went to a local man’s house where he’d set up seven telescopes so people could look. Some 6,000 people observed the transit form that yard.

That takes us up to the 2004 transit, the most recent one. For the first time, we were able to observe the transit from space, with much vaster knowledge of Venus and the solar system. Not only could the general public observe, but hundreds of amateur astronomers could produce their own stunning photographs (three from the 2004 transit, taken by Anthony Ayiomamitis, appear at the top of this article).

For the 2012 event, many more people will be aware of what is happening, and due to that knowledge, and the availability of inexpensive viewing equipment and the proliferation of information on the Internet, this will be the most-viewed Venus transit of the Sun in history. Nearly everyone in the world will be able to see live video or photos minutes after it happens.

There is something in this rare event that’s about the exponential expansion of awareness. If (at least from an astrological viewpoint) we understand that awareness to involve the balancing of male and female energies, we can cooperate by spreading that energy in an exponential way.

There is one other beautiful message from this event that I picked up while researching the chart for the Venus transit. I cast the cart with 1,000 asteroids and newly discovered bodies, and noticed there is a minor planet precisely conjunct both Venus and the Sun when the transit happens. It won’t be visible — but it will be there. The planet, really an asteroid, is called Sulamitis. It’s a fast-mover (less than four-year orbit) so its presence is something to take note of.

I did a little research and discovered that Sulamitis is the female character in the Song of Solomon, a book from the Bible that stands out in that it’s not about laying down the law or describing the anguish of some tribe. Rather, it’s a passionate love poem presented as a dialog between a man and a woman.

The story has many twists and turns, but ultimately its theme is devotion and what it means to be in love, with a comment on how authentic balance between male and female energy feels. With this event happening in Gemini, the first place to seek and find that balance is inside ourselves. I could not think of a more beautiful visitor to stand guard over this rare event, at this vital opportunity for rebalancing our hearts, souls and our relationship to the Earth.

Lovingly,

UAC Coverage Begins This Week

Greetings!

I’ve arrived in New Orleans and the United Astrology Conference (UAC) is getting under way. I taught my class on Astrology Storytelling earlier today and as I write I’m recording Donna Woodwell’s class on Weaving the Web. These are the first projects that we will produce.

If you’re looking for coverage of the conference, I suggest you check in Thursday afternoon. Coverage will be two places — it will be on the main Planet Waves blog, Daily Astrology & Adventure, located near the top of page. It will also appear
on Planet Waves FM. There will be clear instructions for how to access the coverage, most of which will be in radio format.

If you’re at the conference, please stop by the Planet Waves table.

Lovingly,

Monthly Horoscope for June 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Within the context of the rare, beautiful astrological events of this month, your job is to devote yourself to the quality of your work. You may feel a drive to innovation, leadership, invention or otherwise stirring the pot — though what your chart suggests is that you work calmly and steadily on specific, focused projects. Said another way, ground yourself in your goals, processes and methods. Focus on the details. You will have the occasion to work through certain blockages or obstacles, which may seem to be in your environment. I recognize that I’m not describing a glorious role, despite the fact that all eyes will be on the Sun, an object closely related to your sign. Your influence will come from your awareness and your ability to remain calm and go deep. That is the kind of leadership that you’re being called to. It’s the kind that involves intelligence, persistence, tenacity and foresight. There is a measure of self-direction that you’re being called to initiate, and you may be the one who gets to solve a problem that is too annoying or seemingly intractable for anyone else to work out. You’re doing this all the better if you feel invisible through the experience. The point is that this is not about you. You have a role, and by all indications it’s an integral one. Yet you can only accomplish this properly if you drop back and work with the full presence of your mind with no interference from your ego.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). We will have the Gemini birthday reading for you as soon as possible! Please check this space, and look in your email from us.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Has there ever been a time when the human psyche was more fragmented? Have we ever been pulled in more directions, injected with competing self-images or struggled with conflicting values systems? These conflicts and struggles used to be called neurosis (a term now abandoned by modern psychology) — including confusion, compromised sense of self-worth, obsession, perfectionism, habitual fantasizing and many other seemingly small problems that eat human bandwidth. Meanwhile, many external factors are competing for your attention — be they advertising, social opportunities or the demands of work. You’re aware of this situation, both within you and around you. You may be waking up to the desire to bring your whole consciousness together and to focus your mind. Events this month offer a special opportunity for healing, which is likely to arrive as unusual clarity around what your priorities are, and an opportunity to focus on a clear agenda. Consider how much of your past struggle has involved deciding what you ‘should’ be doing versus what you really love, and how to balance this out. Your astrology suggests you may get a taste of what life is like without this tension. Yet if that feeling vanishes, you may not recognize it as the presence of something else. Indeed, you could overlook it just because you feel good. Therefore, pay attention. Feel the inner alignment that allows you to make the decisions based on what works for you. Once you open that space, you will be able to return dependably — as long as you remember that it exists.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The whole is not only greater than the sum of the parts — it’s a lot more fun, and useful, and interesting. Yet there’s another level to this — what you actually do with all this potential. A car is greater than a garage full of parts, but then — where do you go? This month’s precise Sun-Venus conjunction in your sign is a clear demarcation point between the past and the future. Wherever you are going, it’s somewhere other than you’ve been, and I reckon, other than where you expected to go. This will require you to summon flexibility that’s unusual even for you, and to facilitate that you are about to release many old tendencies that have kept you stuck in certain patterns and at a certain depth within yourself. Or rather, your relationship to yourself. It’s true that you relate to yourself in a way that many people you know do not — consciously, aware of your ‘inner other’. Over the next few weeks, it looks as if you discover that your inner other is actually your soulmate. You don’t need anyone else to play this role for you; your friends, lovers and companions have different roles to play. Your experience of them, and of anything seemingly outside yourself, is rooted in your experience with yourself — and your relationship to yourself. If the planets in their courses say anything about you right now, it’s that you are recognizing that your relationship to yourself is something to honor and treasure every day.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — This month’s transit of Venus is about healing seeming divisions and splits within the psyche. For you, there is a special theme — resolving something you’ve been unable to observe closely or give a name to, perhaps until recently. You’ve lived with the effects all of your life, which may have manifested in what I call the ‘hemisphere effect’ — the potential to experience yourself, or anything, two entirely different ways. They may have nothing in common and one point of view may be entirely exclusive of the other. I would consider this as a potential source of misgivings about yourself, as well as an ambivalence that has followed you through some of your most important relationships. Consider that at some of the most challenging points in your life, you’ve been experiencing the effects of something inside you projected outward. It’s difficult to see the actual process because you’ve only been seeing the outer manifestation — like studying the projection on a screen rather than considering the film or the projector. The coming weeks contain a moment of profound alchemy, wherein the mirage of an inner split resolves itself seemingly spontaneously — and then you notice a corresponding change in your relationships. You will not be able to predict what happens; challenges or unresolved situations you’re currently involved with may work themselves out any number of ways. From the strength and integrity of the current astrology, you can trust that what develops will serve your growth and your longterm happiness beautifully.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — I suggest you take a bold step beyond considering your image or your appearance and fully immerse yourself into your relationship with the world. By that, I mean the world as you think of it: the constellation of everyone and everything in your life. You may be familiar with the Lakota prayer Mitakuye Oyasin, which translates loosely to “all are related.” It is an expression of the idea that all people and all things are interconnected. They may be related by being part of our sphere of consciousness, or looking a bit deeper, by the truth that we are part of something larger than ourselves. This of course violates Western concepts of separateness, division and privacy, ideas that lead to quite a bit of chaos and conflict — which are all based on a violation of natural law. The extraordinary astrology that is now unfolding is a reminder that you are part of holistic existence. Everything you do, and everything you think, influences the totality of your environment. This isn’t a theory but rather a property of existence that may boldly reveal itself to you during the next few weeks. Such an experience would shift how you experience yourself in the midst of your reality. Imagine if you could live that interconnectedness all the time. What would change? What would come into your life? What conflict would disappear into the deeper truth that you are related to everything from earth to sky to all members of the human family? Imagine.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Spring Checkpoint: Individual Signs Now Available

Please drop us a note if you have any questions.

Lovingly,

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — During your long search for a purpose, a mission, a calling, have you noticed how many others are on a similar quest? This search for meaning and purpose influences far more people than those who seem to have not accomplished much. Many brilliantly successful people are seeking contact with this feeling, having not found it in the midst of all of their achievement. You seem to face another kind of issue. It’s sometimes framed itself as the question, which of your two greatest talents is the one to pursue as your true path? What about how they seem to compete with one another, for time, attention and resources? Here is the message from your astrology: First, your purpose goes beyond any specific activity, job or role. Each face of what you do is an expression of something deeper, and this is one moment in your life when you make contact with that inherent quality. When you feel this, you’ll know because the sensation will shift your perspective. Second, your diversity of skills, and your choice to develop multiple gifts, has only strengthened you, widened your vision and given you the opportunity to cross-reference from several fields of knowledge. Finally, I suggest you cultivate a special reverence for language, and the language skills you possess. They will always serve you, the more so for investing in them and using them regularly. This is called being an integrated human being. You have always been well on the way — you’re about to go to a whole new level.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Balancing fear with love does not work. It only turns love into a defense, which reinforces fear. It may work to bring some light into the darkness, though for true healing to happen, all that is dark, existing beneath the surface or cloaked by denial must be brought to the light. If you work with these basic principles, you will be able not only to solve any problem, you will unfold a new vision for your life. The Venus transit of the Sun involves the planet associated with your sign and this takes place in one of the most visionary houses — the 9th. This rare event culminates with an opening for you to let go of an outdated vision of yourself. You would be amazed how such things can block new energy and ideas from entering your life. You will soon reach the point where the past is, in fact and in your experience, over. Many ideas you’ve had about the future up until this point will melt away. What is approaching is more exciting and beautiful than nearly anything you’ve conceived of before. You may need to go back over the things you were thinking in childhood to find certain sticking points, romantic ideals, and most of all, concepts about God that were inflicted on you. Consider these things carefully, and without sentimental attachment. Be willing to let go of everything you were told, or that you believed, was wrong, and in doing so open up space for the truth about yourself.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Every story in your life right now seems to be about commitment. And, despite being associated with attachment and bonding, one of the places you seem to hold the most self-doubt involves commitment to others. That is where to draw the line: it’s easy for you to confuse your investment in a relationship with an investment in your own life. Yes, there is a fine line, though the people who care about you the most understand that they provide a forum for you to self-actualize. Look carefully at the relationships in your life and make sure that you know which ones fit this description; that you understand who exists in your world for the purpose of consciously (as in willingly) holding space for you to get to know yourself. I recognize that this may seem ‘one sided’, though I would offer the idea that when your deepest relationships have this as their primary element, you are more available to others, not less. So, far from being self-centered for its own sake, I am talking about being self-aware and fully involved with your own growth, so that you are able to participate with greater depth and involvement in your relationships. You only run into trouble when you make some kind of significant compromise of your personal truth, which means you can only be half-present — and that’s as useful as not being present at all. Forget the fact that some people insist that’s what you do. There are others who want you uncompromised and at full strength.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — It’s not a relationship that’s changing — it’s your whole orientation on relationships. You’re enough of a philosopher to know what I mean when I say that everything is a relationship. In truth, what is coming to life is a new contact point with existence. You might glimpse something that hints to you that something is possible — remember that you’re seeing what’s possible all the time. Experiences you never dreamed could happen are right within your reach. All you have to do is take that step and go toward people you like rather than having them come to you. This is a significant shift in orientation for you, though it’s long overdue. Your independence will not be compromised; part of your reorientation is understanding how to share space with others in a way that leaves space for you. In doing this, you’re on the leading edge of a revolution that many people are eagerly awaiting, and you get to be there mainly because of your courage. As this unfolds, notice who you are attracted to and who is attracted to you. Be sensitive to the energy you share. For sure, your existing relationships are going through a transformation of some kind, and you may get the feeling that this is outside of your control. That’s true, to a point. You have the option to notice what is actually working and what is not. You have the option to suspend any efforts to fix things — and then size up what is so, and respond appropriately.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Pay attention to the speed and grace with which thoughts progress into concept and then into full manifestation. Though there are many steps to the process, the most significant is the one where you change and embrace the new pattern of your life. That feels like yielding to a force more powerful than yourself, though it usually has a pleasant sensation of release and embrace rather than the sensation of being pushed. In truth that force is within you, and it’s been building for a long time. You know that you’ve consciously initiated many deep changes the past few years of your life, and you’ve been wondering when some of them are finally going to bear fruit in the form of actual progress. That time has arrived. One of the key lessons in all of this is that of confidence. The world is a profoundly different place for those who proceed with confidence, which means with faith in themselves, and those who are ruled by their insecurities. You have no time to waste on such folly, and you’ve experienced many moments recently when you know you’ve found your true center. Yet you’re also being challenged to be certain of who you are in a time when that has never seemed to change faster. Consider yourself a being in motion, a work in progress, and define your sense of ‘self’ based on that sense of movement and development. Invest your trust there and you will have handsome rewards.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — What is the difference between a creative person and an ‘uncreative’ one? There definitely seems to be a distinction — and by early adulthood most of us have typecast ourselves as one or the other. It may not be possible to teach creativity, but what interferes with the process can be identified and moved out of the way. What would that be? I can name two things offhand: rigid patterns and fear. Those things that move creative energy can be encouraged, such as curiosity and the spirit that the whole world, and everyone in it, is there to feed your process. I would say the distinction that a ‘creative’ person has is guts — they are willing to dare. That alone does not bestow talent, but it sure can help you get there. By daring I don’t mean the bungee-jumping or gamble-a-lot-of-money kind of daring; I mean the willingness of a child to experiment with what turns you on, coupled with the adult commitment to follow through once you get the energy going. For you, the risk factor includes exploring the very ideas you think are the most dangerous, taboo or unacceptable. It means daring to speak the message that you know is true but that you’re afraid others will find to be somehow offensive. This is the spot where nearly all good ideas either fizzle out before they go anywhere, or the spot where they go past and emerge into consciousness as something fun and maybe beautiful.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — I am sure you’ve read lots of those annoying little statements in self-help books and ‘sacred’ texts that inform you that when you change yourself from within, the world around you responds. That’s exactly what’s happening to you right now. Your psychic, psychological and emotional innards (all part of the same spectrum) are coming into alignment. It’s as if you’re settling into yourself, and as you do, the world is becoming a different place. If you’re feeling any inner divisions, that will soon yield to the palpable sensation of those fissures closing and healing. Much of what has troubled you in the past goes back a long way; in a sense it was built into your childhood, and it has roots into your genetic lineage. That’s one reason why it’s been so persistent. Another reason is because it’s often difficult to accurately perceive our relationship to our environment — and we’re taught that manipulating the outer world works better than working to nourish and strengthen ourselves in the spirit of healing. What happens over the next few weeks will help you finish the repairs to your foundation that you have likely already begun. What seemed like irreversible damage from the past will reveal itself as being subject to healing and growth. You are not the only one who will benefit; the repairs will extend back through the generations. Observe the changes in your perspective as you experience being united with yourself and your environment. There is a word for this — integrity.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

The Lighter Side of Taurus

Leave a reply

Dear Friend and Reader:

The Sun is now in Taurus, the first earth sign of the astrological year, and the first fixed sign. After the fiery start of the cycle in Aries, Taurus stands as an anchor in the zodiac, making sure that the cosmic wheel doesn’t go flying off the axle. Taurus offers consistency, a sense of grounding in the sensual world, and its own special kind of fertile chaos.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, 1931. The landscape is as much part of the message as are the melting pocket watches. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

I’m sure many of you who attract those from among the herd of Taurus people have noticed some of this. With that stability covered, then comes the need for flexibility and change. That’s not always so easy in Taurus Land, though the configuration of the sky is telling a different story this year. Two main features describe this, though by the time I’m done writing this article I am sure I’ll come up with a few more.

Think of this sign as a place where the soul goes through a tempering process. Just like the Earth itself, Taureans are hot, hot, hot on the inside and cooler on the outside. Just like the Earth, they can be all temperatures and all climates on the outside, though that core is always burning. To an observer looking at the exterior of a person, they might see a slow-moving majestic quality, the kind of quiet dignity that you feel in a forest.

Yet this inner-outer temperature differential creates a pressure dynamic within the person. Looking at or even speaking casually to someone with this sign strongly placed in their chart, you might not figure that out. It’s revealed in the indescribable magnetism they have; a certain compelling quality that almost everyone notices. It’s a subtle kind of intensity, and it’s powerfully creative.

My personal favorite Taurus artists include Bono, David Byrne, Brian Eno and Salvador Dali; then there is Carrie Fisher (Moon in Taurus), Audrey Hepburn, Meryl Streep (Moon in Taurus), Dionne Warwick (Moon in Taurus) and Barbra Streisand — notice more than a few unforgettable voices among them. Taurus is the sign associated with the throat, speech and vocal quality.

The Lady With the Lamp (Miss Nightingale at Scutari, 1854). From the painting by Henrietta Rae, Library of Congr. Prints & Photos Division.

Taurus energy can be obsessive, and driven to service in a way often ascribed to Virgo. Pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale had both the Sun and the Moon in Taurus, in a close conjunction.

She laid the foundation for the modern nursing profession with her devotion, foresight and attention to detail. So on the one hand we could say that while Taurus energy is resistant to change, that’s another way of saying it has the stability to be a pillar of society. Her contributions went on and on, and she lived to the age of 90. If you’re curious about this sign, I suggest you read about her truly fascinating and visionary life.

Time feels different when you’re a Taurus (depicted by Dali’s visions of melting clocks; they were autobiographical). It’s rather like how a geologist will look at a mountain range and see an animation: they see the glaciers in motion (even though that was 25,000 years ago), they see the gradual uplifting taking place, and they see the evidence of long spans of time.

Most of us look at a mountain and see something just standing there, and it is — but the motion is subtle and persistent. Like mountains, Taurus has an enduring quality (Queen Elizabeth II) — but it is far from stagnant.

As for what is different about our current Taurus experience. One salient quality of our moment is that Jupiter is in Taurus. It has been there for just under a year; all Taurus birthday (solar return) charts for 2012 will have Jupiter in Taurus as a distinctive feature.

Jupiter’s energy expands and magnifies. In a fixed sign, it will offer some extra flexibility. It can bring to visibility the best qualities of this sign, as well as have a softening quality. This lightens the energy of what can be a serious and reserved sign. If Taurus tends to see the world in sharp contrasts (it often seems this way), Jupiter is adding subtle shades and hues. That includes a more philosophical approach to life and a wider worldview and self-concept. For many with strong Taurus placements, this is a time of spiritual awakening. For everyone, Jupiter in Taurus is an opportunity to notice what is valuable, and treat it that way (that’s a useful description of spiritual).

Venus in Gemini. Photo by Eric Francis / Book of Blue – New York. Link to higher resolution version.

The other standout feature this year is that Venus, the traditional ruling planet of Taurus, is in Gemini for an extended visit. This is another picture of mutable energy influencing Taurus, as Gemini is all about flexibility. We’re also about to experience Venus retrograde in Gemini, though this is a special event because it involves the Venus transit of the Sun in early June. All Taurus solar return charts include Venus in Gemini, which brings the quality of mental vibrance to all things Taurean this year. I think of Venus in Gemini as a picture of emotional (Venus) intelligence (Gemini). This will serve to make Venus more expressive in words and tangible ideas than it might ordinarily be.

Venus is our most vivid representation of goddess energy in traditional astrology, and we sure could use some of that now. The professional pool sharks we call politicians have resurrected every anti-woman concept, policy and plan they can cram onto the airwaves. The Venus transit of the Sun, which takes place June 5, is a moment when the world will see Venus not as a bright feature of the night world, as we’re accustomed, but rather as a celestial feature visible in the light of day.

Astrologer Adam Gainsburg has described this as the emergence of the solar feminine — the boldly creative expression of feminine energy. Think of the Sun being penetrated by Venus, then pouring the energy out in all directions as pure, vivid light. One gift this will offer is some balance, yet it’s more than that. Fully expressed, hot, clear, creative feminine energy is something that most people have not considered, much less experienced, and as you might imagine it’s making some people nervous.

It will be beautiful to see what influence this has on the world, and on you.

Lovingly,

Taurus 2012 Birthdays: Behold the Solar Feminine

Dear Taurus Reader:

I’ve just finished your 2012 audio reading, a high-energy, loving, inspired look at your astrology over the next year. This is a special year for Taurus, due to the Venus transit of the Sun. Nothing like this again will happen until 2117 (not 2017, but a century later).

Venus being the planet that represents you, this must mean something — and you can probably feel that something arriving in your life. It is indeed time for a change, though this is change on a cellular level, a re-creation of who you are. The Venus transit of the Sun describes someone who is bolder, more assertive and better able to tap your creative potential. This is the you who can shine out
in the world, and who is bold enough to welcome some glory and excitement into your life. There is a message in this transit about finding your voice, valuing who you are, and a beautiful, mysterious end to the way that two values systems have competed for your loyalty.

The transit of Venus is a cosmic gift that will help you get clear about what’s important to you, what you want and what you want to be doing. There’s no need to worry about ‘getting this right’. Rather, what you’re being called to do is approach the future with an open mind, willing to let go of what is not working to make room for what is — when the time comes. I also describe the influence of Jupiter in your sign, as something that facilitates change — as well as Jupiter’s entry into Gemini as the onrush of new ideas and priorities.

In the second segment, I work with the transits to your relationship angles, taken from three perspectives. In this part, I go over the influence of Mars retrograde in Virgo (technically over, though still having profound effects). Perhaps the most significant relationship transit is Saturn entering your opposite sign in October, which yet again describes clearing away old values and situations and embracing something clear and mature. And I cover Chiron and Neptune in Pisces, your house of hopes, dreams and your visions for your life. These transits in particular will offer you new ways to have both social and erotic relationships.

Your astrologer — Eric Francis. Photo by Darcy.

Part three is the tarot reading using the Voyager deck. Before I get into that, however, I talk about the rather beautiful way the Uranus-Pluto square is working to wake you up to who you are, and shed the conditioning that has, in the past, prevented you from making contact with yourself. I will let the tarot reading speak for itself — it’s a beautiful spread.

In this reading, I guide you through your astrology in easy to understand language — not technical jargon. This is an impassioned reading, offered in the spirit of motivation, liberation and your responsibility to yourself.

Your birthday reading includes the charts I used to create it, photos of the tarot cards and free access to last year’s Taurus reading so you can check on both how you handled the astrology and test how accurate I was. There are also special discounts on other products.

All of this is just $19.95. You have unlimited access to the page, as well as the ability to download the audio as an archive to listen to in iTunes (on any device).

Lovingly,

Monthly Horoscope for May 2012. | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — If you’ve been through a crisis recently, I suggest you look at where it enabled you to go, which is someplace you might not have gone without it. Mercury has been in your sign for a few weeks, stirring things up. Yet this has clearly been a project with a purpose. Recent events have conspired to bring you up to date with the times we’re living in. Even for an Aries, it’s too easy for the human brain to live in the past, and to get wound up in familiar patterns. Your mind is doing its best to burst free for you; it would be fantastic if you would consciously help with the process. If you feel that anything is blocking you, the chances are it’s a kind of mental block based on an attachment to something that is no longer valid in your life. Said another way, you may be turning an attachment (to someone or something) into an element of your identity, and confusing it with who you are. People do this all the time — but you have much better options. You have, over the past few weeks, seen some glimpses of the future. You may have wondered whether the best potentials were really possible — and I assure you that they are. You tend to become what you identify with, and if you want to become something new, I suggest you identify with that. You will distract yourself from the past, and crystallize what is real and valid in this moment.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Now would be a good time to realize that you cannot proceed through life with two competing sets of values. What seems like superficial confusion often masks this very issue — that you’re trying to make decisions based on deeper principles that conflict with one another. As long as you’re wondering whether you want to do this or that, you’re still hanging out on the surface. When you find yourself asking why you want to explore one particular option, and why you want to explore some other particular option, and how you feel about those reasons, then you’re getting closer to the heart of the matter. Yet the real discovery comes when you find out that you have several programs running at the same time, which guide you in different directions. These conflicting programs will be problematic only if the conflict is ‘unconscious’ — that is, if you’re not aware of the roots of the debate, or even that the debate has roots. Those can reach into many places, but the one thing they have in common will be the past. You now have the opportunity to decide what values are truly your own, and you have a bold moment to allow your life to be guided by them and nothing else. Between where you stand today and the confidence that this will give you, there’s a process you’ll undergo — and it will take you into some forgotten places. You will benefit from learning, and from using what you learn to make conscious choices. This way, you will be one person, guided by what is actually meaningful to you.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — An eclipse of the Sun takes place in your sign on May 20, then two weeks later is the Venus transit of the Sun, also in your sign. This is a truly rare conjunction of the Sun and Venus, so precise that you can actually watch it happen (with eye protection, and if the Sun is visible where you are). Visible translates to visionary, and a personal turning of the eras. Let’s begin with a question. What would your life be like if you resolved much of the nagging tension that you carry around, year after year? What if your mind were a quieter place? How much more confident would you be? To understand the influence of this event, I suggest you look back to this time of year in 2004. What is the story of May and June of that year? This is one of the key ‘before and after’ points of your life. Venus transits come in pairs, separated by eight years, and 2004 was the first of the current pair. Think of ’04 as a time when you initiated changes that you didn’t necessarily recognize were part of a total self-reinvention. You embarked on ‘another way of looking at the world’. This comes to full fruition during the next six weeks. You may find yourself making long-delayed decisions, finding the courage to express yourself in ways you’ve always hesitated to, or being released into a total rebirth. Look around and remind yourself: the end of the past is near.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — In astrology, the 12th house is like a hidden dimension, a vast psychic closet where we keep everything we think we’ve forgotten, or that we were never quite aware of. Often things disappear into this realm, and sometimes they emerge — for example as unusually potent dream imagery, or as discoveries about ourselves we make in therapy or on a vision quest. Sometimes revelations can be precipitated by astrology itself, and that’s what it looks like is happening to you now. The highly unusual sequence of events of the next six weeks is concentrated in this area of your chart, as if you’re being granted access to the hidden dimension of yourself. Given that this is the place most people avoid (because it’s too strange, or they would ‘rather not know’), I suggest you open up your mind to self-discovery. Certain ideas you have about yourself may suddenly reverse; but mostly the theme I see is self-reconciliation. It’s as if a split you’ve lived with all your life, but were barely aware of, is finally going to make itself known, or resolve itself. In the process, you can make peace with many things that you’ve denied, including the split itself. This may include divisions between your male and female sides; rational versus intuitive approaches to existence; and other competing forces in your psyche. There is a point of resolution, and you’re approaching it quickly. One result will be freeing the energy that it takes to maintain the division — energy that you will have good creative use for.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You are only as successful as you feel. I’m sure you’ve noticed that many are driven by hunger and accomplish many things, only to feel like they’re failures. This is in a sense the story of Western civilization; it’s all about an empty kind of desire, and when the desired thing is attained, it goes into the abyss. I suggest you monitor this issue carefully this month. You are at what could rightly be one of the most fulfilling times in your life, in whatever you consider your core mission to be. Yet it seems as if there’s a shadow you keep encountering. Sometimes it feels like a question. Other times it feels like your most cherished goal keeps slipping out of reach. The most meaningful thing you can do is not be distracted by what amount to mental illusions, distractions or what you might think of as self-defeating programs. Stick to your goals; stick to what you want and let any doubts you have serve to make your plan and work method stronger. One theme that comes up is what it’s like to have the reputation that you do. Any public presence, even a moment in the spotlight, can cause weird feedback inside the ego. Wondering how you’re perceived by others can be a strange experience. You don’t need to worry what people think; trust that they respect you, and know that you’ve earned that respect by your dedication to service and your ability to walk in the strength of your true principles.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

If you have more questions than answers, consider this.

I suggest you get this report in its current form, where you have access to all 12 signs. This way, you will be able to listen to your Sun, Moon and ascendant, and gain added depth. You can listen to your opposite sign and learn something about how this astrology will influence your relationships. Each sign gets a half-hour discussion. These came through loud and clear, with strength and meaning. I spent a week designing and recording them, and I am grateful to be able to offer them to you as a tool to help you guide your decisions, as you seek deeper meaning along your journey.

All 12 signs are now available for $19.95. Next week they will go on sale for $9.95 each with no discount for multiple signs. The report is getting rave reviews from people who are currently working with it, including these words from a customer named Donna: “OMG — thank you thank you thank you — just spent this morning listening to my [Spring Report] info, and am so blown away by the accuracy (and relief!) in this experience. Thanks so very much for your part in supporting this work and for showing up in the way that you do!”. Here is the link to order.

Individual signs will be available soon — please drop us a note if you want to be notified of when, or if you have any other questions.

Lovingly,

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You’re blessed to exist within two worlds, as far as your professional goals come. You have two distinctly different sets of talents, missions in life and leadership skills. Often these worlds seem far apart, and each seems to exclude the other. You might feel that your work or creative life would be perfect if you could only get these two different aspects of yourself working together for one goal. I would propose that they have more in common than you may think. At some point in the past, they may have existed as one body of thought or even a single goal. But the way the world divides and categorizes things, they became two seemingly separate realities. Yet they have one important thing in common: you. Over the next few weeks, you will have an opportunity to travel back into the origins of your most meaningful goals. If you follow this adventure, you may arrive at the spot before they differentiated. You’re about to discover the many things they have in common, and how they support one another, mainly by allowing you the more full use of your brain. This is likely to reach the level of full synthesis, where you have the experience of being more than the sum of your parts. You have many talents, intellectual skills and perceptive abilities, and they all support one another. Yet when you encounter this as a direct experience, whether in subtle or obvious ways, your life can truly shift.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Beliefs interfere with perceiving existence as it is. This is one reason why so much that’s not even vaguely true is accepted on a mass scale; the test of whether something is valid is belief, which favors those who are more convincing. Your astrology this month vividly describes your process of testing every belief that you come across. The question is, how do you know something is a belief? First you have to be curious about the nature of your own thoughts. In a sense, you have to fact-check yourself. When you ‘know’ something and have no basis for that knowledge, or you discover that someone told you but offered you no proof, then you’re dealing with a belief. Another hint will be when you step into a world of multiple viewpoints on the same, something that you’re a bit famous for. Looked at one way, this indicates that you’re working in the realm of beliefs rather than of concrete knowledge. Yet if you are able to look at something enough ways, you will eventually begin to understand its deeper nature — including yourself. It’s time to penetrate through these things into something tangible. You may feel this involves making a commitment to something that you’re uncertain of. Really, the commitment is to finding out; to admitting that uncertainty and finding out what’s on the other side. This won’t undermine your faith in yourself, or in life, or in the cosmos; a commitment to seeking actual knowledge will only strengthen your faith.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Someone you love is serving as a powerful mirror. By powerful I mean emotional, intellectual and spiritual: they’re offering a full-spectrum image. You may not understand what you see, but somehow you recognize it as your reflection. It’s revealing many aspects of yourself that until now have existed outside of your ability to see them, or notice their significance. In relationships, we often seek our ‘other half’, and desire self-completion in sexual experiences. The experience you’re having is showing you the way that you’re already complete, or at least pointing you to the compelling idea that you can seek all aspects of yourself from within. The thing about being whole is that this necessarily includes the darker shades of your emotions, including your fears, and those moments when you notice you’re disgusted with yourself. There’s no point blaming others for those feelings — and the more you claim them as your own, the more you integrate the cast-off parts of yourself, and heal the insults and injuries that create the situation in the first place. Far from making your relationships less fulfilling, this will put you in a position to relate to others as a whole person (which is a lot more fun than thinking you’re a fraction of a person). There is confidence that emerges from self-acceptance and self-understanding that you cannot fake and that nothing can substitute for. When you are solid with yourself, you will draw solid and aware people to you — which I am sure you’ll appreciate.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — I feel like the Sagittarius horoscope has been the Career Advisor as far back as I can remember; I’ll keep that short: whatever has happened the past three months has helped you work out the bugs in a plan that will work a lot better debugged. One of the reasons people respect you is because you can admit an error and are aware that there’s strength in admitting imperfection. Moving on to the more interesting relationship angle of your solar chart, I see the cosmos offering you an opportunity and a challenge, and in order to embrace them you will need to do your best to stay in the present moment. There are forces that will try to trick you into finding some retreat in nostalgia, or past relationships, or fantasies about what is possible; stick to grounded, tangible reality. Notice when others are lost in the past, which is a way of defending against intimacy that’s available right now. You may be surprised to notice how many people fit this description, and how few are willing to see eye-to-eye in the present moment. Yet they exist and if your perception is clear, you will see them. You will see a lot else. Without trying too hard to nudge you into hobbies that might not be your true devotion, what do you think about photography? I don’t mean snapshots, which are more about passive observation. I mean creating pictures that express a personal vision of the world that is obviously burning like fire inside of you.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Disease process is about fragmentation, and healing process is about making whole. You can also say that disease process often involves lack of awareness, and that healing process begins with raising awareness. For you in particular (though this works for many), healing starts with the mind: with soothing your mental state. Chaos is not good for you. When your mind competes within itself, or is divided somehow, or when the dialog gets out of hand, the stress can lead to your feeling physically ill. You have one of the most sensitive charts this way and, incidentally, you have to take good care of your lungs. Events of the next two months will teach you not only how you can take better care of yourself, but also demonstrate the direct benefits of doing so. Meanwhile, I suggest you take the time to go over your health history, as well as studying your track record of health-improvement campaigns. Now for the truly useful part: track this against your work history. During which jobs have you felt healthier, and which have come with phases where you were less healthy? Did the relationship involve stress, or some other environmental factor? Do you feel better when you have more or less responsibility? Knowing these things will help you adjust your plans and design your life in a way that is fully supportive of your natural state of being. That natural state is integrity — and you seem determined to cultivate that in yourself with a deep determination right now. If so, you’re on the right track.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — When you arrive at a crossroads, how do you decide which way to go? Though you’re a devoted student of psychology, when it comes to your own self-guidance, intuition is the first and last word. Your mental process can help at times, and get in the way at others. To figure out which is in effect, I suggest you evaluate how you make your decisions. This experience will come in handy when you encounter a significant opportunity or option that is on the way. Understanding a little more about your decision-making process will help you decide what to do, especially if you discover you don’t like how you tend to make decisions. Past disappointment gets too many votes; it deserves just one — knowing what you don’t want. That information is worth a lot more when you have a constructive, positive option in mind. Making a decision in the moment usually involves letting go of something in the past. Here’s the point where you tend to overthink, without realizing that your thought pattern is covering up an emotional attachment. What you want is to think enough — just enough. Once you wake up and pay attention, events this month will proceed quickly, and come on with the slight sensation of disorientation. This is evidence that you’re letting go of your usual moorings — that means keep going. You know what you want, and you know what is possible; now for the matter of trusting yourself, which is not as grandiose as it might seem some days.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Some days it seems you need a thicker skin than you have, given the state of the world. Remember that your sensitivity is your most dependable asset. If people don’t respect that, it may be inconvenient for you but in truth, it’s their problem. Part of that problem is using aggression (active, ‘passive’ or otherwise) as opposed to intelligence. That’s not going to work with you. Your most appropriate response, if transgressed in any way, is to allow others to feel the effects of their own energy. You’re sensitive to this as well; sometimes when you refuse to take on something that’s being dished out in your direction, you feel like you’re doing something to someone — and this is a key piece of the game you need to master and, in a sense, subvert. You can go a long way to avoid needless confrontation (which includes nearly all of it) but if you smell it in the air, acknowledge that at the first moment. Stay alert to the fact, and lightly step out of the way. There are, however, many more creative expressions of the same astrology — in particular, Mars opposite Chiron in your sign. In its most positive form, you’ll experience this aspect as a point of creative and intellectual contact. You’ll be able to tell what’s going on from the sensation of either authentic passion or devotion to healing. Still, expect to use your power of refinement and the benefits of age and experience to work with a situation that may seem a bit crude at first, but which may develop beautifully over time.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

An Ocean of Pisces

Leave a reply

Dear Friend and Reader:

Spring 2012 looks like it will be a season unlike any other in our lives. That season begins March 20 with the vernal equinox, when the Sun enters Aries. That will be big news of its own, though before we get there, we are experiencing some of the most extraordinary Pisces energy anyone can remember.

Orange fish with a big attitude. Photo by Bev Dulis.

I learned something about Pisces recently that I want to share with you. Dane Rudhyar, one of the inventors of astrology as we know it (humanistic with a touch of spiritual; psychological and compassionate) wrote that Pisces is the sign of courage and of faith in the future. He was emphatic about this. His other ideas about Pisces included the way in which, when faced with this cosmic energy wherein the ego can dissolve, we are able to see the world in a new way, without the trappings of the past.

And from this same sign we can draw on a wellspring of courage and faith in the future. I don’t know about you, but I’m through hearing from self-proclaimed prophets of doom who offer no practical ideas. Humanity is certainly in a predicament, but then if you read history, it always seems to be in one or another. And at this stage I can think of no better resources than courage or faith in the future.

Two slow-moving planets have taken up residence in Pisces — Chiron and Neptune. This is making the usually ineffable energy of this sign come through boldly and clearly. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the Pisces New Moon happened conjunct both of those planets, setting off an age of Pisces that promises to be as challenging as it is beautiful in its potential. The world is a harsh place for Pisces energy. Think of how many of the most creative people of our time are recruited and basically bought off to make television commercials. Imagine if all that energy went into something that fed the soul and propagated beauty.

Or consider the subtle energy, the feelings and the ideas, that are drowned in the ocean of liquor that’s consumed around the world every day. Consider how most movies feature repeated scenes of death and no scenes of lovemaking, because sex is allegedly too controversial. Pisces is feminine energy, and notice the all-out war on women that is being waged by politicians right now, in the form of attempting to deny them their medical choices and personal autonomy. Consider the imagination energy that goes into making up lies as opposed to creating interesting stories.

Four fish standing still, all in the same direction. Photo by Bev Dulis.

Pisces is easily exploited, but now there are some mighty players present there — the healer, Chiron; the lord of the seas, Neptune; the goddess of protection, Pallas Athene; and as of last week, the day before the quarter Moon, Mercury. So we have something durable to stand up with. Pisces now has substance; Neptune increases the inspiration factor, and Chiron focuses the gift of applying that inspiration to real situations in life.

This week I was corresponding with Zane Stein, who wrote the first book about Chiron. He offered some thoughts about the recent New Moon, which he said, “emphasizes the extremes of the two fish swimming in opposite directions (spiritual growth, for example, versus escapism). Consider the conjunction with Neptune as upping the ante. The potential for spiritual growth is so much, much more so now than any of us have ever experienced in this lifetime, but likewise the potential for self-destruction is equally greater.”

The recent new Moon was also conjunct Pallas Athene, a guardian asteroid with a gift for strategy. “Pallas/Chiron can enable us to fight against anything that is blocking us from trying to heal our wounds, and linked with Neptune enable us to see a much, much larger picture than we even dreamt possible. But there will be so many, many temptations to follow other pathways … false paths that lead nowhere, false gurus that are full of lies, drugs that promise enlightenment.”

And he concluded: “One key to making this the beginning of a positive new cycle is for each person to truly believe (Pisces’ keywords include ‘I believe’) in the basic goodness of the universe, and that we are all its children, made out of the same ‘goodness’. Then ask yourself, “What inner dichotomy, what inner battle, do I need to face, and heal, to make me more whole and more at one with Spirit?”

These are the real questions of our times.

Here is your extended horoscope for March 2012. These apply to your Sun, Moon and rising signs.

Lovingly,

Note to Readers: Yesterday Amanda posted an interpretation of the chart of Anais Nin, a favorite writer of many. She’s a Pisces and the 21st was her birthday. You can read the whole article on the Planet Waves daily page.

Note About the Photos: The photos with this edition were taken by Bev Dulis, a great friend of Planet Waves and one of our amazing photographers. They are taken in the deep, cold waters of the Pacific Northwest — not in a big saltwater aquarium. We always contact Bev around Pisces time to request fish pictures out of her archives. She has since graduated to photographing cats.

Introducing the Planet Waves 2012 Spring Report by Eric Francis

Spring 2012 is the wildest season I’ve ever seen in 18 years of doing astrology. It fits the 2012 pattern of ‘everything, all at once’, even making that sound like an understatement. I am working on the report even as we edit this issue, and it’s coming out beautifully — every sign is coming through loud and clear and distinctive.

We have retrogrades of all three inner planets involved — Mercury, Venus and Mars. There is a rare Venus transit of the Sun — an exact conjunction of Venus and the Sun that you will be able to see if you have a clear view during daylight hours (you will need special equipment to protect your eyes). There are eclipses of the Sun and the Moon. And then, just four days after the Cancer solstice, we have the first exact square of Uranus and Pluto.

In honor of putting all this action to work for you, I’m preparing a special Spring Report for all 12 Sun signs and rising signs, as well as an introduction to the astrology that will be useful to everyone. This is a package of all 12 signs for one price. I’m designing it so that you can actually put many of the signs into use — for example, Virgo will be able to use the Gemini report as a career reading. Pisces can use Virgo’s report as a relationship reading, and so on. I give suggestions at the end of each sign, and will do a detailed description so you can get maximum use from this product.

We’re offering it at a special pre-sale price for current subscribers and customers — all 12 signs for $19.95. Once the report comes out, it will go on general sale for $24.95. The report will be ready by March 7, well before the spring equinox — I’m working on it now and it’s coming out amazing. Here is the link to pre-order. Thanks for signing up.

Now on Planet Waves FM: The Fire Breathing Fish

Today’s edition of Planet Waves FM was recorded Tuesday right before the Pisces New Moon, by your host, the Fire Breathing Fish. It morphs from a reading of the New Moon chart into a rant on women’s autonomy and what used to be called reproductive rights. Casting the issue as total sovereignty is more accurate. But it lacks a certain appeal — where there are rights, there are responsibilities. Privilege without a corresponding sense of duty is inherently toxic — and even well-bred royalty know this. If we’re wondering why any woman is willing to give up her rights, her autonomy or her sovereignty, the answer may be found in her relationship to being a steward of her own body and the power that it contains.

The Virgo Squad — Betty Dodson, right, with Planet Waves friend and contributor Beth Bagner.

At a certain point in the podcast I launch into a tirade on the religious ‘right’ doing its takedown of women, and then describe a new video by my mentor and friend Betty Dodson. She’s recently come out with a new video in her series on women’s sexuality, a documentary of one of her bodysex workshops.

It includes discussion of body image, sexual evolution, making choices, the struggle with sex within relationships and many other topics. Part of the problem we face is that we don’t know how to talk about sex, we’re embarrassed to do so, it rarely happens so we don’t get any practice, and we’re afraid that Western civilization (or at least our relationship) will collapse if we even try. I guess we will have to see. What this DVD offers most of all is a model for a sane conversation about sex and sexuality. If nothing else, we get a model for how to think and how to speak — in an original way, but within a framework that includes boundaries, a sense of purpose and most important, a sense of humor.

It’s twenty-sodding-twelve and we’re really discussing whether people have a right to use birth control? Or rather a bunch of men who want to take public office and be commander-in-chief are discussing whether women have a right to use birth control? Most of the time I look at this and I cannot believe it’s even happening.

I recommend all of Betty’s videos but my personal favorite is Her Life of Sex and Art, a frank (and frankly hilarious) talk given by Betty in good old politically correct, may I please glance at you Seattle. This is Betty at her most authentic and spontaneous — an off the cuff description of her life, that is, her life of art and sex. This DVD is $10 and it’s nothing but fun. If you would like to read more about Betty, here is one of my articles about her.

Monthly Horoscope for March 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You’re still figuring out how to handle the sensation of constant change, though I assure you that retreating to the past is not the way to do it. Understanding the past will help, to the extent that’s possible, though the past is usually more a question of interpretation than of ‘truth’. That said, certain facts are coming to light, about choices you’ve made, things that you’ve said and that have been said to you, and on a deeper level, how you felt about these things that influenced the direction of your life. If you’re going to let this information inform your choices today, do so creatively. Making choices based on past regrets doesn’t work. It’s far better to acknowledge what’s happened and then choose based on an open concept of the future. You know what you want. It’s different from what you wanted in the past, and that seems to be the whole point of your life now and for the foreseeable future: a different life, where different things happen. The way forward may not be clear now or for the next six weeks or so as Mars finishes up its long retrograde in Virgo. But you can go far to resolve old hangups, get a grip on your health, let go of attachments, and focus on getting clear about your top three priorities. I suggest you let yourself feel just fine if all three involve your drive for professional success and financial wellbeing. It’s about time, isn’t it?

Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. has been published and is available. It is still available at the special subscriber discount price for all 12 signs, or the order price per sign. This year’s annual offers an extended written report plus 90 minutes of audio for each sign and rising sign. You will love it.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Jerry Garcia used to remind us that, “Every silver lining’s got a touch of gray.” He meant that as a caution against believing in a perfect life, and there was something in there about making peace with growing older. Let me put it another way. The fact that you might be willing to take a gamble implies that you’ve got something to lose. You wouldn’t be taking a risk otherwise, would you? At the moment you may be remembering every bet you ever lost, and at the same time feeling less than willing to put something on the line. The truth is, something is at stake. And you might feel better about that if you felt more confident in who you are and what you want. Aspects this month seem destined to stir up that question again, but it’s not for nothing. You’re trying to break free of the past with every cell in your body, and with every photon in your aura. Who has held you down in the past, and how have they done it? That’s the place to set everyone else free. In any event, the whole matter of desire is up for review. How you feel about wanting, and how you feel about having, are at the heart of your struggle with contentment. If your standard is perfection, you may never get to the point where you feel satisfied. But there may be a way to change your standard without actually compromising what you want.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You’re figuring out that you have to be happy where you are, and at the moment the primary question seems to be whether you feel safe where you are. What you’re experiencing may be about your circumstances, but rather than wait for those circumstances to change, this would be a good time to start making adjustments. Make a list of everything in your life that has surpassed a limit: for example, too much, too little or too long. Focus on those first. Set some new limits on when you’re going to make at least one decision on each of them, related to taking action. If solving an old, persistent issue is too daunting, take some target practice on a few less intractable ones. I know you’re having to do this in a time when your patience might be running in short supply, and when people might not be acting in such a cooperative manner. So I suggest you give yourself some motivations to muster some gumption. Let one of them be creative fulfillment and a significant measure of professional success. These things matter to you now, and they will continue to gain importance to you over the next few years. There is a direct quotient. Think of it this way: Every quantum of energy you free from frustration will give you three quanta for something you like to do. Further, each time you do that you will be saving energy over an extended period of time.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — The stakes do seem to be going up, don’t they? You have more ideas, more to do and on a regular basis more is expected of you. But you can be thankful of one thing: you’re doing a fine job of bashing through the glass ceiling. What’s even more interesting is that you’re doing it against some considerable odds, and in your own way. I suggest at this relatively early juncture that you not put too much energy into fighting the battles of yesteryear, yesterdecade or yestercentury. In fact I suggest you get out of the business of battles entirely. Your real stock in trade is innovation. People are not only more open to new ideas than before, most are entirely confused and looking for anything with a vague shred of meaning, and you have a lot more than that going for you. While you’re likely to be as ambitious and energized about accomplishing real things as you’ve ever been (probably a lot more than ever), you’ve got the gift of insight right now, and faith in yourself. That’s the real source of your energy. It’s as if something, some source or flow, is coming in from another dimension and you can tap into it. The thing that can trip you up is your mind, and you have to practice a mix of multitasking and overfocus. There should be a word for it and someone — maybe you — can teach workshops. But don’t be too clever. If you’ve got to outsmart anyone, it’s yourself.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You know more about people close to you than you may think; you have all the information you need. Now it’s up to you to put that information to work for your mutual benefit. It’s good that your secrets are safe, and even better that you’re a natural-born diplomat who knows that part of your role in life is to help the world build cohesion. You’re in the perfect position to find the common ground among people that nobody else seems to be able to see. I suggest, however, not putting your own needs too far to the back. You’re able to do that, and I’m here to remind you that the very people you’re assisting are available to assist you, if you would be a little more open about your desires, and to receiving support. For the moment you may still be figuring out what matters, which is a plus — most people never even try. Others who know what they want can be dangerous because that blinds them to all else. You’re starting from the position of common ground, and have faith that it’s big enough for everyone. As you get closer to understanding what matters to you, and more to the point, why it matters, you’ll be able to balance your own priorities with those of the circumstances you’re in and get a strong mutual energy going. Keep working toward clarity about what you value, and purging your attachments to what no longer serves anyone.

Introducing the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012

Last year we offered an All Access Pass for subscribers who wanted access to everything we offer in a calendar year. The response from our All Access subscribers was overwhelmingly positive, and we are happy to once again offer one of our most popular products: the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012. One price gets you a subscription to the weeklies and all other products on Planetwaves.net through December of 2012.

Using one password for everything, which you choose yourself, you’ll have easy access to every product, including birthday reports and special audio recordings, weekly email service, the annual edition, and whatever additional projects we create. It’s a great discount on a year of our work.

We trust that this idea is a fun way to meet your needs, whether you use astrology for daily spiritual inspiration, therapeutic purposes or pragmatic decision-making. And it’s truly a valuable resource for students of Astrology.

With the All Access Pass you’ll receive:

– Tuesday/Friday Email editions of Planet Waves weekly content and horoscopes. Follow Eric’s weekly and monthly interpretations for all of 2012.

– All sign birthday/ascendant audio for 2012. This is almost like getting a personal consultation with Eric for yourself and any loved ones whose astrology you track. Each audio report includes a fresh perspective on current transits and how they extend into the future, along with a special tarot reading for that sign.

– Your choice of the 2012 or 2013 annual edition, all 12 signs. This book-length online publication includes written and audio segments, is accessible by password at any time, and always meets rave reviews by readers who refer to it throughout the year for its long-range, big-picture guidance.

For More Benefits of the All Access Pass, Visit This Page.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You seem to be on a quest for something: the source of something within yourself. That same thing seems obvious about others when you look to them, though the inner blind spot you have is mysterious. What is the source of your energy, the source of love, the origin of creativity? It would help if you would trust instead of question. Yet that defies the very logic that you seek. You might ask: what is the source of logic, and of rationality? There’s a bold image in your charts about wanting to burst free, let go and run with life. You even seem to have the opportunities available. You don’t have to choose on the basis of ‘who you really are’. Experimenting is not a commitment to anything special, and I’m suggesting that your quest for self-knowledge might really be a challenge to meet the world on equal terms and plunge into experiences that will teach you about yourself. This is another way of saying you don’t need a theory; you’ll be a lot happier with direct impressions, and encounters with people that will challenge you in ways you’ve never experienced. I’m not, by the way, suggesting that you search for yourself outside yourself, but rather that you immerse yourself in a waiting and eager world and see what that does to your sense of who you are. Notice what it teaches you about what you want. Experience the challenge to trust in a way that is immediate and not theoretical.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Yours is the sign of balance, but right now you’re more like the hyperspace seesaw than you are a delicate scale. Yet what’s amazing is that you’re actually standing on solid ground, no matter how high the energy ramps up. In fact you’re providing a counterweight to your whole situation — including the super-high energy of many people around you. You’re good this way — providing a kind of opposite influence that’s able to embrace whatever is going on around you and still have fun in the mix of it all. Opportunities abound, including meetings with new people, and whole new communities of people, and they’re going to progress fast, so I suggest you not worry if you seem to miss something. I would offer a few words of caution, though. You need your rest. Don’t worry if you’re not half the party animal you used to be; you make up for it in appreciation. Any physical symptoms you may experience indicate whether your stress level is getting too high. Spend enough time alone so that you can actually feel what’s going on in your body and in your soul. Remember that while you love contact and thrive on relationships, your emotional independence is key to your happiness. Given your current circumstances, which will keep drawing you in, you’ll need to remind yourself of this. The more you cultivate some autonomy and even sovereignty, the more fully you’ll be able to indulge yourself in the amazing experiences that life is offering you right now.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — When we use the phrase ‘change my mind’, we make it sound like a decision that we can change right back. I would propose that to change your mind is to change yourself, when you really do it. You actually rearrange aspects of not just your thought pattern but also your neurology. One special point of focus of your life now is changing your mind about how you respond to the expectations of others. Few would accuse you of being a conformist, but you’re someone who is keenly sensitive to what others believe. In recent months you’ve been sorting out this particular relationship — the one between you and ‘everyone else’. You’re not done with this process yet; you’ve yet to reach escape velocity, but I believe you’re at the point where you’re learning to notice that there is indeed a contrast between your ideas about life, and the things that you want, and those of others — including what others claim to want for you. Globally, this setup creates tension so subtle and so pervasive that few notice its existence, yet many are trapped within it. You may need to be pushy or what seems like overly assertive to establish your way of doing things, the one that’s right for you — and I suggest you err on the side of too bold rather than not bold enough. This will help you locate and learn to effectively work a boundary that you’ve been struggling with for a while.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Focus on the task at hand and your goals will take care of themselves. Be grateful you have goals, anyway, even if you don’t quite understand the process of how you’re getting there. That aspect of your life is going considerably better than you may believe — whether you think it’s going brilliantly or a bit less than that. Your direction is well set, and the way I suggest you express it is through devoting yourself passionately to the quality of the work you’re doing rather than where you expect it to take you. This calls for an act of trust, but not such a big one. In fact, as you involve yourself directly in the tangible substance of what you’re working on, you’re learning many things that are helping you sort out elements of the big picture, refine your methods and get clear in your ideas about what you’re doing. One thing about your sense of mission — think of yourself on a quest for your roots. You’re working your way backwards through many different evolutions of your ‘goals’ toward a wellspring at the core of yourself. While you’re doing this, clear away everyone else’s goals that you might be influenced by. Do your best to scrap your ‘sense of service’ for something deeper: what you know is right for you (which will end up being of service even more). And please do something that many people scrap on the way to success: deepen your emotional roots rather than pull them up.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — One challenge you face is maintaining your sense of integrity in the midst of constant change. Remember that integrity is something that you have or don’t have, but how you feel is another story. In fact, there are aspects of your consciousness and your psyche that are disintegrating. They are quite literally coming apart, and it’s about time. The purpose of this is to release energy that is trapped in structure, a little like taking the honey out of honeycombs. What you want is the substance that contains the nutrients — not the shape of the container. So, remember — this is about a feeling, and the feeling is having some sense of stability in the presence of the constant pressure for things to be different, and the experience of the ground shifting under your feet. You have your integrity if you’re up and walking. You have your integrity if you’re noticing the world around you, including noticing the changes to which you feel subjected. After a while — if it hasn’t already happened — you’ll find your center not in the sense of being attached to anything or anyplace, but in your way of perceiving your relationship to the world. Said more simply, everything changes and changes all the time. Stability is an illusion of perception. You will feel the most grounded when your perceptions change as fast as the events you’re noticing: when you match your vibration to your experience. There is nothing to cling to, and there never was.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Imagine your life is a dream that’s about to become a lucid dream — one wherein you ‘wake up’ and figure out that you’re dreaming, and that quality of consciousness gives you the ability to guide the events that would only be ‘happening to you’ in a regular dream. The thing is that in a regular dream, your mind (which is an aspect of you) is still conjuring the whole scene. In a lucid dream, you know you’re doing it, and that knowledge gives you more influence. I’ve often wondered: what is the membrane that separates the two? Many spiritual traditions tell us that a similar veil exists in what we think of as waking life. It’s like a scrim thrown over consciousness that leads most people to be unaware of the fact that they exist. In plain talk, that’s a form of denial. As part of the waking-up process, I suggest you do a check-in and see if you’re denying anything important, or if there’s anything that’s persistently trying to get your attention. While the dreamy quality is cast over part of your chart, a boldly alert quality is vibrating out through your experience. But there is a third factor — a persistent sense of isolation that surfaces from time to time. That’s the wake-up call; what you might call the portal to lucidity. The deeper you enter your sense of isolation, the more you’ll be able to explore your sense of presence in and contact with the world.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Dane Rudhyar, one of the 20th century’s deep philosophers of astrology, once wrote that, “Piscean winds of destiny may impel men of vision and courage to discover many a ‘new world’, as much as they do destroy or suffocate the many who stubbornly resist change.” Neptune, god of the sea and earthquakes, is newly arrived in your sign, and the Sun is racing toward equinox. This is a good time to remind you of this connection of Pisces to inspiration, vision and bravery. I know that for years, you’ve lived with the radically alien influence of Uranus in your sign, and may not quite trust that the world has grown a little closer to being your home. That, however, is exactly what is happening now. And in addition to Neptune in your sign, you also have Chiron — a source of reassurance for the underdog and an influence that will serve as a vehicle for your visions and desires. Very little happens fast in Pisces. There’s always a process of flow, and the previous seven years of Uranus (a pushy influence) may have you feeling burned out. Fortunately you’re in a time that will help you cool the fires of your soul and proceed with patience, clarity and a healthy touch of urgency. For your birthday, I will again quote Rudhyar: “Transcendence, overcoming, piercing through illusions and false security, severance of social ties, embarking for the great adventure with utter faith and in denuded simplicity of being: all these things are to be learned in Pisces. [Humanity] is here face to face with [oneself], and with that Greater Self which [s/he] names: God.”

Of Aquarius, Water and Dragons

Leave a reply

Dear Friend and Reader:

The Chinese Year of the Dragon began Monday, Jan. 23 with the Aquarius New Moon. The Dragon is the Chinese equivalent to the western sign Aries — high initiative and innovative. Dragon years are almost always memorable years in Western society, and 2012 will be no exception.

Meet Lagiacrus, the water dragon from Monster Hunter Tri. He’s a picky eater: organic-only and no red meat. To learn more about the game, visit this link at Amazon.com. Screen image of this magnificent water dragon is from Monster Wikia, to illustrate the Wii product. Wait — that’s what video games look like now? I have got to see this.

This is the Dragon year in the element water, which gives a yin or receptive feeling to the usually rather yang energy of this Chinese sign. (For contrast, the last Dragon year was 2000 — the Metal Dragon, which was a bit harsh.) It’s illustrated perfectly by Neptune changing signs just as the Water Dragon year begins, from Aquarius (where it’s been since 1998) to Pisces (where it will be until 2025). So here in the year of passionate water, we get some extra juice right from the start. (I’ll have a lot more to say about Neptune in Pisces in the Friday, Feb. 3 edition of Planet Waves.)

Speaking as a Dragon, I can tell you that one key to working with this energy is being conscious of how and when you push your luck. That is to say, Dragon is considered ‘lucky’, and those in harmony with this energy tend to thrive on taking chances. Yet this quality is best used with a touch of authentic discernment, for example, taking calculated risks, with a productive purpose — rather than stupid risks with no useful benefit to anyone. Yes, fun is sometimes sort of useful — but you can have plenty of fun and not create problems (or danger) for yourself or anyone else.

That said, the thing to do with that daring energy is, specifically, to dare. You might say that it’s about taking a chance on what you want. Most of what we consider ‘dangerous’ and avoid is really a comment on our psychology, and our perception — not actual risks. This is not the year to make excuses for why you’re not doing what you want, or why you refuse to even try. It’s the time to see those excuses for what they have been and what they have done to you. Most of why we might resist is contained in our mental patterns, and with that, we now have some help.

Also as of Monday, Mars turned retrograde in Virgo. In a word, this is about rethinking. You don’t hear the term “Mars retrograde” very often, but it happens. On the most basic level, Virgo describes how we think, and Mars retrograde is a high-focus investigation. Virgo is also a sign known for its intensity and even obsession (both described by Chiron rather than Mercury). But it’s a feminine sign, and those who try to express masculine energy through Virgo can be a little insecure doing so. Imagine how Virgo herself feels, taking up Mars as a guest for longer than the average vacation, eight months. The peak of that timespan involves Mars making apparent retrograde motion between Jan. 23 and April 13.

Between April 13 and late June promises to be an interesting time in the story of the world, and Mr. Cock and Balls treading backwards through the sign of the Virgin sounds like she becomes a woman in the process. Retrogrades are often recovery missions, about claiming lost energy, forgotten personal assets, and aspects of ourselves that threatened others when we were little. Every kid does this — to some extent figure out how not to piss off the adults, however meek or vicious the results may be.

Montauk facing south, toward Santo Domingo, winter 2012.Photo by Eric Francis. (Read Eric’s account of this particular wave.)

Children thus embark on a self-pruning process that can leave them feeling neutered as adults. This is the essence of the “little man” complex described by Wilhelm Reich. In Gestalt therapy it’s the essence of guilt. If we’re wondering where our energy, or curiosity, or creativity goes as we get older, this is the place to look.

That’s what retrogrades can help with. They can send us on a soul retrieval scavenger hunt. Mars in Virgo will be useful this way, helping us come to terms with what we think of as aggression (and might feel as self-aggression). For some, Mars retrograde in Virgo represents a calling to impeccability. For others, it’s a deep self-inquiry. For still others, it’s about healing desire and unhooking the many hangups that make it so difficult to express desire without guilt.

I suggest being mindful of the pattern establishment quality of retrogrades. The last time anything like this happened was in early 1965, when the script was cast for the thing called The Sixties that ensued.

Everything that happened during that spell of retrograde Mars in Virgo became ‘a thing’; it was etched into the realm of potential in such a way that stuck. The music, the war, the protests — the pattern was set, as the energy crested. In personal psychological astrology, this phase is a systems check for all of the high-intensity astrology that arrives in the late spring.

You may feel a palpable calling to improve your life, your health and your wellbeing during the next few months — and it’s essential that you proceed with any such quest gently. Warm up before you stretch, and remember, it’s not how far you go or how good you look, it’s how consciously you lean into the tension. This goes for body or mind.

Virgo is given to spells of harsh self-criticism without the help of Mars, or Mars retrograde. Given this it will be helpful to think of your feelings in terms of pleasure-guilt dynamics, and to consider any approach-avoid tendencies that you have in this light. Another theme I’ll be exploring with Mars retrograde involves aggression, self-aggression and what to do with anger. We need Mars energy in our lives, but the key is, we need just enough. Fortunately, Mr. Dragon will help us keep that in balance.

Aquarius is an air sign, though its symbol is a container of water (or in early renditions, a ruler to measure the depth of the Nile). The Water Dragon is assertive and expressive in a way that comes from a feminine core. This is the year when fortune favors the bold. The Dragon of Chinese fame has none of the baggage that it has in Western mythology; in China, it’s the very essence of good fortune. As mentioned, Dragon is the sign related to Aries in Western astrology — cardinal (high-energy) fire energy.

So, be brash, bold and daring — in subtle ways too.

Lovingly,

SCHEDULE NOTE — This is the only edition of Planet Waves this week. It includes the February monthly horoscope, long edition, which is below. There is not an edition Friday. We will see you again Tuesday with the Inner Space monthly horoscope for February. Don’t miss Daily Astrology & Adventure, and I’ve been been writing some short essays on the Reality Check homepage. — efc

NOTE TO CAPRICORNS AND AQUARIANS — I am indeed planning your birthday reports. No exact date on the schedule, but it will be soon after resuming the Planet Waves FM podcast, which has been on a one-month hiatus. — efc

Neptune in a Flask

When I was studying marine biology at John Dewey High School, I heard of this place called the New York Ocean Science Laboratory (NYOSL), out in Montauk — at the far end of Long Island’s south fork. That always seemed perfect — to have an ocean science lab out here on the far-flung edge of the North American continent, more than 100 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean. All kinds of complex aquatic systems exist around here — besides the ocean itself, there are inland lakes and ponds, streams, bays, harbors, wetlands and islands.

Grow room by the Sea — Algae stock grows in Erlenmeyer flasks at the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery in Mondauk, NY. The algae provides microscopic food for infant oysters, clams and scallops (while they’re in the larval stage). After the algae matures here, the cultures are moved to much larger vats where the algae blooms under natural light — then a bunch of pea-sized mollusks have a feast. Photo by Eric.

I’ve looked for the lab many times on the ‘Net and I’ve never been able to find it — and I learned why today. The New York State Legislature cut its funding in 1979, before the Internet existed. So, it never had a website or a web presence of any kind, and there are few references to its existence. Even asking the locals, most only seemed to have heard of it.

The land was almost all sold to build condos, and most of the place (originally a former WWII torpedo testing facility) was torn down. The one remaining building fell into ruins. Then in 1986, someone thought to open a shellfish hatchery. NYOSL’s remaining structure was renovated and revived, and the Town of East Hampton (which includes the hamlet of Montauk) created a place to breed clams, scallops and oysters. So many of these critters are harvested from the water that the stocks were nearly depleted before World War II. So it makes sense to reinvest in the ecosystem.

With some help from the local newspaper, I tracked down the lab’s manager and visited there yesterday. It’s a gritty little operation, with a small staff. The facility is designed to get mollusks to mate, which they do by spewing their sex cells into the water — and then the staff collect the larvae. These are fed algae, which is bred first in beakers like the ones you see above, then in larger vats. Only the smallest fish eat algae stock; once they’re big enough, they are put out into a nursery or live on racks, in both of which cases they consume the naturally occurring algae in bay water.

Both Chiron and Neptune in Pisces are going to call attention to the oceans. The oceans are the immune system of the planet, and the wetlands are the spawning grounds where nearly all marine life has its roots. Chiron in Pisces is the essence of marine science — the spirit of inquiry, documentation and acknowledgement of the issues we face and the healing that’s necessary.

We’re going to need both scientists and facilities to understand and help us deal with the changes the world is going through. This has been true for as long as there’s been industrialization, though I can tell you from much experience covering polluters that they don’t like scientists. They don’t like research. The less that’s known about the effects of all this industrial activity and pollution, the better. Not everyone agrees with that.

The East Hampton hatchery is not a research lab; it provides a practical function, which is restocking the waters from which so many people eat and make a living. That’s a good start. I’ll post another photo to Planet Waves tomorrow.

Monthly Horoscope for February 2012. | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Focus on your health. The potential problem I see is stress. However I also see an opportunity to cultivate habits and patterns of living that open the way to your vitality and longevity. Your best window of opportunity for this endeavor is from now through mid-April, when the influential planet Mars treks backward in Virgo. Let’s start with stress — which in this case seems to be a study in how you handle obstacles created by the need for attention to details. If you’re experiencing any kind of a setback, view it as an opportunity to solve a lot of seemingly minor issues that you want to work out anyway, only now you have an excuse. The whole theme of ‘rethinking’ is one that will help you relax into a truly creative space, which will be good for you. As for wellness opportunities — the story boils down to remembering that you exist in physical form, and physical activity is good for you, indeed essential to keeping your psychic energy in balance. You have so much voltage running through you at the moment that balance and clarity count for extra. I suggest you start by unraveling or undoing habits you don’t want — such as subtracting certain foods from your diet — and then gradually shift your momentum into what you consciously want to establish or create. This is a simple formula. As you liberate stuck energy and aggravating factors, more of your vital force becomes available for creative purposes.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Einstein once said that imagination is more powerful than knowledge, which describes perfectly how the planets are speaking to you right now. You may be discovering that certain things you knew for sure are no longer as valid as you thought. Curiosity will save the day, as you can quickly shift from any sense of disappointment about what’s not true toward an inquiry into what is. Curiosity about yourself is high on the agenda, though this is the kind of curiosity you must answer in experience rather than in theory. You seem to have reached a new depth of relationship with your opposite-sex self, which implies experiencing both of your inner gender polarities as more distinct and vivid. They have a relationship to one another, and you have a relationship to them. Your creative quest involves diving into new and even improbable experiences of yourself. By improbable, I mean that if you have an experimental spirit and turn your sense of inquiry onto yourself, you may discover unexpected new inner territory. You’ll notice things about yourself that you don’t identify as, but which are no less part of your psyche. The question might arise: how far do I go exploring with others or physically experiencing what I desire? I would say, start where you feel safe, and work your way out to the edge of that. Test your boundaries. A significant aspect of this is expressing in words to yourself and to others what you want, for the pleasure of doing so.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — It’s a miracle that anyone feels safe on our planet, with all that seems poised to go so wrong. Yet actual conditions have minimal influence on one’s level of security or insecurity; the assessment is usually based on an internal metric — and becoming conscious of this is the theme of the coming few months. Let’s start with the idea that your level of fear is influenced by much of anything outside you. If the sources of fear were really external, our lives would be strewn with the nonstop disasters envisioned by our anxieties. In truth very little that we fear actually happens. Fear has its origins — and many of those are likely to involve family baggage. We come into this life with patterns that go back generations, though we prefer to think that our minds work in some original way. The fears you experience might be so directly attributable to others it’s as if they come tagged with the name of the source. For the next three months you have the opportunity to take out the trash — identify and make a conscious choice to let go of every insecurity that you don’t want. I know that fears are among the most persistent thought forms, though part of their staying power involves a lack of understanding where they come from. In any event, I suggest you define as a primary goal your desire to feel safe living here. By the way, this works out to be a leadership question.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Logic is one of the most powerful tools in the shed, though it doesn’t work for everything. I suggest you test your logic and also apply logic to test your conclusions, and see how both factors check out. Just remember, logic rarely points to what is possible. More often it points to what is seemingly impossible, not worth doing or not even worth trying. For that reason alone, it’s worth testing. Every significant human achievement was significant specifically because it defied the prevailing logic of its day. Some limit was exceeded; some purpose not previously recognized was fulfilled; someone saw potential in a way that nobody else had noticed, or at least dared to try. In a similar spirit, I suggest that you open your mind’s eye to your potential, to unlikely possibilities and to the vision of things that don’t yet exist. Consider how you want to shape your life over longer spans of time than you usually think about, say perhaps 10 or 20 years. Allow creativity to bring something new to the conversation when typical approaches to problem-solving don’t get you where you want to be. Challenge yourself to both seeing the limits of how you think now, and to conceive of your life in certain ways that project you into entirely new territory. The world is wider than you may think; places you’ve never been, and experiences you’ve never had, are waiting for you — no matter what anyone may deem as possible or impossible.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — One of the reasons that many Leos feel so good about themselves is that you’ve figured out that it makes more sense than feeling any other way. You take an almost scientific approach to self-esteem, rationally assessing the ways in which you both excel and other ways in which you need improvement. The world would be a better place if more people did this, though if lately you’re noticing that you fall short of your own standards, you need a new way to measure. I can think of two qualities to consider. One is in your ability to find common ground with people. That is an astonishing gift to have, because common ground is the substance of which cooperation is made. Second, you tend to project yourself into the community that surrounds you in a clear way that people can understand, no matter what point of view they’re coming from. They’re extensions of the same deeper property you have, which is your ability to hold people together like the Sun keeps its planets in their orbits. Over the next several months you seem poised to move into wider and more visible public roles that relate to both social and professional aspects of life. More will be at stake; bigger risks than usual will be on the line. Before you take your new role, I suggest that you really understand the truly unique gifts you have, so that you have full confidence in them when you need them the most.

Introducing the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012

With the All Access Pass you’ll receive:

– Tuesday/Friday Email editions of Planet Waves weekly content and horoscopes. Follow Eric’s weekly and monthly interpretations for all of 2012.

For More Benefits of the All Access Pass, Visit This Page.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — There’s only so far you can take the concept of integrity before it ceases to be practical. In fact pushing things out to an extreme of impeccability can have the opposite effect, of making you (or any human) want to break some rules just for its own sake. With Mars retrograde in your sign, I suggest you beware of this kind of reactionary effect. Make some room in your relationships for some of what cannot be verified or judged. People need to believe some of their own illusions, and they can often do so harmlessly enough. I recognize that it’s sensible in some ways to judge people (including yourself) on the basis of whether they’re being strictly truthful, or whether they fit precise metrics of authenticity. Yet that doesn’t leave much room for imagination, which we depend upon to get through the day, every day. I suggest you view the people around you in a more idealistic light. See them for the good things they offer and make an effort to overlook what might annoy you. If you do this enough you’ll get better at doing the same thing for yourself. All of the flaws in the world do not add up to perfection, so if you’re looking for happiness, you will need to look somewhere else, or rather, look another way. Remember that much of what the mind sees is the mind itself. There are other approaches to seeing, though instead of wondering what they are, I suggest you open your eyes and look.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — How strongly can you identify with someone else’s experience? Or maybe the more accurate question is, how much do you want to? It would seem that someone in your environment is teaching you a lot — and has also become a powerful influence in other ways. This situation has been developing for a while, though it’s only recently that you’re noticing just how much the experience is helping you rearrange your perspective. In recent seasons, you’ve been investing lots of your energy into organizing your life, focusing on maturity and getting clear about what’s important to you. Yet it seems you’ve been trying to do this from an internal orientation, avoiding competing influences. Along the way, certain distinct elements in your outer environment have been playing a role that you may not have noticed till recently. Someone who others might think is too ‘challenging’ to be around has proven to be an inspiration, in particular, driving you to express your full talent and individuality. This is of course more than most people can stand for themselves — all that awakeness and talent and full expression of energy kind of stuff is scary for lots of people. You’re in one of those situations where your best option is to rise to the occasion and take full advantage of the situation. If you can handle some unpredictability and running a bit higher voltage than you usually do, you’ll get the benefits of a truly one-of-a-kind creative partnership experience.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Everyone wants to be popular, but not everyone recognizes the potential cost. Everyone wants a meaningful role to play in their community, but hardly anyone is willing to do the work. Everyone wants to be seen as someone with integrity, though few are willing to make the investment in themselves to deserve that distinction. At the moment you have all of this going on, and you may be wondering how much progress you’re making. I would propose that you’re in the ‘cleaning and scaling’ phase of a new relationship to whatever you think of as the public: your circle of friends, your immediate community or perhaps some wider audience. I suggest that as you go through this phase, you take an experimental attitude, rather than assuming any long-term successes or failures based on what happens in the immediate future. The situation isn’t perfect, but it’s clearly workable — as long as you don’t set perfection as a goal. If more things than usual seem to be going wrong, or if certain objectives seem to be slipping out of reach, that’s because you’re testing a number of things in practice that you had only worked out in theory. You’re also getting to experience how ‘human nature’ responds when you turn up the energy, and you’re learning something about group dynamics that for some reason was not obvious before. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a dependable working method, try this on: be clear with people and they will be clear with you.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Focus on your work and not your career. There is a difference, though it’s often forgotten. Keep your emphasis on what you’re doing now, rather than on the trajectory of what you intend to be doing, have decided to work toward, or where you’ve been previously. Let your experience only be relevant when it provides actual information you can work with. See what it’s like to proceed for a while with no ambition to be more visible, respected or even successful; rather, get into the Be Here Now experience of full presence in your immediate activity. That is where the real energy is for you personally, whichever way we might look at your charts. In the current version of the world, there is way too much emphasis placed on supposed success, on the technical side of the creative process and on this elusive thing known as fame. Where your charts are the strongest right now is on the quality of your creative or work experiences as well as the results you get; on the chemistry you have with your collaborators; and on being known as someone who does the job well, rather than being known for its own sake. As you focus on the present and your present efforts, you will gradually redefine your notion of success. You will shift your relationship to authority, including both your inner authority and those who seem to hold power in the external world. And when you proceed after this experiment, you’ll truly be your own boss.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You are by nature an intuitive thinker. However, that’s another way of saying creative thinker. Yet creative is a matter of emphasis, with the emphasis being on noticing what you have not noticed before, or seeing what others do not; your apparent lack of logic often works to your benefit. You’re now in an extended phase of your life when the theme is how you think. You may be discovering that there is no such thing as ‘pure reason’, though it’s possible to ask reasonable questions. You may suddenly be able to tune into your perception and notice patterns that were not obvious before. This may seem clairvoyant, in particular if you don’t know how you reached a certain conclusion. Therefore, I suggest that you allow your mind to work in its new way, and if you’re wondering how you arrived at a certain destination, work your way backwards from your recognition to the facts that initially led to it. For the sake of credibility, you might want to leave some of your calculations in the margin, so that others know that there are steps you took to get where you’re going. However, don’t let them get in your way when you’re working independently of others. For your own sake, making sure that there are logical steps after the fact will help build your confidence in your observation skills. They may not seem important today, but the way the world is going, you’re going to be glad you have them the moment you need them.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Lately you seem to have your doubts about where you stand with yourself, though I suggest you give that a rest. You are, at least, becoming fully self-aware and determined to know the truth about yourself. This is an excellent start. I would caution you against listening to what others try to convince you of, particularly if a sexual or financial relationship has gone awry or turned negative any time recently. You still have a lot of your self-esteem invested in that situation — and it’s going to take some time to work this out. I suggest you think of this as a technical exercise that will gradually get results. If there’s a spiritual component, that might be about compassion and patience. Know that your personal resources are more valuable than whatever you may have invested in the relationship. Indeed, it would seem that there’s relatively little invested, in terms of actual commitment; there seems to be more of an entanglement that you now have the responsibility of working out. As when untangling anything else, you cannot push, and you have to remember not to pull too hard. Yet the thing to really keep in mind is that this is not a measure of your value, to yourself or to anyone else. You’re merely in a situation that is calling for care and attention, and that you will easily let go when the details are resolved — and when emotions settle down. You can help by keeping them as cool as possible.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — This month, Neptune arrives in your sign, to stay until 2025. It is rare that you get to say that a new phase of your life has begun. However, astrology also provides a metric. Neptune in your sign will shift your experience of yourself — and as a result, your experience of the world you live in. Yours is the most watery of the water signs. Yet there’s just one planet that’s directly associated with water — Neptune. It moves extremely slowly, and has been hanging out since 1998 in an angle of your chart where its best properties have been difficult for you to access. This has had two effects. One is that you’ve had to turn your sensitivity up, in order to compensate for what was not immediately available. You’ve had to make company for yourself when you were feeling isolated, and find softness within when there seemed to be none around you. I suspect that any residual sense of isolation is going to gradually dissipate over the next few months, and your relationships — all of them — are going to go through a phase of adjustment. The gist of that story is that you’re going to feel a lot more comfortable being who you are, and exist in a world that’s more your kind of climate. Others, in turn, will need to adapt to your being more grounded in your being — or rather, they will or they will not, but either way, you’ll feel more at home.

The Big Question: What’s so 2012 about 2012?

Leave a reply

Painting by P.C.Turczyn.

Dear Friend and Reader:

It was someone named Jose Arguelles who popularized 2012 as the time we would take what he called the leap beyond technology. Arguelles was not the first to point out the significance of 2012 — though he was talking about it as early as the mid-1970s. Frank Waters (in his Hopi prophecies) also mentioned it in 1975, as did Terence McKenna in Invisible Landscape. Astrologer A.T. Mann briefly mentioned it in his 1986 book The Divine Plot: Astrology, Reincarnation, Cosmology and History.

Jose Arguelles at the Babaji Ashram, Cisternino, Italy 2009. Jose is the one who introduced the world to the idea of 2012. He died earlier this year. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Yet it was Arguelles’ creation of the worldwide Harmonic Convergence in 1987 that got the cultural meme of 2012 (and the Mayan long count) going. The Convergence was based on the idea that the 13th baktun of the Mayan long count calendar would be ending on the winter solstice of 2012, and that it was time to start preparing ourselves for whatever that transition meant. How long is long? A baktun is 144,000 days; 13 baktuns add up to about 1.8 million days, or 5,125 years, which is one-fifth of a full precessional cycle (that is, the cycle of all 12 ‘ages’ in Western astrology).

Did the Harmonic Convergence work? I say yes — so far, the world has not been destroyed by nuclear war.

Despite that barely-noticed good news, over the past 25 years, predictions of both doomsday and spontaneous enlightenment have flooded New Age literature and bled into mainstream thought, though in all of that time, none of it has struck me as particularly meaningful. Said another way, I’ve hardly ever heard a 2012 narrative I could even vaguely relate to. Pretty much everyone knows that 2012 is an important date in the Mayan calendar, but hardly anyone can tell you what it ‘means’ without drifting into speculation.

Our sin-obsessed Christian culture, clouded by truly horrid visions from The Book of Revelation (sometimes called The Apocalypse of John) — the last book of the New Testament — always seems to be waiting on doomsday. However, Judgment Day is our shit — not that of the ancient Mayans.

The Harmonic Convergence of Aug. 16-17, 1987 was a global meditation for peace. I took part in that major event as part of a spiritual community, and it had nothing to do with the ‘end of the world’ or doomsday. To the contrary, we had our minds on getting the world out of the mess that it was in — not into a bigger one. In recent years, Mayan scholars and Mayan leaders have objected to the obsession with gloom and cataclysm.

“For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle,” says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, Florida. To render Dec. 21, 2012 as a doomsday event or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.”

The Western Astrology of the 2012 Era

That said, 2012 is going to be one of the most significant years that any of us have ever lived through. It’s really an era that spans from 2011 to 2016, and in truth it extends much further in both of the commonly known directions of time. Yet one year from today, we will note that 2012 was indeed a radical turning point. The Western astrology illustrates sweeping changes in culture and geopolitics, and corresponding profound changes in the lives of individuals. Most of the planets involved in the alignments were not known to the ancient Mayans — among them Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, all of which were discovered by modern science.

Detail of Venus transit of the Sun on June 5, 2012. This is a precise conjunction of Venus and the Sun, taking place in the astonishing month that spans late May to late June 2012 — the epicenter of events next year.

These are the gods of change, and for the next few years they are working in concert with one another, propelling us to wake up, pay attention and consciously advance our lives. While some will experience this as little other than a wild ride, we are being summoned to participate in existence as a personal event — and as a collective event. Yet that statement calls attention to what it would mean not to participate: to merely observe, to decline participation on the basis of fear, or to attempt to stay stuck in old ways of thinking. If you’re experiencing fear and chaos rather than a bold quest, then it’s time to update your files.

Collectively, we have arrived at a point of extreme contraction of awareness, denial, paranoia and surrender of our power. We are being smothered in our own technology. If we don’t do something about this, global conditions will get worse. It would be fair to say that we’ve arrived at a moment of potentially reclaiming what we’ve given up, and perhaps of claiming something new, but it won’t come in the form of an iPhone app. The thing about computer applications is that someone else has the idea and does the work; then we load them onto our device and they do their thing. When we follow the guidance of astrology, or with any other personal work, we become the programmer; we have the idea and must take the initiative.

The astrology you’re about to experience is a calling to personal responsibility and most significantly, to use what we have learned in all these years of study, workshops, yoga classes, many efforts at healing, self-improvement and personal growth that have become so popular since the 1960s. Now is when we put the pieces together, with a momentous feeling; we are indeed at a point of no return, whether we’re talking about the environment, civil liberties or going beyond paralyzing fear and judgment.

In short, it’s now time to decide what matters the most, and take action. Not in the future — right now. Here are the top five events that illustrate the changes. Each of them influences you personally. The following will give you an overview.

Uranus square Pluto

Uranus, photographed by E. Karkoschka et al., for NASA.

The defining aspect of our era in history, look to Uranus square Pluto when you’re trying to figure out how it’s possible that Arab Spring, the labor movements of Wisconsin and Ohio, and the Occupy movement all happened within a few months. There are many factors that make 2011 distinct in modern history, and 2011 was just the beginning. When Uranus and Pluto get together, we enter an epoch of revolution. The way that revolutionary movements start is that individual people stir to awareness, notice something, feel a need to participate, and then join forces. Uranus square Pluto combines the revolutionary nature of Uranus with the evolutionary power of Pluto, and focuses them into a powerful force for renewal and change. The last time we experienced anything like this was in the mid-1960s, when Uranus and Pluto were in a conjunction. Now that cycle is about to reach the exact first-quarter point, where we can put the many lessons of the Sixties to work for us. By lessons, I mean the many beautiful opportunities that era teased us with, and the many disasters we witnessed. Uranus-Pluto aspects are a mix of light and dark. Yet they always bring progress, especially for those who are willing to consciously indulge change and adventure.

Venus Transit of the Sun

Photo: A. Ayiomamitis.

One of the rarest predictable events in astronomy, this is a precise conjunction of Venus and the Sun — so close that if you’re in the right place, with the right equipment, you will be able to watch Venus trace a line across the Sun. In astronomy, this is the most Mayan thing about 2012, because the Mayan astronomers and lore-masters loved the cycles of Venus. Venus’ transit of the Sun is about expression of the solar feminine — that is, the side of the feminine that is not reflected light but rather direct light. Said another way, the Sun becomes Venus for a little while in 2012. Taking place in Gemini, this suggests we can begin to experience ourselves as more balanced in our masculine and feminine attributes. Most of the conflict that humanity experiences (and by that I mean war, torture and greed) has its deepest roots in sex, gender and homophobia. It is the combination of repression, inner division and fear of self that I believe leads to our tolerance of the violence we witness and experience. For those who are interested, we are approaching a rare, concentrated opportunity for emotional integration and gender balance.

Planets in the Water Signs

Neptune from Voyager 2. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

In 2010, Chiron began its ingress into Pisces (coinciding with the BP oil spill), arriving to stay in 2011 (this lasts till 2019). Last year, Neptune visited Pisces briefly, and takes up residence in February. It will remain in Pisces for about 14 years. In October, Saturn arrives in Scorpio. These water placements describe at least two things: our global water crisis, and our emotional maturity crisis. It’s no coincidence that many places the drinking water is contaminated with Prozac. That’s because many communities drink ‘purified’ sewage effluent — something that will become increasingly necessary as time goes on. Emotionally as a society we’re not doing much better, as we drown our sorrows at Wal-Mart and drink the somewhat less purified effluent of our parents and other ancestors. These important planets in the water signs — especially Neptune, the god of oceans — point to a get-real moment of emotional healing, indicating that our emotions are the heart of the matter where growth is concerned. They remind us that water is the heart of the matter where sustaining our bodies is concerned. The quality of the groundwater, rivers and oceans connects to our emotional state. Enough oil spills, nuclear meltdowns and fracking. It’s time to grow up.

Mercury Retrograde on Election Day

This is what Mercury retrograde on Election Day once looked like.

If you thought the 2010 election was crazy, and if you’ve been following the race for the Republican primary this year, just wait for the actual 2012 election. We live in an era when voter rights are being systematically narrowed down (for students, the elderly and the poor). The 2010 Citizens’ United case has opened the floodgates to politics being a wholly owned subsidiary of Corporate America. During the past six months we have been treated to a slate of candidates who cannot identify China as a nuclear power, who want to shut federal agencies they cannot name, who think gay people can be ‘cured’, who want the smaller, less invasive government to regulate every uterus, who want to eliminate entire circuits of the federal courts and drag judges before congress and who have racked up more sexual harassment and cheating than — okay I will shut up! Here is my point: Mercury stations retrograde on Election Day 2012. The only other Election Day in American history when a Mercury station (retrograde or direct) was exactly involved was 2000. We are looking at the potential for some huge scam or something really weird like an Electoral College tie. As far as I can tell, we’re about to go post-politics. We need to create something functional in its place.

Stardate 13.0.0.0.0: The End of the 13th Baktun

Sample of page 2 of what’s called the Dresden Codex — considered the most complete of the three undisputably authentic Mayan codices. The names of the codices indicate where they were kept originally. It is the oldest book written in the Americas known to historians, created by scribes who were copying much older documents. It’s believed to have been a gift of Cortez to King Charles I of Spain in 1519. It contains a lot of information about rainy seasons, floods, illness and medicine, as well as planetary tables — but nothing about the ‘end of the world’.

The Mayan cycle that got the whole conversation going is the X-factor in the equation. Obviously it is significant that a 144,000-day cycle is turning over, particularly involving some of the people who occupied the Americas long before the Europeans arrived. Yet there has been more speculation as to the meaning of this event than there has been grounded creative discussion.

We are fast approaching the point where the culture that grew out of the European colonies is not only no longer sustainable, but where many days it seems like the whole thing is about to collapse. This may be more of a synchronicity than a prediction on the part of the ancient Mayans, but their calendar is all about synchronicity.

Certainly something is changing in the nature of time and how we experience it. Technology does seem to be at the heart of the situation. Remember that when Jose Arguelles was coming up with his ideas about the path beyond technology, nobody had a computer in their pocket. Most people had never even worked on a computer, ever, much less had several of them in their house. So technology in many ways has run wild, and this is something we need to notice.

In Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, there is a warning. I think of it as the Atlantis passage, and I’ve quoted it a few times before. “As I have said, this isn’t the first time your civilization has been at this brink,” God tells Walsch. “I want to repeat this, because it is vital that you hear this. Once before on your planet, the technology you developed was far greater than your ability to use it responsibly. You are approaching the same point in human history again. It is vitally important that you understand this. Your present technology is threatening to outstrip your ability to use it wisely. Your society is on the verge of becoming a product of your technology rather than your technology being a product of your society. When a society becomes a product of its own technology, it destroys itself.”

Lovingly,

2012 Annual Available By Sign — and Another Top Five Event

Dear Friend and Reader:

I’m back with two things — the first being a new installment of the Top Five Events of 2012 — and this is a hot one. It’s part of Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. — the 2012 annual edition of Planet Waves, which by the way is available for general sale to all readers, by sign. Subscribers may still get the 12-sign discount rate.

Photo by Elizabeth Joyce.

So, what’s the big event? Mercury stations retrograde on Election Day. Exactly on Election Day. That is to say, right in the midst of everyone voting in the highly anticipated, so close it could be a tie, who the heck are all these weirdos, one and only 2012 presidential election: exactly on that very day, Mercury goes retrograde in Sagittarius. I know — I could not believe it either.

Notably, Mercury has only ever stationed one other time on a presidential Election Day — in 2000, when we had Bush v. Gore and the loser won.

Now, for the second time in American history, Mercury is stationing exactly during an election. What is this about? In this segment, I cover the basic possibilities: it looks like some kind of scam, such as an overt case of election fraud. There is lying and denial; and since it’s in Sagittarius the courts may be involved. Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, square Neptune, has a bit of the religious huckster or confidence man to it. In that way that astrology can be bizarrely literal, this chart is the perfect image of the political landscape — and it is volatile.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, what could go right? We could get a wakeup call to civic involvement, and it’s on this note that I end the discussion: with a call to civic action. This presentation includes a bonus track — an interview with Planet Waves contributor Astrodem, a political consultant in Washington, D.C. Astrodem is not an official writer for Planet Waves, just someone who contributes his ideas about astrology and politics as a commenter. You will get to meet him in the bonus segment.

Even if you hate politics, you will enjoy this edition of the Top Five Events of 2012. The link includes access to all of the previous editions — and here is the ordering page.

Lovingly,

Extended Monthly Horoscope for January 2011. | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — This year is about precision. You’ve been feeling this calling for a while, in particular since your ruling planet Mars entered Virgo this past autumn. Your quest may extend to your mental and physical health, your work, and many other factors in your environment. You may apply this as a drive for impeccability, integrity or even perfection. The problem is that humans are not creatures of precision; we are works in progress. Mars stationing retrograde in Virgo is cautioning you against taking overbearing positions with yourself: pushing yourself too hard, or trying to solve all your problems at once. You would best be served by an approach that works in layers. It’s a little like housecleaning — you sweep before you mop; getting the dishes out of the way is always a good start; you wash, dry and fold in order. I suggest you take that approach to personal improvement. Meanwhile, beware of over-emphasis on the past. You may encounter old issues that are calling for focus. While you’re doing that I suggest you adapt a ‘clean as you go’ approach with present-moment subject matter. Keep your current relationships, enterprises and work patterns as clear as you can. Proceed carefully and even a bit meticulously, so that you avoid creating new problems. Yet most of all, recognize that shifting your mental outlook will shift the way the world appears to you. If the world looks broken, consider whether that’s how you feel. And remember that in the spirit of pragmatism, your ultimate goal is wholeness rather than perfection.

Aries, your birth sign or rising sign, is getting a transit from the planet Uranus — which is a wild wakeup call, and a bold creative influence. I’ve recorded an hour of astrology and a tarot card reading for you. Learn more by visiting this page.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — There is something about sex that you seem to be trying to work through with every cell in your body. I will start by saying this. You cannot simultaneously exist in a world dominated by vanity, glamour and the appearance of purity, at the same time you reach for authenticity, healing and being clear about your desires. You must choose to exist in one world or the other. The first set of properties describes a way of life that is based on cloaking yourself in various illusions, while the second is about going deeper than appearances and reaching the substance of who you are and what you have to share. When we talk about sexual healing, we might well ask what exactly we would strive to resolve, correct or improve. I would propose, first, that you would benefit from being real about what you want, and noticing any fear or guilt that comes up as you name the specifics. Then make an inventory of the situations in your life where love and guilt are transacted as if they are equivalents. Last, check in where you are attempting to experience intimacy without vulnerability, or vulnerability without trust. These three things — intimacy, vulnerability and trust — together combine to form this thing we outwardly label ‘love’. The risky territory you’re exploring involves working out just that formula, but beware that to get there, you may have to move many lesser values out of the way. To accomplish that, you must be vigilant.

I’ve recorded an hour of astrology and done a tarot reading especially for you. It’s information that will help with your relationships, your professional life and your personal growth. Visit this page to find out more.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Your relationship life has been nothing less than surreal the past few months, and you may feel like you’re experiencing a kind of replay of everything that you’ve been through. The question now and for the foreseeable future involves commitment. Relationships of any kind call for being held in a container made of agreements. For you right now, both the content and structure of those agreements is what is up for review. One particular relationship is calling for a complete revision of the ‘sacred contracts’ that are involved, some of which are not so holy. Once you start, this will naturally branch out into the other relationships in your life. As you embark on that you may notice that your current agreements contain all kinds of odd little clauses, riders and addenda that take you off the main point of what your relationships are about. These are silent expectations, requirements and many of those you can trace back to your parents and grandparents. It’s similar to how the deed on a house or piece of property can contain requirements on subsequent owners, based on agreements made 100 years ago. Note that the first of those supposed requirements where a relationship is concerned involves the concept of ownership itself, which is infused through nearly all of our ideas about ‘romantic’ partnership or marriage. This is the place to start asking questions, or rather, the first things to question are the obvious ones.

Gemini is one of the most misunderstood signs — and as someone born under this sign, part of your role is to hold a mirror to the world. I’ve recorded an hour of audio for you, plus a 20-minute tarot reading. You can get access to these by visiting this page.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You must accept the fact that a relationship is changing, which does not necessarily mean changing for the worse. Actually, you get considerable influence over what form and direction the change takes, though you’re also being confronted by essential elements that are out of your control. Borrowing from the serenity prayer, you have to sort out the difference. Meanwhile, I suggest you review the history of the relationship. There was a turning point between 2008 and 2009. If the relationship in question dates prior to that era, study the developments at that time; otherwise, consider this date range as a turning point in your relationship history, in total. The changes that are upon you involve both the form of your relationships, and their content. In short, the old forms can no longer hold what you want to express, what you feel or what you need. They are simply not flexible enough. Yet you may not be aware of what new structure to use. I suggest you allow form to follow function. In other words, what is the purpose and the content of the relationship? Then based on that, how to have the relationship will be more obvious. Yet this is a bigger change than most people think. We tend to put the form of the relationship over the content or purpose. We try to fit people (including ourselves) into preconceived ideas about relationships and this is precisely what is changing.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Focus on what is necessary. Aim your entire concept of beauty or creativity on efficiency — that is where you will tap your creative power. Do your best to expend every drop of your energy consciously. There is a feeling described in your charts, which is doing precisely what is necessary to get the result that you want. You will find that this takes less effort than you think; the operative concept is leverage — not you being leveraged, but you having the leverage. I have noticed that the value of ideas to get things done is grossly underrated, even by many people who work in the realm of ideas. You might consider something carefully until you have a good working concept of what you want; it’s possible that the idea you need will just come to you. In either event it will help you significantly if you delineate what you want to get done or what problem you want to solve. This way you will have a sense of whether an idea that just arrives, or an idea that you gradually brew up, is the one that might do the job. If you don’t define the puzzle first, you’ll be much less likely to notice whether you’ve fit the pieces together correctly. One other thing to be sensitive to is whether you’ve already worked something out. If you need something, check if you already have it. If something is puzzling you, pause and think back and remember if you’ve already solved it.

The 2011 Leo birthday report is 70 minutes of in-depth astrology plus a 20-minute tarot reading for you, exploring relationships, personal growth and your professional life. Visit this page for additional information.

______________________________________________________

Introducing the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012

With the All Access Pass you’ll receive:

– Tuesday/Friday Email editions of Planet Waves weekly content and horoscopes. Follow Eric’s weekly and monthly interpretations for all of 2012.

– Our best-selling special reports and projects including extended audio and eBooks. Past reports have included the Midyear Audio and Mercury Retrograde reports; 2012 is sure to include exciting, as-yet-unimagined offerings as we navigate the year’s adventures.

– Research/lookup service for astrology students. We will assist you in researching any articles you need for your astrological studies through December 2012.

The All Access Pass is a little like having a personal astrologer for a full year.

Or, think of this as a custom level of service. While we tend to be close to our clients, answering the phone and responding to emails, the All Access Pass is a way of enhancing that relationship, designed for those who benefit the most from Planet Waves, whether as a spiritual seeker or an astrology student. Once you sign up, we will set up your custom login identity and keep you posted as soon as any new stuff becomes available.

Use this link to place your order. If you have questions, please give Chelsea a call at (877) 453-8265 within the U.S. and (206) 567-4455 from anywhere else in the world and she will be glad to help you.

As always thank you for doing your metaphysical shopping at Planet Waves. It’s great to know that together, we’re building a truly unique source of astrology wisdom in a time of profound change.

______________________________________________________

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — This month, Mars stations retrograde in your birth sign. This is another way of saying Mars will spend a total of eight months in Virgo, about 10 weeks of which it will seem to be traveling backward. Mars is the most assertive planet, so this back-tracking is often considered challenging — but it serves a crucial purpose, for you and for us all. The planets seem determined to teach you how to use this mysterious, elusive thing known as your will. Everything you experience must be filtered through one question — what do you want? You will develop the skill of discernment, for example, sorting out everything in your life on the basis of whether it helps you or hurts you. You can learn new ways to correct what is not working about your life, and what you don’t like about yourself. Mars is a hot, sharp object, and it has no morals of its own. You therefore need to be the intelligence behind the changes, and cultivating that awareness is the whole point. Proceed with surgical precision, getting clear on the mental level, then checking with the deeper emotional level, and finally making your actual adjustments meticulously and carefully. Take the whole duration of the retrograde (Jan. 23 to April 13) to identify and correct the patterns you don’t like, and to cultivate the ones that you know you want and need. Take nothing for granted. There’s no such thing as too careful — unless you spend your days in hesitation.

The 2011 Virgo birthday report is ready! I’ve recorded 70 minutes of astrology plus a tarot reading for you, exploring how you’re working through family material, your use of spirituality, some new energy in your relationships and your professional goals. Visit this page for additional information.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — If you want to understand yourself, study the nature of fear. There are a few different kinds of the stuff, ranging from a kind of lurking anxiety to paranoia about specific things. Lately you may be experiencing the fear of specifics: of what might happen if you don’t take care of details, or correct certain flaws that you might perceive in yourself. There is a kind of microscope pointing into your deep hidden nature, and you need to use it carefully. Beware of obsession in any form, or of any violent thoughts you might direct toward yourself. By ‘beware’ I mean be aware, and be wary. Notice these mental patterns and see if you can trace them back to their early origins. Despite your laid-back exterior, you possess a kind of deep perfectionism, though it’s not always the healthy kind. Be especially cautious of what you think that others think of you. This is almost always incorrect, though your projections of what others might think is a good indication of what you’re signaling to yourself. If it’s not already clear, you must send yourself more positive messages, and you have plenty of material to work with. In the end it will come down to a question of which viewpoint is true. Which makes you feel healthier? Which leads to your being happier and more productive? This is indeed a time when you will make many improvements to your mental patterns and emotional habits; the question is how you go about it.

Your Libra birthday audio for 2011 is finished. Created outside next to an open fire, this reading covers the astrology for your sign in about 70 minutes (looking at career, relationship, home life and the many influences to change you’re now experiencing). It also includes a Voyager tarot reading. Visit this link for additional information.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — To what extent do you rely on outside structure to hold up your life? We all do, to some extent. I am always glad to have a house to live in and boots on when I walk outside in the winter. But it’s also essential to have a strong internal structure, so that you’re the person who is actually guiding your life, and whose spine supports your being. If you’re going to put any personal growth project on top of your list for the next year, strengthening your internal structure is the one. Nearly every important transit that’s happening to you is a commentary on some form of discipline, self-mastery or being conscious of the boundaries of your life. These serve a purpose: to help you contain, cultivate and direct your creative energy. You may feel like you have so many changes to make that you’re overwhelmed at times. You have a feeling for how much territory you’re going to cover before these particular processes are over, but your inner workings also have significant momentum. You’ve achieved more than you think, though at this point there really is no looking back except to check in, briefly, with where you started. Trust that you have a solid beginning. One of the next places you’re going to be directing your energy is your reputation. The question is, are you known for who you really are, or is there something else going on? One of the themes of 2012 for you is impeccability, which in this instance translates to absolute authenticity.

Hello Scorpios! Your 2011 Birthday Report is ready. It’s about an hour of astrology, plus a 20-minute tarot reading. It’s hot with transformational energy. I focus on your ruling planet Mars, your imagination and desire nature, and a phase of solid achievement. Please check this page for more information.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — I suggest you use imperfection as your teacher. Since perfection doesn’t exist except as a concept, you need to put to good use the things you perceive as ‘wrong’ with yourself. What’s interesting is that what you perceive as being a problem and what you perceive as being your best assets may be very close together, so close that they are inseparable. You may notice, for example, what is ‘imperfect’ about your body just as you notice your own beauty. You might observe that you’re in good health but before you have time to appreciate that, you may be annoyed by the one or two persistent problems you have — and the negative can have a way of dominating the discussion. It’s like the small issue gets your attention and obscures your perception of everything else. Obviously this is not the way to make progress, especially if you want to develop your talents, be of service and feel better about yourself — all things that are eminently possible right now. You’re being challenged to work with a functional standard of quality and monitor your judgments of what is good and what is not (especially about yourself). Yet most significantly, you need to develop a sense of perspective. Perfection may not be a value, but improvement certainly is a useful one. I often think of what my old friend Melinda scrawled into my high school yearbook: Someone is not a true artist until they can see the flaws in their own work.

The Sagittarius 2011 Birthday Report is ready. It’s about an hour of astrology, plus a 20-minute tarot reading. Sagittarius is encoded with a sense of cosmic mystery, and the recent, hot eclipse activity in your sign will continue unfolding for the next 6-12 months as you journey. Visit this page for additional information.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Faith is one of the most difficult-to-grasp concepts, but as an actual thing in the world, it’s fairly easy to see. And it’s what you need to be the most vigilant about now. Your solar charts suggest that you’re having a crisis of faith in yourself, so you may notice this quality more by its absence than by its presence. This will work — as long as you recognize what’s going on, and go to the next step. One thing I can tell you about faith is that it comes from inside you. If there is an external source, then by my definition anyway, it’s not faith. Therefore, seek that internal source of connection. At the same time, you seem to be in a colossal struggle to work out what you believe: about life, about yourself, and ultimately about what is possible. You may be feeling the effects of disappointments relating to prior plans, or a sense of failing to meet your own potential — and these may be influencing what you believe is possible. Let’s stick with that for a moment. If what was possible in the past is any indication of what is actually possible in the future, then humanity would have made no progress on anything, ever. What is possible today is, specifically, what was not possible previously. Therefore, consider what seems impossible today as an indication of your true potential. If you can gently notice where you lack faith, you’re halfway to being filled with it.

Happy birthday! There will indeed be a Capricorn audio birthday report! Watch your email or check this space for additional information in the next edition.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — For the next few months, you’re going to be working out the details of a partnership that may have you going over old ground. This is not about backpedaling; it really is about resolving unfinished business. The good news is that once this phase ends, you’ll be able to proceed forward with actual courage and confidence. The lessons you’ll learn include the nature of commitments and what it means to get into them (and out of them), and how much care you must take to ensure that the fine points are really what they should be; and a big wake-up to the power you have when you step forward with your independence rather than thinking you need others to be involved in every decision. What seems like a review will really be a planning phase for a period of your life that I would describe as a period of achievement. There is a warm-up to this phase, and you’re in it now. The more you have a grasp on the history of recent years (and some long-gone ones) the more successful you will be. In the most positive sense, your success comes down to one question: knowing what you want. That, in turn, breaks down into several subtopics, including knowing exactly what would get in the way of that awareness. In the process, you will map out your psyche and the maze of your life, and this map will be an extremely useful tool as you progress forward.

To order Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check., your full-length 2012 reading including written and audio segments for Aquarius, please go to this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Whatever that thing you’re most dedicated to, that is who and what you are. It’s not that you have to identify with it, but rather that you are free to do so. Remember this. There seems to be a healing process at the heart of the matter. There seems to be something about sex and your sexual identity, and how you contain and express your energy. And you’re feeling a calling to absolute authenticity, which includes giving yourself the space to be yourself. If I had to assign one theme to the next four seasons, that’s the one: hold that space open where you are free to be you. Imagine a large fire in the middle of the space, which defines the room you have to move around, and provides both an energy source and a focal point for your existence. Holding open space to exist may have the feeling of taking back territory. By doing something positive and assertive you may get the sensation that you’re doing something negative and even wrong. No doubt you’ve been through this territory once or twice (or more) but it’s easy to forget. This is one reason why I suggest you think in terms of defining your space (rather than defending it). There is room for you on this planet. There is room for you to be different, and most of all there is room for you to fulfill your purpose. In the coming four seasons, however, you’re likely to graduate to something even more powerful: living on a mission.

To order Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check., your full-length 2012 reading including written and audio segments for Pisces, please go to this link.