Category Archives: Weekly Horoscope

Weekly Horoscope

Pluto in Capricorn: Fiddler on a Roof

Dear Friend and Reader:

Growing up an honorary Jew in New York City, my favorite musical was Fiddler on the Roof. My mom took me to see the first Broadway revival with Zero Mostel, who performed in the original 1964 production. I learned the song “Sabbath Prayer” in piano lessons. And I thought a lot about the message of the play, which involves the relationship between tradition and change.

Promotional image for the play Fiddler on the Roof.

Reb Tevye, the play’s leading man, explains why there are so many customs among orthodox Jews that must be followed exactly. “Here in Anatevka,” he says, “we have traditions for everything. How to sleep. How to eat. How to work. How to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered and always wear a little prayer shawl. This shows our constant devotion to God.”

“You may ask, how did this tradition get started? I’ll tell you. [He pauses for a moment.] I don’t know. But it’s a tradition. And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do.”

And then there is the famous line: “Without tradition, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on a roof.”

And that is about where our society is today. After writing last week’s article on the cardinal grand cross and grand water trine, I got the feeling that I needed to go deeper into the Pluto in Capricorn leg of the grand cross. You can think of that as the deepest root of the whole arrangement. Pluto goes deep in any event, and in this configuration (counting both the cross and the trine) Pluto arrived in its sign first, dipping into Capricorn before Pres. Obama was elected.

Pluto then slipped back into Sagittarius for the election, and by the time Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, Pluto was in Capricorn to stay, until it first touches Aquarius in March 2023.

Capricorn is the sign of tradition. In worldly terms, it’s the sign that represents society’s institutions, such as governments, corporations, large churches and other power-wielding organizations. Those have been shaking and quaking during the Pluto in Capricorn era, starting with the banking system collapse of 2008.

Many other things have seemed to crumble; there have been scandals throughout the military command, the Secret Service (which went on a bender in Amsterdam this week) and the usual litany of malfeasance by politicians.

Topol as Tevye in the 1971 film production of Fiddlier on the Roof.

We’re also in an obsessive era of power grabs by companies, churches, political organizations and the government. Plenty of this involves seizing power over women, most of whom are oblivious to what is happening.

Other forms of power concentration involve concentrations of wealth higher up on the economic food chain, ever-larger mergers, concentration of who controls the information that flows to you (ever fewer gatekeepers), and the ways in which we are being suffocated by charges of pennies, nickels and dimes up to $50 and an interest rate hike for a late credit card payment. Basically we live in the age of “we do it because we can,” where many people and nearly all institutions do whatever they can to get over on people.

The government’s combined refusal and inability to take care of returning war veterans is one of the most disgusting emblems of the era we live in. These things, too, are all well-represented by Pluto in Capricorn.

Then of course there is the NSA, which thinks it has us surrounded and is gluttonous for unchecked power. Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and others are exposing and undermining what would otherwise be an unmitigated concentration of influence, going on behind our backs.

And looking at one example where traditions are being reshaped and reformed, the movement to include same-sex couples in the ‘institution’ of marriage is an attribute of Pluto in Capricorn.

Our Relationship to Tradition

We could go on and on with Pluto in Capricorn metaphors in the outer world, the one that surrounds us. They are identifiable because we can construct images using the combination of Pluto + Capricorn.

Yet while you may be observing these outer manifestations, there is the more significant inner level of Pluto in Capricorn. Think of Capricorn as representing the solid ground on which consciousness stands. It’s a level even deeper than our life patterns or social patterns, which are usually illustrated by Aquarius. You might say that it’s the foundations on which those life patterns are built: concepts like family, trust in society, faith that there will be an economy and a food supply, faith that there is sufficient knowledge to solve a problem, should one arise.

The catastrophic failure of Washington Mutual was one of many, many thousands of bank failures that are still unfolding today. When most of us were younger, a bank was considered something solid and stable. But your great-grandparents might not believe that.

You might think of Capricorn as representing all the ways we have faith in ‘the establishment’ and that it will be there when we need it. And needless to say, that faith is being shaken. There are external factors doing this (for example, the constant attack on various social safety nets, and some politicians who make a career out of convincing others that some people don’t deserve medical care).

Yet much closer to home, our ideas about intimacy are being shaken up. Family structure has been in a gradual decline since the end of World War II. There are still some solid families and some extended families left, but more and more we live with the feeling that we’re on our own. It is a fact that many more people are being left out in the cold, and that translates on the inner level to the fear that you may be left out in the cold. Everyone knows everyone deserves food and a safe place to sleep; to convince oneself otherwise is only weakening.

Going deeper, Pluto in Capricorn represents a shattering of or disconnect from tradition, so vital to humans. Looked at another way, it’s about a reactionary response to ground-in tradition. This is part of what is inspiring many people to be so viciously against same-sex couples getting married.

The war to defend tradition, be it heterosexuality or the subjugation of women, is motivated by a deep, inner and very personal response to the fear that there is no more tradition, or that the changes in society are running out of control.

I think that it’s essential in times like we’re living in to return to healthy experiences that you might think of as human traditions. This could take many forms, all of them cooling off our cultural obsession with the concept of ‘new’. That includes older ways of doing things, eating foods that are more closely harmonized with our ancestral heritage. Heck, eating actual food rather than junk food and processed food would feel a lot better. A few years back I wrote an article with some ideas about this called Everything Old is New Again.

When traditions change, some people resist violently. Reactionary movement is often the result of the feeling of instability that comes with change. In this photo, students are kissing in front of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church at Oberlin College, May 2000.

Actually getting together with people would help ground the feeling of inevitable and inescapable change. Honoring friendship, looking up old friends, and taking necessary time to build friendship, would all help grant a feeling of stability and belonging.

If family is changing so fast as to be disappearing in many places, making a point of collecting a family of choice would be helpful — something that many people do naturally and that others have never considered.

Pluto in Capricorn is not just about the death of old traditions; it can just as much be about their healthy revival. And as my teacher, the late Arthur Joseph Kushner, was fond of reminding me, any tradition that does not change is not alive. Tradition is not about nostalgia or doing things the way they were done in the past in the spirit of purism. Adapting old traditions to current times can be productive, healthy and fun.

What remains constant is that humans need traditions. We need to honor the passage of time. We need to experience a sense of belonging on the planet. That includes a sense of place, a relationship to the landscape around us, and a relationship to the environment that reminds us we are indeed supported by our environment.

I think that each of us, personally, needs a code to live by. In a world where both ethics and morals are becoming meaningless, it’s necessary to have an inner commitment to doing what is right. Yes, that includes doing what is right for you, but what I am talking about here is doing what is right as a member of society.

The Oso, Washington, Mountainside Collapse

When the relationship to the environment goes out of balance, the results can be catastrophic. It’s true that humans have always lived in dangerous places — on seashores subject to tsunamis, at the bases of volcanoes, in earthquake zones and other places where nature acts up.

Here is the chart for the Oso landslide. Note the green glyph on the far right — that is Pholus, the second centaur. Nessus, the first centaur, is just to the left of the diagonal dark line, right into the 10th house. This is a chart signature that reminds me of a mass shooting-type incident. Also note that the chart is Gemini rising. Mercury, the ruler of the ascendant, is about to complete a conjunction to Neptune in Pisces — the image of something subject to change (Gemini, Mercury) about to experience the effects of a lot of water. But this was not an accident.

I realized just how passionately people are devoted to where they live during a volcanic eruption in Sicily a few years ago that led to a mass evacuation. On a car window in the evacuation zone, written with someone’s finger in volcanic ash, someone wrote, “We love you Etna” — addressed to the volcano that was erupting.”

Sometimes it’s human activity that makes a place dangerous. This past Saturday, there was a massive landslide in an unincorporated area about 4 miles east of the town of Oso in Snohomish County, Wash. A portion of a hillside collapsed, sending mud and debris across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, taking many homes and their inhabitants with it. As of Thursday, there have been 25 confirmed deaths and 90 more people are reported missing and presumed dead.

When I cast the chart soon after the event, my first thought was: this looks like the chart of a mass shooting. One marker I’ve noticed for when someone seems to lose control but was really acting with intent are the centaurs Pholus and Nessus on the angles of the chart. Pholus is right on the western horizon and Nessus is on the midheaven, high overhead. (The ‘angles’ in a chart are the horizon and the meridian; the angular houses are the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th).

To me, when I see this kind of placement, whatever happened looks like an intentional act. But we’re talking about a landslide here. That’s supposed to be a natural disaster.

The chart definitely looks like what happened. One feature is the conjunction of Mercury and Neptune in Pisces. That is a lot of water; it was rainwater that precipitated the event. Another feature is Pluto in Capricorn in the 8th house, the one that tells us the nature and cause of death. As I described above, Pluto in Capricorn is about the sense of the ground moving beneath us, and in the literal sense of things, that is exactly what happened to the people of Oso.

Finally, there is an exact square between the Moon and Chiron — a very, very exact square. You might think of that as representing what happens when belief, or denial, meets reality. It also looks like something happening to people’s homes (the Moon).

Google Earth image of Oso, Wash., hillside before the land flaked off.

But the concept of intent coming from Pholus and Nessus was irking me. So, our environmental research team looked into the issue of what was known about this hillside in advance. I figured that this kind of event did not just come out of nowhere, but I was stunned at the depth and extent of prior knowledge about this very problem in this very place.

Lawyers will be sorting out exactly who knew what, when they knew it, and what they represented to others. There will be all kinds of insurance-related questions. But one thing is clear: the community and the government knew bout this issue and did nothing about it. Even as evidence of a problem mounted over the decades, development was allowed to proceed, as was the cutting of timber that only made the problem worse.

For example, after landslides in 1949 and 1951, the state commissioned a report on the situation. Maybe that’s why the place was known as Slide Hill. There was another catastrophic landslide that damaged many cabins in 1967. But still, extensive development was permitted in the area.

In an article published Monday, March 24, The Yakima Herald described a 1969 State Department of Natural Resources memorandum. The author of the memo, Gerald Torsen, wrote, “Aerial photographs taken as far back as 1932 show the river has cut at this clay bank for many years,” thereby destabilizing the hillside.

So, short of figuring out what the local Indians knew before Lewis and Clark arrived, knowledge of a potential problem goes back at least 82 years.

Image of Oso hillside after the land gave way. This was not a mudslide, as TV people are calling it. It was the collapse of a mountainside. Photo by Ted Warren.

In 1997, a geomorphologist named Daniel Miller wrote a report for the Washington Department of Ecology and the local Tulalip Tribes, describing the hill’s potential risk for landslides. He has collected memos, slides, maps, models, drawings and reports as far back as the 1950s showing the hill’s potential risk for a landslide.

Then in 1999, the Army Corps of Engineers assessed the hillside and warned of “the potential for a large catastrophic failure.” But the state allowed building to continue — and also clearcutting of forests, including into restricted areas that were holding the mountain together.

In 2006, yet another landslide occurred, plugging the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River and creating a new channel that threatened the homes on Steelhead Drive. Instead of people being evacuated from their homes, contractors were allowed to build new ones. Miller, the geomorphologist, said, “Frankly, I was shocked that the county permitted any building across from the river. We’ve known that it’s been failing.”

Even with all of this foreknowledge, developers were finishing luxury homes as late as this year — that is, in 2014.

After the landslide happened Saturday, John Pennington, who currently heads the county emergency management agency where this happened, said that the hillside “was considered very safe. This was a completely unforeseen slide. This came out of nowhere.”

Yes, just like the “grandmother quote” in just about every newspaper story about a murder — “my grandson is a very nice boy.”

Photo from Zillow listing for home at 31325 E. Steelhead Dr. in Arlington, Wash., just a few feet from the river — no doubt one of the homes that was taken by the mountainside collapse. The luxury home just sold for $179,000 less than two weeks ago.

Does all of this rise to the level of intent? I define intent not as desire for an outcome but as “knew or should have known” about a likely outcome. Clearly, a lot of people knew or should have known about this. And that, I believe, is why this chart looked like the chart of a mass shooting. There is an element of intent — apparently, a significant one.

So, this leads us to another question: what do you know, and what do you bother to find out? What do you do with what you know? Many people consciously avoid information, just so they don’t have to know.

Many others choose to ignore what they know. I for one remain shocked at the number of people who still smoke cigarettes, contaminating every cell in their bodies with carcinogens even in the midst of the cancer and cancer-phobia epidemic.

We are now in a time when we have to use what we know, because the consequences of doing so are real and present. Yes, they always were — but we know so much more than we did in the past, and it matters so much more.

One message of the astrology of spring 2014 is to pay attention. Many factors will be moving quickly, and the only thing standing between you and something you don’t want to happen may be your own awareness, and what you do with it.

Lovingly,

Research, Writing and Editing Credits: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Hillary Conary, Eric Francis, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Painter, Susan Starr, Carol van Strum and Chad Woodward. Page assembled and coded by Anatoly Ryzhenko. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, which goes over each edition on Thursday night — and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Our editions are also proofread and fact-checked by Jessica Keet.

Aries New Moon: Beyond Obsessive Insecurity

I’ve covered the Aries New Moon (and how to read a T-square) in the current edition of Planet Waves FM.

First a comment on Mercury retrograde, the one that supposedly ended on Feb. 26 (the shadow phase of which ended last week). It seems like neither of those two things happened. The Mercury retrograde effect seems to be going strong, or by many reports, it has been till now.

It may feel like Mercury’s doing double duty or has a mischievous twin, but it’s just the lingering effect of its conjunction to Neptune. Images by NASA’s Messenger spacecraft.

Looking at the current positions of the planets, there are a few possible reasons for this. Both involve Pisces, where Mercury originally went retrograde and where it still is now. Under the rules of classical astrology, Mercury is said to be “in fall” in Pisces. That makes it imaginative and intuitive, but to harness these qualities takes more discipline than is usually available.

Complicating matters somewhat, on March 22, Mercury made an exact conjunction to Neptune in Pisces. That ramped up the watery, foggy, imaginative sensation of Mercury in this sign. Neptune has the widest orb of all the planets (that I’ve ever seen, anyway). So even with Mercury seven or so degrees past Neptune (as it is today) it will still be picking up those mystical vibes and may be symbolic of some of the confusion.

This weekend Mercury will make a conjunction to Chiron (very close now, exact Saturday at 1:08 am EDT), which will apply some focusing power and discernment. If Mercury and/or Neptune in Pisces is about belief, Mercury conjunct Chiron is about focusing on the facts and the data. Chiron cuts through the fog like a special kind of light that does not refract on the water particles. Mercury conjunct Chiron is about focusing on solutions.

Later in the weekend (Sunday morning EDT) Mercury will be conjunct an unusual point called Borasisi. I would sum this up as, “Be aware of what you believe, and why” and also, “Be aware of the power of belief.”

As for the Aries New Moon (exact Sunday at 2:45 pm EDT), this event is an extension of the vernal equinox, as the first solar-lunar event of the year. This is an anchor point into any beginnings that you are trying to ground or establish. Nothing says “beginning” like the Aries New Moon. Nothing says “endings” like the days before the New Moon.

New Moon over Sounion, Greece. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Aries at the moment is rife with the theme of identity crisis, and this is in some way influencing everyone. With Juno, Uranus and Eris in Aries, many attributes of identity are up for question or subject to some element of confusion. The chart describes a potential cause and therefore a potential solution.

The New Moon is separating in a conjunction from asteroid Ophelia, which describes a blend of emotional insecurity and reactivity. Martha Lang-Wescott delineates this point as being about “over-reaction and counterproductive reactions (linked to mistrust of one’s value to others and concern about deception).”

Sounds like life, many days. Consider though that the New Moon is separating from Ophelia — that is, whatever Ophelia represents is described as being in the past. So the question is, to what extent are you bringing past negative expectations into your present situation?

The other interesting bit is that Ophelia is in aspect to Hidalgo, which is the reminder not to engage in pointless rebellion based on your own insecurity — but the rebellion is described as stoking the insecurity.

Often insecurity is not just a factor but an obsession. Really, it’s the perfect paralyzing agent. We get a clue about this with asteroid Achilles in Libra, in the aspect pattern: notice when you may be feeling a false lack of confidence.

In the days following the New Moon, the Sun will pass through the Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto configuration. This is likely to come with more “signs of the times” kinds of results in the world. Emotionally, it’s likely to be a restless week and I suggest you harness your energy and put it to work for you in constructive ways. Sun-Uranus can be erratic and that will take some discipline. A little goes a long way.

Aries New Moon, and How to Read a T-Square

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I read the chart for the Aries New Moon, look at the chart for the Washington State landslide, and talk about how to read a T-square in a chart. I also introduce my Aries birthday reading, which is available for $29.95. For additional resources please see the full post. If you are using an iOS device, please use this link.

Spring 2014 Special Report for All 12 signs and Rising Signs: Intimacy, Trust & the Cardinal Grand Cross

Here is an introduction to the Spring 2014 Special Report, which explores the grand cross, the grand trine and two eclipses that happen in April. This astrology is like a dimensional opening that will take you from one space of life to another. The theme of the charts, as I am reading them, is about intimacy and trust. The reading covers all 12 signs in audio format. For purchasing information, the resources I mention in the recording and other good stuff, please see the full post. Pricing information is now available. We offer incentives for early purchase! Once the Spring Report is published, all 12 signs will sell for $59.95. The first (and current) pre-order, however, is for half price at $29.95. This will last through the end of the day Monday, March 31, when the price goes up to $39.95. Once the report is published it will immediately go to full price at $59.95.

Well in time for the Spring 2014 grand cross (Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Pluto) I’ll be publishing a 12-sign reading focusing on intimacy and trust. The readings will focus on the influence of Mars in the grand cross as well as the lunar and solar eclipses. All of this happens in April. Each sign will get a 20- to 30-minute reading, the signs will cross-reference (each being a special point of focus), and everyone will have access to all 12 signs.

I’ve recorded an informative and authentically interesting audio preview of the project (worth listening just to hear our original theme music). As usual we offer incentive for early purchase. The final price will be $59.95 but we are offering it through the weekend at the first pre-order price of $29.95. Get it while it’s hot!

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscopes for April were published Friday, March 21. We published your extended monthly horoscopes for March Friday, Feb. 21. Moonshine horoscopes for the Pisces New Moon published Tuesday, Feb. 25. Moonshine horoscopes for the Virgo Full Moon were published Tuesday, March 11. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, March 28, 2014, #992 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19) — The beauty of your astrology right now is that it allows you to see yourself in others and to feel them within you. Another perspective on the same aspects illustrates you self-actualizing through your relationships. This concept used to be understood a lot better than it is now in our era when the prevailing theory of relationships is to use people. Self-actualizing through an intimate bond is a special, subtle kind of using. It is perhaps the most humane kind there is, because the idea is about becoming increasingly aware of yourself as you interrelate with others. I would take the concept of ‘others’ and extend it to your whole environment. Consider that you are part of your environment and it is part of you. Feel how you influence your surroundings with your feelings, and how you can pick up feelings and experience influences just by being in a place or around others. The moral of the story is you are part of the world and the world is part of you.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Pre-order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $29.95 if you order by Monday. That’s half-off of the published price! Listen to the free audio preview.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You’re not in as tight of a corner as it may seem. In fact to the extent that you feel you’re under someone’s shadow, under their thumb or under their authority, you have the ability to focus and turn this into a productive situation. The main quality that’s being demanded of you is integrity. Such would include sincerity, the use of logic, and making sure that all of the basic minimums for which you may be responsible are covered. You can add to that consulting with those who are influenced by your movements and your choices, making sure they have a clue what to expect from you next. Take the time to enter a dialog and leave behind any reticence you may have to commit to a position by saying anything at all. You’re in a position of much greater influence than you may imagine, by which I mean the potential to effect positive change. Step out of the shadow and you will see that.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Stick to the truth and admit when you find yourself believing something that may not be true, or that is not true. Notice when you ‘believe’ something because someone in a position of authority ‘believes’ it; notice if you bend things a bit to focus your own authority. In short, your solar chart right now is a study in the power of false belief and deception for the purpose of gaining power. That could include power gained over you, which is the main reason why I suggest you be vigilant. It’s the main reason why I suggest you make no compromises about the nature of reality. The best way to handle any situation where you’re lacking knowledge is to admit at least that much. If you’re in a position where you have to conduct yourself a certain way for political purposes (such as getting ahead), admit at least that much. Do everything you can to eliminate deception from your life in any form, and happily forfeit the power of denial in place of the greater power of truth.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Leave your insecurity behind you and strive to do your best work. Your fears of inadequacy can indeed be behind you, in the past, if you want them to be. The only way you will establish that is to actually live as if it’s true. That may seem bold, but it’s not as bold as you might think. I will tell you that it’s probably a lot braver than your parents were; it’s gutsier than most of your friends or associates would likely be; it will take more courage than downloading a new app for your Droid. Those are not particularly meaningful comparisons because the standard is a lot lower than actual achievement — and lower than your actual potential. The main thing you’re likely to struggle with is your own consistency, though you have more influence over this than you might think. And even if you’re not exactly consistent, now is the time to focus your mind and reach for one particular goal, no matter how ‘impossible’ it may have seemed in the past.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — There’s no such thing as perfect faith, but there is such a thing as very powerful old-fashioned ordinary faith. And that, you have plenty of. Here is the thing: Faith might work so well that it would shock you. It might compel you to reorganize your whole belief system around what is actually possible that you didn’t think was possible. Note that you may find yourself in some kind of dialog or interchange with someone close to you about whether something is possible. The image glaring out of your chart is of you doing what is right for you no matter what anyone else believes or refuses to believe. So you don’t need to lose any sleep over that small matter, nor do you need to distract yourself with anyone else’s doubts. Nor do you need to convince anyone of anything — just act on the best intuition that you have. Then when your environment starts to provide feedback, adjust your beliefs accordingly. Then be ready to adjust them again.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — It’s necessary that you keep a handle on who you are, what you want and what you’re doing. I say this because of the vast amount of activity in your relationship angle (Aquarius, Pisces and Aries) and so little happening in your own sign. Your ruling planet Mercury is deep in the mix of your relationship stuff, which may be describing a real challenge finding yourself in the midst of lots of movement and excitement in your environment. The planets are describing no specific or direct way to do this, that I can see. The best idea I can offer you is to know what you think, despite what anyone else might think. It would be supremely easy to lose yourself in the viewpoint of others, so if you are aware of and strive to focus your own point of view, you have the easiest possible means of tracking who you are. So yes: the path to individuality starts with knowing your own opinion. (It always did.)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You may feel like you live in the hall of mirrors. But if you look closely at what seems to be your reflection, you might notice that it doesn’t vaguely resemble who you know yourself to be. Indeed, the whole mirroring thing seems to be an illusion that is only real to the extent that you believe it. Your solar chart describes where you will find yourself — in the zone of consciousness where you’re willing to take a risk. Where you feel the potential, the calling or the need to dare, that is where you’re the most likely to find yourself, as in discover something new about yourself. You will know you’re in that space because it feels distinctly different than the mirror chamber or echo chamber that you were in before. You will know you’re there because it has the distinct sensation of something to gain and something to lose. Note that your ruling planet Venus is in Aquarius. That is a reminder to be yourself and not buckle under the pressure or low standards of any group in which you’re involved.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You may be having panic attacks over some potential change in your work environment or work assignment. That kind of response is not exactly the key to success. I suggest you remove from your thinking any need to ‘feel appreciated’ and replace it with the need to focus your mind, your efforts and your intentions on what actually matters. Focus on the nature of commitments being made to you, and asked of you. Once the changes you’re going through gather actual momentum, there will be the moment where you have to give up control over the outcome. But that does not mean giving up awareness of where you are at any moment, or the words that come out of your mouth, or listening and hearing the words that are said to you. Said another way, lack of control over the outcome is a thing apart from maintaining your presence and awareness and using what you know to make moment-to-moment assessments and decisions.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — If you subtract the drama from the sex, the sex will be a lot more interesting. I know that for most people this is like decaffeinated instant coffee with Splenda and Cremora, or trying to get drunk on a Shirley Temple. There exists a kind of conditioned association between drama and sex, in particular, drama based on insecurity. I would propose that you don’t need that. I also suggest you subtract the “does he/she love me?” question from your erotic encounters, along with “what will happen to us in the future?” and “will we do this again?” Let basic trust and being turned on be enough for now. Have your experiences in the moment you’re having them, giving and receiving love in real time. The insecurity factor to me looks like a ruse. By ruse, I mean to use a polite word for bullshit. You might try treating it as such, just for an experiment. The other part of the experiment will involve not treating anyone else’s insecurity as if it’s valid for you.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If you’re going to rebel, focus on what makes no sense, and then wage the rebellion by making sense. Rather than object to what is ridiculous, propose the alternative. The posture of rebellion I am suggesting is not waged in the negative but rather in the affirmative. That leaves a lot more room for creativity, actual innovation and sense of humor. It also disguises the rebellion as something else, such as an invention or a party or art or something that is just interesting. There are a lot of stupid customs in the world, ridiculous beliefs, pointless social rituals and absurd expectations. You seem to be aware of this now more than ever, and determined to do something about it. As the next few days unfold, that may grow to the point of having revolution in your heart. So be it — and Remember The Onion.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may be in an emotional dilemma, going back and forth about what you really believe, or what course of action is correct. This is compounded by the potential feeling that you have to do something, or make a decision, before time runs out. The problem is that each potential choice is so compelling you don’t know which is more valid. If this describes some aspect of your life, I have two ideas. One is: consider the potential that both are true at once, no matter how different they may seem (they are more closely related than they seem by the way). Then work out the math and figure out how the situation would seem in that case. Two is: consider the possibility that you’re dealing with a false dilemma. (I have a personal philosophy to consider the potential for any dilemma being a false dilemma). A false dilemma, in case you’re not familiar with the concept, is a pair of options, choices, potentials or outcomes where neither of the two is actually valid or meaningful. The solution to that is simple — come up with more possibilities.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Claim your genius with money. I mean take hold of it, take ownership and put it to work. Get your mind going, and start sketching out possibilities. Remember that your most valuable resource is what you know. In our economy, you have the options to sell your time, your labor or your knowledge, and you probably proffer a mix of these options. But the most valuable one is your knowledge. It’s also one of the most challenging to convert into actual cash value, though you can apply your knowledge to that puzzle. The only thing that stands in your way is a particular kind of self-esteem crisis that might, in the past, have left you feeling like nobody cares about you. That’s not true, but I would remind you that for this particular project, you don’t need anyone to care about you — you need to care about yourself, and you need to take advantage of the self-interest of others. Ultimately what you’re doing has nothing at all to do with self-interest; that is a means to a much larger and more meaningful goal.

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The Virgo Full Moon + Your Planet Waves Update

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Dear Friend and Reader:

I hope you have had a good week! It’s possible that the waxing Moon is beginning to make itself felt in your relationships as it makes its way toward opposing the Sun this weekend for the Virgo Full Moon; I’ll say more about that below, but first a little housekeeping.

As announced previously, Eric has been diligently working on his upcoming article for The Mountain Astrologer and a few other projects, and will resume with his usual lead articles and horoscopes with next Friday’s issue of Planet Waves on March 21. Also as promised, Eric has written a fresh weekly horoscope for Pisces; you’ll find it at the bottom of this page.

Full Moon rising behind the Temple of Athena Nike, Athens, Greece. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

If you have not yet listened to Eric’s three Planet Waves FM broadcasts this week, you really should. First up was a truly fascinating and engaging interview with Geoffrey Cornelius, author of The Moment of Astrology. (You can read more about Geoffrey’s two upcoming workshops in New York here.)

Eric’s second Planet Waves FM program delved into the current astrology, including April’s grand cross involving the Uranus-Pluto square, as well as the astrology of mysteriously missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Musical guest for this second program is Jimmy Be Free.

Broadcast number three is a follow-up on flight 370 in which Eric gives a closer reading of the chart for the missing airplane, along with written notes. He focuses on the fact that this chart has Sagittarius rising, which is perfect for an international flight, as Sagittarius is the sign of things international and also associated with aviation. Musical guest is Breakfast in Fur.

As for Sunday’s Virgo Full Moon, Len Wallick’s Thursday column looked into the Sun’s conjunction to minor planet Salacia for this event. With a little research into your own life around two other recent Full Moons that aspected Salacia, you might discover this weekend the other side of a story — a side you might not even have known was missing.

Thursday’s Daily Astrology column considered the Virgo Full Moon’s square to Pholus. Since Pholus is likely to magnify whatever we offer or encounter, giving it a life of its own, this is a good weekend to try leaning on the Pisces Sun’s empathy and creativity — and to take it easy with the Virgo Moon’s more critical influence. If you feel extra sensitive this weekend, assume others are, too, and keep your compassion handy.

We also ran one of Eric’s great archived articles on the Mayan calendar, called The Mayans, Juno and the Abyss, on Wednesday. (Carlos Cedillo’s Wednesday column will return next week.)

And coming up this weekend, we’ll have Judith Gayle’s Political Waves column Saturday morning and Maria Padhila’s column on polyamory (and related topics of relationships and sexuality) in the afternoon. Sarah Taylor’s tarot reading for the week posts by 2 pm EDT on Sunday, and a few hours later, Elisa Novick’s column on spiritual exploration and healing will publish.

Finally, if you have signed up for the Monsanto Watch mailing, later today you will be receiving an article about organic farmers in the U.S. reporting contamination of their crops by genetically modified strains. If you have not signed up for this separate mailing, which will include other environmental news some weeks, you may sign up here.

Have a blessed, joyful weekend, and we’ll see you on Tuesday with your regularly scheduled mailing.

Yours and truly,

Amanda Painter

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — As the Sun moves through the visionary final six degrees of your sign this week (which happen to be the very last degrees of the zodiac before the cosmic clock resets at the equinox), I suggest you be a conscious visionary in your life. I don’t mean this in some metaphoric way; I mean it directly. Describe the life that you want. Revise and rework that description every day, never assuming it’s final, only clearer than the time before. You are much likelier to have, become or create what you know about, what you can envision. You are likelier to choose what you want, if you know you want it, and you recognize it when you see it. The clearer you are in this, the better. Therefore, it will be helpful if you have no secrets from yourself. Admit openly and/or remember what you have wanted to create but set aside because it was in some way impractical, not feasible or because you didn’t think you deserved it. Those are the very obstacles that you are penetrating or removing by doing this creative visioning exercise. Do not worry about what is possible; focus, rather, on allowing yourself to see with your inner vision, and to bring that one step forward into manifestation.

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A Spiritual Crisis, and a Political One

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Just a few brief comments on the government shutdown. Like most people, you may be having difficulty tracking this issue; to me it looks like a government shutdown for its own sake. But it’s one that makes most building takeovers that I’ve covered seem mature, since most students know enough to focus on a few demands that can actually be met by the administration.

Donna Rice with her husband Barry after they traveled from Chicago to Zion National Park in Utah, closed due to the government shutdown. Photo by Trent Nelson.

One of the ways you know that this situation is drama for its own sake is that the first demand (defund the Affordable Care Act) was not going to happen. By the time the government was shut down and the creeps behind this protest figured that out, the demands started changing — the current one being the promise of discussion of slashing social programs.

All the Republican talk of “jobs, jobs, jobs” has led to their blocking hundreds of thousands of people from being able to go to work. All the talk about supporting small business has been belied by the thousands of businesses hurt or destroyed by the shutdown.

A few things are bugging me. One is that the original pretense, how bad the ACA allegedly is, is not an issue that warrants this kind of radical intervention. Not, particularly, since it’s the affirmed law of the land. Our extremely conservative Supreme Court already approved it, after Congress voted it into law and the president signed it into law. If a small minority wants to take matters into their own hands, that is one definition of tyranny — and thankfully it’s become obvious.

If a minority of politicians are declaring the ACA unconstitutional, and saying that it’s illegitimate despite being approved by every branch of government, they must be citizens of some other country. The reward they have got, if you believe a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll published in the past 24 hours, is that the Republicans and the Tea Party have never been less favorably thought of, while popularity for Obamacare has never been higher.

That some politicians would take advantage of the disgraceful health-care situation, using it against people, even going so far as to try to convince women not to go for routine gyn exams, is authentically disgusting. Health insurance, at minimum, provides some thin safety net between a routine disease and going bankrupt. In no other advanced country besides the U.S. do people flirt with this fate — and it’s especially propbematic given the unemployment situation, when people have lost their jobs and their health coverage.

Another problem is the involvement of Dominionist religion in this crisis, and that seems to be significant. Personally I don’t have a good feeling about people who preach the end of the world, and they seem to be the ones calling the shots.

The Dominionist position is old hat: you accept our point of view or we will burn you at the stake. I don’t think these people have any proper role in government.

We also have what I will call a spiritual problem involving John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives. He is not who he pretends to be, a dude from Ohio; to see what kind of entity he is one’s third eye needs to be open, and I don’t consider it safe to conduct this kind of inquiry because of the energies involved. In human form, he controls the flow of bills to the floor of the House of Representatives. This one entity has the power to choke off whether progress is possible; he can personally keep this going or let it resolve, and we have no reason whatsoever to trust him.

That this is essentially a spiritual problem means that we might find a spiritual solution. I think that Boehner must be a focal point. The meek integrity that is binding him to the physical plane appears to be weakening, but he still has some thrash and resistance left in him. Holding him in white light will help neutralize him, though he won’t like it as much as the synthetic UV rays his leathery, orange skin seems to devour in his tanning bed.

It’s true that our debt crisis is what has made us subject to this kind of blackmail and other forms of external control. It’s essential to see this for what it is — the debt itself is an intentional construction. At the end of the Clinton administration the U.S. was well on the way to paying down its debt and had eliminated the yearly federal budget deficit. Economically and in many other ways, things were going pretty well at the time.

Then came a stolen election; a false flag terrorist event; a series of tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans; eliminating taxes on many of the largest corporations; a huge, unbudgeted, federally funded drug giveaway; a bloated national security state taking over nearly everything and occupying a billion square feet of office space; several very long, ongoing wars; and then a second 9/11, in financial form, allegedly requiring trillions in bank bailouts.

All these things have at least one common factor — they start under Cheney-Bush, and they got us into this position. And that is where we find ourselves — compromised, and in a sense, possessed.

Colbert takes on the shutdown, proposing games like Not Sorry! and Operation Denied Due to Pre-Existing Condition.

The astrology lurking around is not all that encouraging. The federal shutdown has now been conflated with the debt ceiling issue. The debt ceiling is about the government’s ability to borrow money to make interest payments on funds that it’s already borrowed, and to meet some current obligations as well. Both could be resolved by simple, one-sentence acts of Congress.

Non-political federal budget officials say we hit the debt ceiling on Oct. 17, which is on the eve of a lunar eclipse, and just four days before Mercury stations retrograde. Depending on how you look at it, that combination of factors could represent a breakthrough or it could be a further descent into mire and chaos. We don’t know what would happen if the U.S. defaults on its obligations, since it has never done so.

As I’ve mentioned, the main U.S. chart, the Sibly chart, is under a lot of stress. That comes to a peak next April, when the grand cross including Mars retrograde in Libra, Jupiter in Cancer, Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn, is focused to the degree around the U.S. Sun.

Many have wondered how we are going to wrest our country back from these bizarre interests that have nothing to do with the general welfare of the American people, or even the business community. It is a pressing question; we will be asking it for a while.

There is a simple political analysis here: many Republicans who would vote to get us out of this mess are going along with the mob because they don’t want to be “primaried” — that is, knocked out of their Republican slot by a candidate further to the right. So they put their own self-interest above the collective interest. Their federal job is more important than everyone else’s federal job — or the stability of the world economy.

Here we see the problem with self-interest and why, once again, this is really a spiritual crisis rather than a political one.

Lovingly,

Accelerate, with Precision

Our current astrology is about acceleration. The Moon is now waxing toward a Full Moon eclipse in the sign Aries, which happens Oct. 18. Eclipses often come with the sensation of concentrated experience, events speeding up and a sense of destiny or fate in operation.

Next stop — a lunar eclipse in Aries, followed by a solar eclipse in Scorpio. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

The mid-Libra Sun is applying in a square aspect to Jupiter in Cancer. This looks like some emotional/relational drama, with the principle of balance (via Libra) pushing up against the tendency to over-feel and run in cycles (Cancer). It’s necessary to honor both and to remember that you cannot smooth out the surface of water with a canoe paddle.

Venus, which is often cautious and tends to speak second, is now in Sagittarius, a more freewheeling sign than many others – and Venus is headed for a square to Chiron, which is emotive, given to taking risks, and is anything but cautious. This is a reminder to stick to your values; they are your guiding principles. But if your principles back you into a corner, this is a time to reevaluate rather than overreact.

Venus square Chiron likes to push limits and can have a tendency to be so emotionally driven as to suspend judgment. The quest may be for an emotional high, sexual power or just the need to have fun. Yet where Chiron is involved, it’s necessary to engage the sentient part of one’s mind — the part that actually makes conscious decisions about what you do and do not want to do. If not, the Venus-Chiron square can have a sense of emotional injury. In this case, the opposite of injury would be integrity.

Perhaps most significantly, we are about to experience the fourth of seven Uranus-Pluto squares, the generation-defining aspect involving two of the most potent outer planets. This spans from 2012-2015 with a margin of at least three years on either side of that date range. The fourth event, the epicenter of the whole series, is within range now, and will be exact on Nov. 1. The series of Uranus-Pluto aspects is about acceleration of the historical process, the chaos factor and the drive to change that we are all experiencing so poignantly now.

To sum up, we’re experiencing many energetic, compelling aspects at the moment and, like using a chain saw or a welding torch, this kind of power demands precision, control and focus. If not, there can be mishaps, opportunities lost and time and energy wasted.

Chart for Mars ingress of Virgo on Tuesday, Oct. 15. From there, Mars will oppose both Neptune and Chiron, an interesting combination.

Mars is currently in the last degrees of Leo, which is slippery and a little dangerous. It’s fiery Mars in a fire sign working the edge of the territory. That alone calls for precision and thoughtfulness when it’s more likely to signify bravado, risk-taking and a bit of machismo.

It’s also a comment on subject matter relating to male gender material. For example, there is the question: what is the relationship between sexism and male homophobia? One possible contact point is that male homophobia involves a man’s relationship to his inner feminine, as does his relationship to women. By one analysis, homophobia and sexism are the same thing — with inner and outer manifestations.

Mars will slide through the last degrees of Leo and arrive in Virgo on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Here is where some precision enters the picture, though you don’t want it to be too late. I suggest you get ahead of this transit, and focus on the details early, as annoying as they may be.

This theme is repeated by Mercury, which is slowing down to a retrograde that begins on Oct. 21. Some have noticed that the effect is starting to take hold, now that Mercury is in its first echo phase ahead of the retrograde; that’s happening now, as Mercury crosses the degrees where it will be retrograde (from Oct. 21 through Nov. 11).

Mercury stations retrograde within a couple of days of the Full Moon eclipse in Aries on Oct. 18 (which also happens to be the deadline for the debt ceiling limit). The world may be going crazy, but you don’t have to — or at least you can use a little planning, and just a bit of caution, to prevent mishaps and keep focused on your plan. If you don’t have one of those, I do suggest you make one up, and keep it flexible.

Angry About their Own Idea

It’s clear the far right dreads the possibility that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may actually improve the health care situation for uninsured Americans. What’s amusing is that in 1989, the guts of what’s now called Obamacare — requiring individuals to obtain coverage or face a tax penalty — was proposed by the Heritage Foundation as a way around single-payer health care.

President Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010.

The idea was adopted with a vengeance by Republicans in 1993 as a counter to the Clinton health care reform proposals under the name Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act. (You can view a chart comparing the two here.) Now, it’s what they seem to revile the most. What is in reality corporate medicine is deceptively being called socialized medicine.

As of Thursday, Republicans in Washington had dropped their demand to defund the ACA and were pushing for an agreement to postpone the debt ceiling crisis for six weeks while their proposed negotiations continue over government expenditures. (Those discussions have been happening for a long time.)

Defaulting on the debt, although some on the far right have said it’s no big deal, is widely viewed as a prescription for a worldwide recession that would make 2008 look like a hiccup.

Meanwhile, congressional approval ratings have fallen to 5% in an AP-GFK poll; the evidence is clear that conservative groups have been pushing for this idea since Obama’s re-election.

A “memo to the movement” signed by a long list of right-wing leaders was endorsed last Valentine’s Day by FreedomWorks, a direct offshoot of the Koch-funded Citizens for a Sound Economy. The memo lays out a blueprint for the defunding of Obamacare, “easily done through a series of appropriation riders” attached to a continuing resolution to fund the government. Perhaps it’s not so easy, since Republicans have dropped that as a demand.

Heritage Foundation branch Heritage Action for America is a signatory to the memo, which describes the Affordable Care Act as “an unprecedented attack on life and religious liberty.”

Trans-Pacific Partnership Marches On

Uncle Sam’s shutdown may have placed obstacles in the path of various citizens attempting to access everything from monuments and parks to FHA loan information, but never fear: collusion with multinational corporations continues unobstructed.

Secretary of State John Kerry appeared in place of Pres. Obama at a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) summit in Indonesia this past week, where plans are being finalized for the agreement involving Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

Don’t let the cute monkey mask fool you: the TPP is neither friendly, fair, nor more fun than a barrel of you-know-what. Photo of protester in Japan this spring by Issei Kato/Reuters.

The Citizens’ Trade Campaign has raised serious questions about the trade agreement, which has been in negotiation since 2008 with massive input from corporations and hardly any from legislators of the nations involved.

Writing in 2012, Laurel Sutherlin of Rainforest Action Network foresaw dire consequences for “everything from affordable medicines, Internet freedoms and intellectual property rights to democratically enacted labor laws and environmental protections … a wish list of the 1%.”

Unlike past trade agreements, this one has not been rolled out for public review; what is known about it has come mostly via Wikileaks and includes a provision whereby corporations’ lawsuits against governments will be heard by a tribunal of international trade lawyers.

Past leaks of draft sections include provisions that allow Big Pharma to undermine access to affordable medicine in developing countries, privilege corporate banks over credit unions, favor fossil fuels over alternative energy and establish some provisions of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), already rejected by the U.S. Congress.

In fact, “This is not mainly about trade,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, on Democracy Now! “It is a corporate Trojan horse.”

Right-wingers at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation, to name but two, get all melty and tingly at the idea of greater globalization; the Heritage folks believe it will help neuter state-owned enterprises. Obama is currently seeking a “fast-track” authorization process that would allow him to sign off on the agreement without Congressional approval.

Political Wrangling Holds Up Hawaii Pesticide Bill

One of the Kauai County (Hawaii) councilmen who earlier this year introduced a bill that would increase the county’s oversight of the heaviest agricultural users of restricted-use pesticides on the island — Dow, Syngenta, BASF, Pioneer — is accusing the county administration of dragging its feet on a vote.

Monsanto is not subject to the bill because Roundup is classified by the EPA as a general-use pesticide, not a restricted-use pesticide, according to activist group Stoppoisoningparadise.org.

Supporters urging the Kauai County Council to stand up for the island’s children by supporting the public’s right to know what chemicals are being applied, plus when and where. Photo: www.StopPoisoningParadise.org — Pass Kauai Bill 2491.

Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. asked Tuesday during a full council hearing for a two-month extension so his administration can work with the state and county government on the issue.

But Councilman Gary Hooser believes severe budget cuts to the state Department of Agriculture’s pesticide oversight function make it crucial that local authorities take it over immediately, to prevent more harm to people and the environment.

For instance, 150 residents on the west side of Kauai, where most of the biotech operations are situated, filed a lawsuit in 2011 against DuPont-Pioneer, alleging their products were making them ill and driving down property values.

Included in the measure would be restrictions around schoolyards. Studies cited by Stoppoisoningparadise.org have proven neurotoxic pesticides contribute to the “rising rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, widespread declines in IQ and other measures of cognitive function” and that “evidence of links to certain childhood cancers is particularly strong.”

“We need to do something. We can’t count on the state. In our particular situation, I believe there is urgency. The doctors we talked to in those committee hearings believe there is urgency and we can’t sit around and wait for the state to get its act together,” he said.

Yet county officials know that pesticide oversight is not cheap — Kauai County Council Chair Jay Furfaro initially put the price at $4.4 million for the first two years and $911,000 every year after that. Supporters of the bill would like to see the biotech companies responsible for the pesticides absorb the cost.

Last month, days before the Kauai council committee voted on Bill 2491, Gov. Neil Abercrombie promised that he would work with the Hawaii legislature to restore funding and positions for pesticide regulation within the health and agriculture departments.

He also suggested that agricultural companies would voluntarily comply with new safety and health guidelines that would be put in place while the legislature and department heads deliberated on stricter controls. Supporters are skeptical of the governor’s promises, saying he is trying to derail the county’s efforts for stricter controls.

Planet Waves reported in August on this bill, the original version of which included extensive regulations of both pesticides and genetically modified organisms.

Last month, however, the Kauai County Council’s Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee amended the measure to focus more closely on pesticide use. The committee passed it 4-1 on Sept. 27, and the council will reconvene next Tuesday to address it again.

Judge Set to Determine Fines Against BP in Deepwater Horizon Case

Phase two of the civil trial against BP for its role in the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster began last week. The focus this time will be on determining how much oil actually spilled — and if government attorneys succeed in proving their number, 4.2 million barrels, it could mean the demise of BP.

Marine reef ecologist Scott Porter works to remove oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill off his hands in June 2010, south of Venice, Louisiana. Photo: Eric Gay/AP.

The first phase of the trial about two months ago centered on whether BP was grossly negligent or not, and in this Judge Carl J. Barbier has not made a ruling.
But if he agrees with the government’s position that there was gross negligence and that 4.2 million barrels were spilled, the fines could amount to more than $18 billion, according to a New York Times article.

“They would have to sell assets to keep the company afloat,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “It would wipe out all of their cash.”

BP is arguing that it was simple negligence and that only 2.45 million barrels were spilled. If the judge finds in its favor, it will pay fines of no more than $2.7 billion. Legal experts believe the actual fine will fall between the two extremes, according to the article.

This phase of the trial will also determine if BP prepared adequately for a blowout and if it responded properly once the oil started flowing.

Update: The director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, has offered to exchange his own freedom for the release of 28 environmentalists and two journalists facing piracy charges in Russia after they allegedly climbed aboard a Russian Arctic oil platform from their ship last month. In addition, Russia is charging them with possession of illegal drugs reportedly found on the seized Greenpeace vessel.

A Women’s Health Win in California

Amidst the near-constant onslaught of states passing ever-tighter restrictions on abortions (68 passed by states so far this year), California is bucking the trend. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Wednesday that allows nurse practitioners and other non-physicians to perform abortions via “vacuum aspiration” during the first trimester.

California isn’t just L.A., San Fran and San Diego; 52% of California counties lack an accessible abortion provider. Image: thisispersonal.org.

Critics accuse the governor of putting abortion-industry profits above the well-being of women and children and argue the bill will lower the standard of medical care for women.

Asked for commentary, Planet Waves member and medical consultant Hal J. Cohen D.O., remarked that as long as non-physicians are “well trained and credentialed,” the system should work fine.

He added, “The key to having this function smoothly is appropriate backup.

“For instance, NP anesthesiologists have backup in the hospital. Relatively quick, nearby access to a hospital is needed here as well. If these above safeguards are in place, I think it’s a reasonable and relatively safe way to expand much needed services.”

California joins Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Hampshire in allowing nurse practitioners to perform this type of abortion, which uses a tube and suction. California and several other states already allow non-physicians to prescribe drugs for pregnancy termination.

According to The New York Times, at least 8,000 such abortions have been provided safely by nurse practitioners, certified midwife nurses and physician assistants since 2007, as part of a University of California, San Francisco, pilot program. Complication rates for non-physicians were comparable to those for surgeons (below 2%).

What Are We Modeling? One in Ten Youth Commit Sexual Violence

If the title alone does not disturb you, perhaps this will: according to The Los Angeles Times, “One in seven believed that he or she was ‘not at all responsible for what happened,’ and almost 4 in 10 said they considered the victim somewhat or completely responsible for the reported incident.”

The numbers come from the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, a non-profit organization based in San Clemente, Calif., that surveyed 1,058 teens and young adults. Nearly one in ten reported having been a perpetrator of sexual violence. The numbers are supported by bi-annual stats compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Image by Katherine Streeter for NPR.

Survey respondents ranged from 14-21 years old, with slightly less than half aged 14-17. One in four respondents answered that their last victim was not a dating partner; previous research in this area has focused mainly on violence among dating partners and in college-aged individuals acting outside the need for parental consent.

The research, published by JAMA Pediatrics earlier this week, focused on participants in the center’s ongoing Growing up with Media study, which began in 2006. Among its findings is that 17% of the perpetrators had looked at violent or X-rated material in the past year; only 3% of the non-perpetrators had done so.

Michele Ybarra, the center’s president and director of research, cautions that the “findings should be interpreted cautiously” and that the study should be replicated — but warns even more urgently of the need to emphasize “bystander” training and intervention in the nation’s secondary schools and colleges. “Such training emphasizes the responsibility of peers not only to discourage and prevent negative behavior within their group or community, but also to recognize, stop or report such behavior when they witness it,” according to the Times article.

It also underscores the need for adults to be aware of the attitudes, behavior and speech they are modeling for youth when it comes to sex and relationships — both in terms of what we do, what forms of media we bring into our homes or support with our consumer dollars, and what we say to teens directly.

“We absolutely need to have conversations with our kids about what healthy sex is and what unhealthy sex is,” says Ybarra. Parents could say, “‘If you have to convince your partner, maybe that’s not the right way to have sex.’ Even simple messages like that are important.”

Please note: Planet Waves does not endorse inebriation for inebriation’s sake (Pholus, we’re watching you!), nor does the publisher or his staff wish to upset or trigger anyone recovering from substance abuse. That said, Neptune, Dionysus and Bacchus have all endorsed this messaging campaign — and heck, at this point, taking almost any kind of action must be better than taking none. Thanks, Uranus and Pluto!

Drunk-Dialing Congress

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade — or, in this case, lemonade spiked with vodka while you call up members of Congress with your free hand.

A group called Revolution Messaging has designed a website for the purpose — drunkdialcongress.org — complete with talking points, drink recipes and an embedded calling platform so that all you have to do is type in your own phone number to be connected to a random member of Congress. The idea is based on the time-honored (or dishonored) ‘tradition’ for people under the influence to dial (or misdial) a friend, lover, ex or random stranger and weep, babble or rant embarrassingly into the receiver.

Why do this? The site notes, “As Members of Congress quickly returned from their final symbolic, non-effective and otherwise useless votes to avert a government shutdown, the heavy drinking began. Reports of our representatives getting plastered on the government’s dime — the one we have left — have come streaming in from witnesses all over Capitol Hill. Now’s your chance to tell your Representative what you really think of their actions.”

We are happy to offer once again one of our most popular products: the Planet Waves All-Access Pass for 2014. The All-Access Pass is for members who want access to everything we offer in a calendar year. In recent years our product line has grown considerably, and the response from our All-Access subscribers has been overwhelmingly positive. You can read about everything that’s included with an All-Access pass here. For those who can’t get enough Planet Waves astrology, it’s an unbeatable value. Plus, if you order now, we’ll include the rest of the readings that come out in 2013, and you’ll save $100.

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published the extended monthly horoscopes for October on Friday, Sept. 27. Inner Space for October was published Friday, Sept. 20. We published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Pisces Full Moon Tuesday, Sept. 16. Moonshine for the Libra New Moon published on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscopes on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space usually publishes the following Tuesday but for now it’s substituting for one Friday horoscope a month.

As mentioned, I’ve taken a week off from the horoscope. However, I’ve tried something I’ve considered for a long time — allowing the Oracle to choose interpretations from the vast database of prior horoscopes. The Oracle is a bit spooky responding to individual queries to individual questions; it works beautifully as a daily feature. So I thought I would try sign-by-sign. I made the queries myself on Thursday, asking for a weekly horoscope for each of the signs, one at a time. The returns are absolutely random, with about a 1 in 10,000 chance of any one entry being chosen. Some themes recur — the idea of ‘ethics’ shows up twice. There seems to be an emphasis on professional activities. I am curious how they work for you. Please let me know. — Eric Francis

The Oracle Horoscope, standing in for Weekly Horoscope 970, Oct. 11, 2013

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Reassurance has not come in quite the form you expected, but it has arrived and it’s here to stay. There is more news to come, in both personal and professional relationships, and the sometimes strange territory where they meet. It’s true that mixing personal involvement with work, or daring to allow a relationship to take on a purpose, are considered risky by many people, and often threaten to have sloppy results if things go wrong. The actual problem is people having no real sense of what others are thinking and feeling, and not bothering to ask. I suggest you take this opportunity to reveal yourself, and to make any long-overdue inquiries that could give you an excellent change of perspective.

Wondering about how astrology is influencing your life now? Eric has prepared a written and recorded reading for you that tells the story. You can get all 12 signs of LISTEN, your 2013 reading, for the special reduced price of only $29.95. LISTEN gives you a detailed reading, available immediately, covering work, relationships, personal growth and creativity.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Not everyone has to agree with you. Not even you have to agree with yourself all the time, but, sooner or later, you eventually work it out. What you may soon discover is just how prophetic you’ve been at predicting your own life, despite the mental and emotional challenges you’ve been through lately. On one level it may seem like you’ve been getting accurate images of your future. Looked at another way, you’ve been taking your visions and, by some mysterious process you may not understand, you’ve been making those images real. There’s a word for it: imagination.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — About six weeks ago, around the Virgo New Moon, you learned something about yourself. I reckon you had a revelation that gave you permission to take a certain risk, and your thoughts quite likely pointed to why that risk was the logical step to take. I want to remind you of that thought process, and let you know that you stand in the spot where the choice or action is possible. This may involve a relationship, one which you are ready to approach directly and with a level head. And it, too, is ready to approach you. Remember, though, that the true meeting is within yourself.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — I can see you writing in your notebook, or on a napkin, “Okay, this time I’m actually going nuts.” Well, okay, I hear you, but it’s not quite for sure. What’s happening is that a lot of internal energy is getting liberated (associated with Mars) at the same time a marvelously complicated situation is unfolding in your mental world. Conditions are such that the increased energy is amplifying your perception of what is happening, though the situation does warrant a close look. It is dangerous to be too invested in your own personal value system; that’s one message of this crisis. There are a lot of ways to accomplish the same goal, or meet the same need. One message of your current chart is to strive for diversity in your thinking, including what you learn from other cultures and people from other countries.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — If the astonishing run of luck, activity and inspiration the past few weeks has eased off, all that’s happened has indeed left you a different person. I would propose you figured out the importance of being grounded and building your dreams on solid foundations. Yet in truth, nothing has left the neighborhood or passed you by. Its form has changed, and in many respects, it’s become more accessible to thought (as inspiration sometimes is not). Also, you are starting to ask the important financial questions about the idea, and they do indeed have answers. Remember, if something doesn’t have a solution, it may not be a problem.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Close partners seem to be of two minds — or perhaps two bodies, in that people who usually vehemently disagree seem to be singing from the same book of hymns. It may be that the passing of yesterday’s lunar eclipse has released the tension in the air like a good thunderstorm, or that people went so far into polarized directions on their opinions that they have finally started to meet on the other side of the house. Everything that seemed so incredibly important yesterday can now fade happily into memory. So don’t focus so much on the details that you miss the surreal nature of the moment, when the cat lays down with the mouse. Resist fits of jealousy as well — these people all love you.

Attention Libras (and those with Libra rising or Moon): We’ve got big news for you if you’re a Libra, or were born with Libra as your rising or Moon sign: Your 2013-2014 birthday reading by Eric Francis is ready!

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Not all problems can be solved by money. Money can be very useful, but it is utterly useless without ideas to back it up. Isn’t it amazing that virtually any crisis, difficulty, struggle or puzzle can be solved with a single thought? In case you are trying to work something like this out (and people may be depending upon you to do so) here is the formula that will work for any difficulty this month. Consider your problem, any problem, and imagine that a mom and a small child (about five years old) are working on solving it together. There are some suggestions the mom has, and others that the child has, but between them they see the whole situation, and poof, the solution appears.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — People treat you fairly but that’s partly because you stand up for yourself. It’s also because you’ve long ago figured out that this elusive little thing in the world called ‘ethics’ is alive and well in your mind. You live in a world where there is actual right and wrong. This week may present you with an ethical dilemma that comes in various shades of gray. At the time it may not seem like there is a correct answer or solution. You may in the end have to make a decision that’s based on your intuition or do what feels right. You can trust yourself. With you the chances are that if it feels right it is.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — When seeking money, remember your ethics. When working for advancement in your career, remember your ethics. I say these things knowing we live in a world where the concept of ethics seems outmoded and even useless. I assure you, it’s not. Whatever the current trend in thought, no matter how popular, useful and effective it may be to forego questions of authenticity, or matters of right and wrong, there is such a thing as karma. We are all subject to it. I don’t think you’re an unethical person; rather, I see a spell of astrology where the ends might seem to justify the means. They do not. How you go about something, from the specific methods you use, to the motivation that drives you, is every bit as meaningful as what you accomplish. Indeed, the two are so closely related as to be the same thing: if you notice you’re being driven by some form of ambition, you might want to check your goal and make sure that it’s really something you want. For an extended phase of your life, you are being granted a mantle of power. You have an aura of authority, and that connotes responsibility. I suggest you live like your telephone is tapped and like you’re being followed around by a television crew. Live as if you are actually accountable for your actions. You are. You are also accountable for the constructive, creative and sincere deeds to your credit, but on that particular theme, I suggest you let others do the talking.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — A variety of unusual factors are conspiring to push your professional life ahead by light years. These are recent developments and they’re impossible to miss. You may at times feel like you’re losing control of the process, but that’s part of what happens at times of big change, and part of how you know you’re actually there. Within the experience, you have a lot of room to make several very specific decisions about what you want to be doing and how. You may need to negotiate with certain people a little bit — but you’re in the perfect position to do so.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Things seem to be going well. But how well is well enough? Usually we have no idea how good life is until we express our wealth, personal gifts or success in some tangible way. Misers are miserable simply because they withhold themselves. The prevailing logic of the world says that to give something is to give it up. I would propose that in this case, to give what you have is to keep it. And it gets better yet. The accompanying discovery is that you have far more than you ever imagined. Take this on the most private level (rather than business or social) and you’re more likely to see what I mean. Your instincts are telling you that you need to express an emotional reality of some kind, and express it from the deepest and most generous place within you. It may feel like a tremendous personal risk. More good will come of it than you think.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Apply creativity to everything you touch, thought you think and person you know. That’s how to access the miracle no matter what situation you find yourself in. Living is an art; loving is a science; emotion is a craft in which we sail the waters of feeling and passion. You can afford to take absolutely any chance you want as long as you keep your mind in the most alert state available. This may seem like a great responsibility but the alternative is far too dull to seriously consider.

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Wake Up! Uranus, Pluto and the Libra New Moon

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Dear Friend and Reader:

The ongoing government shutdown drama was punctuated by the shooting of a woman who led police on a high-speed chase from the White House to Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon. She was shot and killed by police near the Capitol Building. Though she was unarmed, she injured two police officers, and had a one-year-old child in the car with her.

Back off. We are on furlough and coming to work anyway. Photo by Alex Leary/Tampa Bay Times.

Authorities are saying nothing about her motives, if they know anything. We are being told that she had no criminal record or history of violence, that she was suffering from postpartum depression and that she recently fell down a flight of stairs.

She’s identified as Miriam Carey, 34 years old, and from Stamford, CT. She was the same age as Aaron Alexis, the named perpetrator in the Navy Yard shooting just over two weeks ago.

Witnesses and the police say she tried to ram a barricade at the White House, and was ordered to stop and get out of the car. She then struck an officer with her car before leading the police and the Secret Service on an 80 mph chase down Pennsylvania Ave. to the White House, where she was shot. A second officer was also struck by her vehicle.

Meanwhile, the conspiracy websites are running with this seemingly true fact: Thursday, Oct. 3, was the final day of an interagency training exercise “hosted by the Joint Force Headquarters — National Capital Region. It brings federal, state, local and municipal agencies together to realistically test interagency operability during a crisis impacting the District of Columbia.” There does seem to be a pattern of training exercises coinciding with nearby events of a similar nature. That kind of detail only serves to instill doubt that the event in question actually happened the way we are told it happened.

The second shooting in Washington, DC in as many weeks did a good job of shaking up Congress. The Capitol was put on lockdown and a shelter in place order was issued. At that time, it was not known whether the gunfire was a shooter or from the police.

Yet the shakeup apparently did little to get the contingent of congressional members who are holding the country hostage to change their game, at least so far.

We know that story by now: since Tuesday morning, per mainstream liberal news word of mouth, a group of fringe Republicans, aided by John Boehner, have been throwing a tantrum over the possibility that a lot of uninsured people will suddenly be able to get medical insurance coverage. They’ve issued a series of demands including defunding or delaying the Affordable Care Act (because it’s so terrible, the very week that its public access services opened up), claiming that if this does not happen, they will not allow Congress to pass what’s called a continuing resolution (CR) to allow the government to do business.

Speaker of the House John Boehner is holding up the whole government by using a procedural maneuver. A law allowing the government to re-open would likely pass if it went to the House floor. Image via CBS News.

The current crises may soon be followed by another: the federal government reaches its borrowing limit, called the debt ceiling, in two weeks. Congress must raise this, a routine action, so that the country can pay its past bills. While some Republican pols are getting on TV and saying this is about a balanced budget, actually it’s about the U.S. having the borrowing power to pay its old bills.

Many are concerned that the same contingent currently enforcing a government shutdown will also push the country into default on its obligations, something that has never happened before in American history.

The twisted part is that the shutdown is being enforced not by a majority of the House of Representatives, but rather by the use of a procedural rule being invoked by Speaker of the House John Boehner, preventing the issue from getting to the floor for an up or down vote.

There is apparently a majority of congressional reps willing to end the showdown, when you add the Democrats to the few remaining moderate Republicans — but Boehner is blocking the issue from getting to the floor.
Then if you watch cable news, you will see a parade of Republicans turning this around and claiming that Pres. Obama is the one who is not negotiating.

This complicated high-tension legislative drama — to which was added a police chase, and the suspect killed at the foot of Capitol Hill, the very spot where the government shutdown is happening — unfolded with absurd precision as the Sun squared Pluto when the government could not do normal business, and as the Sun opposed Uranus on Thursday as the shooting took place.

It is tempting to see these incidents as separate, but they are joined by the astrology — the aspect between Uranus and Pluto, with which the Earth and Sun are now aligned. The New Moon will happen within this alignment later Friday (today). We don’t know the woman’s motives and we may never, yet on the most basic symbolic level, her attempt to bash through the barriers can be interpreted as an expression of the rage and frustration that many people are feeling toward government.

Pluto in Capricorn Rising, The Sun opposite Uranus

The chart for the shooting is rich, and seems to provide a map to the whole scenario unfolding in DC at the moment. Ultra slow-moving Pluto in Capricorn was rising to the degree at the moment shots rang out. That kind of ominous placement makes me think we got a mitigated version of the karma involved — something a lot worse could have happened.

Pluto in its current sign placement is about the inevitability of change to society’s most established institutions; we have seen plenty of this since 2008 when the transit began. Where there is inevitable change, there are people who resist change, and that creates tension, and can cause fear to spread. And Pluto was the planet rising to the degree (which lasts about four minutes out of every 24 hours) — that is emphasis.

The grand cross in the cardinal signs was exactly aligned with the horizon at the moment of the gunshots. On the left side of the chart, Pluto is rising to the degree. The Sun is opposite Uranus, square the horizon. Jupiter is in the 7th house.

Meanwhile, the Sun was exactly — within 11 arc minutes, a small fraction of a degree — opposite Uranus. It’s challenging to think of a way to place greater emphasis on the Uranus-Pluto square in one chart. Sun opposite Uranus is high-voltage, it can be erratic and there is the surprise element.

This happened just one day ahead of the Libra New Moon opposite Uranus and square Pluto (exact Friday evening in PDT/EDT and early Saturday morning in Europe). Also in the mix is Typhon, another ultra slow-mover (in Libra, close to the Moon and the Sun) and Jupiter (in Cancer), which is providing protection, emotionalism or both, depending on how you look at it.

Making things more interesting in the shooting chart is Mercury in Scorpio snugly on the 10th house cusp — the government angle, in the sign of death and taxes — exactly what was happening at the time.

Mercury is about to make a conjunction to Saturn in Scorpio. That Mercury-Saturn conjunction can be frustrating, but amidst plenty of chaos and confusion, it is demanding inner attention.

In particular, it’s calling for emotional maturity of a kind that we don’t see very often. Being spiritual will not substitute (if we are looking for an answer on the level of human relations, honesty about sex, vis a vis Scorpio, would be a lot more valuable).

Being intractable will not substitute. The government angle in the chart for an attempted attack on the government reveals what I can only describe as a parent-child dynamic — Mercury in Scorpio, the inquisitive, astute child, coming up against Saturn, the emotionally frozen parent.

What is necessary in this situation is some form of actual communication and adult behavior. But the Scorpio alignment is so cloaked in secrecy or veiled in taboo that it’s going to be challenging to find that patience and maturity or go through the layers to get to the underlying issue.

All Republicans are Not Necessarily Crazy, but They are Scared

The Uranus-Pluto square is, if nothing else, a harbinger of change. When people are scared of change, the sensation of all that is moving, developing and crumbling around them is exaggerated.

One documented expression of Uranus-Pluto aspects is the desire for radical change. We might be wondering where the activist spirit is; at the moment, most of it is coming from those who cling to the past — we are witnessing a passionate desire for the liberation from progress.

In the Sixties, young people staged protests against the government, the draft and an illegal war. Now the government is staging a protest against the people. Photo by Robert Lamb.

When Bob Dylan wrote the line, “There was music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air,” he was describing the sensation of what it was like to go out during the peak of the 1960s, when there was a Uranus-Pluto conjunction happening (this happens less than once per century).

Yet the revolution is not always waged by those who would set humanity free. Under Uranus-Pluto aspects there’s always a mix of influences. In many ways the Sixties were full of breakthroughs and liberation; and in the same era, the Kennedy brothers were shot, as were Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King.

This really is not about the pendulum swinging one way or the other; Uranus-Pluto is always a blend of elemental forces operating in society. This is described to some extent by the sign or signs involved. Uranus is in Aries and Pluto is in Capricorn. These are high-energy signs, both on the cardinal cross of the zodiac, which is like a vast crossroads of the private and the public (associated with the Aries Point).

On the Uranus in Aries side of the square, we have the illusion of a ‘we’ (Uranus can represent groups, but that’s unlikely in Aries, the sign of ‘I am’). But it’s easy to pretend that you’re with others, or speaking on their behalf. Uranus is, more often, presenting itself as the erratic individual, willing to stage an ambush and/or use a group for its own private purposes.

One pitfall of Uranus in Aries is the obsession with glamour and attention. Another is militancy. Both Uranus and Aries can be willing to get things done by any means — and there will be fewer exceptions when the two are in the same place.

Many are feeling the pressure or the need to reinvent themselves. A makeover is a lot easier. Photo: Oprah.com.

Another potential issue with Uranus in Aries is the willingness to cheat or connive. At its best, Uranus in Aries could bring a spirit of inventiveness or self-recreation.

Many people are feeling that and don’t know quite where to go with it. Pressure from society has forced so many people to become so stiff, the concept of “personal reinvention” can feel like their head exploding. Better to opt for a makeover.

The shadow element of that is a kind of bipolar narcissism, similar to the shadow element of Pluto in Leo. So we have a personal dilemma here: how to express one’s existence, one’s sense of ‘I am’. Is this going to be in a purely self-serving way, or a way that is inclusive and co-creative?

On the Pluto in Capricorn side of the square, we have an image of the inevitability of change, in particular, enforced changes influencing the kinds of institutions and organizations represented by Capricorn — corporations, banks, governments, religious institutions (a form of corporation). Pluto does not determine the direction or quality of change — only that it will happen.

Depending on how it’s directed, Pluto can be reactionary and destructive, or it can be evolutionary and creative. You might say that Pluto presents people with the evolutionary dilemma, including the opportunity for people to use what they know, and to act as if they know it — or the opportunity to seize power in what looks like an unconscious way but which is in fact fully sentient.

Politics is a glamour profession because it involves extolling the individual ego as triumphant hero. If you don’t want to do that, and/or have your face on buttons and billboards, or worship the greatest guy in the world, stay out of the game.

Today there is an event that brings the whole story together — a conjunction of the Moon and the Sun in Libra. This is potentially an image of harmony and, at least, an image of human contact. There is a quest for fairness — in relationships.

But those relationships are set in a context: the New Moon is opposite Uranus in Aries (illustrating the glamorous egotism that makes actual relating impossible).

The New Moon is square Pluto (demanding authentic inner vision and the willingness to shift and evolve emotional patterns). Pluto in Capricorn is making it nearly impossible to be beholden to the past, no matter how much someone tries to cling to it, obsess over it or inflict it on others. The more one clings to the shore, the more one feels the rushing of the river. The more you cling to the past, the more violently you will feel the passage of time and the progress that it can bring.

The Moon and Sun are also square Jupiter in Cancer (a reminder that you have to do more than wish to get what you want; and that emotional presence is about giving and receiving). There is a reminder to keep your sense of scale.

And finally the New Moon is conjunct the Pluto-like minor planet Typhon, which in this expression is the inner storm blowing inside everyone, or perhaps the inner monster we harbor who is always on the prowl — think of this as the impulse to fear.

Put this all together and we get a real wake-up call. And that, cousins, is where we stand at this particular here-and-now.

Lovingly,

Note to Readers: News items below are written and edited by a team consisting of Anne Craig, Eric Francis, Amanda Painter, Susan Scheck and Carol van Strum, with research assistance by the Planet Waves staff. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, which goes over each edition on Thursday night — and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Our editions are also proofread and fact-checked by Jessica Keet.

Libra New Moon and Government Sociopaths

As the Sun moved into a square with Pluto earlier in the week, the lunatic fringe that’s trying to take over the government sort of succeeded in doing so. In describing the Uranus-Pluto square, many times I’ve called our era the anti-Sixties.

It’s not the kids who have protests; it’s a bunch of rich old white men with government cars, government health insurance, nice government salaries, up to four government-sponsored offices each, complete with staffs, and very easy jobs, who stage a building takeover. Well, a little more than a building — a lot of federal departments.

My chart of the Libra New Moon, used for this week’s horoscope and for the Libra birthday reading, showing the positions of Typhon in Libra, asteroids Industria in Capricorn and Hera in Aries, plus Kronos and Cyllarus in Cancer. Many of these points add to the grand cross.

If a bunch of anti-fracking activists tried anything of the sort, they would be carted off in handcuffs before you could say, “Don’t tase me, bro.”

It takes a combination of personality traits to do this kind of thing — immaturity, extreme insensitivity, an agenda and a God complex. Being stupid helps.

As I’ve been writing lately, this is one of those Really Interesting Weeks — which comes to a crescendo with the Libra New Moon today at about 8:35 pm EDT. Accompanying this, there will be a number of surprises. The New Moon is opposite Uranus, who is the king of the unexpected. In Aries he’s also the queen of glam — and a lot of what you see going on in politics is a twisted kind of image-driven mania: the drive of the politician to survive.

We will see how that works with so much self-destructive activity. It’s possible you’re seeing events that look more like an explosion than a power struggle.

Meanwhile, among other current events is the approach of Mercury to Saturn in Scorpio. Mercury ingressed Scorpio recently, where it will be for the next two months, due to the retrograde between Oct. 21 and Nov. 10.

The conjunction to Saturn looks like the revelation of secrets, curiosity about taboo subject matter and hot talk. Try it and see. Find someone you trust, who likes to whisper wholly inappropriate things to you, and start talking. Say what you would never say. You may find yourself inspired to do what you never thought you would do.

Venus is still in Scorpio, and the fact that she’s drifting out to the edge of that sign is suggesting that edgy activities will be all the more fun. With so many planets currently in water signs — in order of speed, Mercury, Venus, the lunar apogee (also known as Black Moon Lilith), Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron and Neptune, we are living through a moment that’s all about feeling.

Of course you don’t want to let this run away with you, or suck you down the whirlpool. Grounding is essential right now, with all this water in the sky and not so much earth; in fact most of our earth-grounding is coming from Pluto in Capricorn, which is saying: focus on change and you will keep your feet on the ground.

The Idiot’s Guide to Creating An Economic Tailspin

At midnight on Sept. 30, the federal government shut down for the first time in almost 18 years, closing national parks, putting some 800,000 employees on unpaid leave, impairing the functioning of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and numerous other agencies, and making the websites of most government agencies non-functional.

Consequences will continue to unfold over the next couple of weeks as programs like Head Start and WIC (supplemental food assistance for women and young children) run out of state-level funds. The estimated cost to the taxpayers is $300 million a day.

Rand Paul’s coffee klatch on the Capitol steps. The boys had fun talking NASCAR and baseball until Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) made them get serious about the shutdown.

Congressional Republicans, who got us here out of terror over the possibility that grateful health-care recipients might join in rejecting the Republican agenda, spent Wednesday offering up piecemeal proposals that would re-open war memorials and fund cancer treatment for sick kids.

A growing number of them began to break ranks and criticize their ‘kamikaze’ colleagues from the Tea Party detachment. Kentucky Republican Rand Paul suggested everybody drink coffee together.

Irish coffee, maybe. Reports surfacing on Twitter over the weekend, suggesting that more than a few representatives were fortifying themselves with booze as the clock ticked toward shutdown, received hardly any follow-up coverage aside from a mention by Rachel Maddow and articles in London’s Daily Mail.

Democrats want Congress to pass a ‘clean’ continuing resolution that will reopen the government across the board without restrictions on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which was passed more than three years ago. Republicans have failed more than 40 times to overturn the law through normal channels. ACA websites, which went live October 1, have been swarmed by people seeking health-care options.

Analysts are pointing to gerrymandered districts, in which Republicans are unlikely to face any challenges (except from primary opponents even further to the right), as one reason the Tea Party crew remains confident. Wall Street interests, meanwhile, are exasperated with the shutdown, leading to speculation that deep-pocket interests have lost control over the Tea Party they instigated and nurtured.

Certainly the far-right scream machine that has been ramping up the fear of Creeping Socialism ever since Obama took office bears considerable blame for the grandstanding now taking place, from the Ted Cruz marathon speech to the (possibly drunken) battle cry of “Let’s roll!” heard on the House floor over the weekend.

Meanwhile, business interests — and President Obama as well — are saying that the real crisis will come in about two weeks if Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling, which could cause an economic tailspin that would crush the modest progress made toward recovery from the 2008 recession.

Way to crash the plane, dudes.

New Hope for Iran-U.S. Relations?

New developments in the past week between Iran and the United States offer hope for new beginnings in a relationship that’s been awful since Iran shed its U.S.-backed Shah, and worsened when the second President Bush declared Iran part of the “Axis of Evil.”

Iran’s Pres. Hassan Rouhani addressing the 68th U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2013. Photo: Reuters.

In his first appearance before the UN, President Hassan Rouhani emphasized that his government had no intention of developing weapons-grade plutonium and would allow inspections to verify compliance, in exchange for lifting some of the economic sanctions that Iran has labored under since 1979.

Back in 2009, when official Iranian election results gave the win to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his reformist opponent, the streets of Tehran filled with students and intellectuals claiming that the election had been stolen; before the government shut down their social media options, many of the protesters sent messages to the American people expressing their desire to be better friends.

Rouhani’s olive branch is supported by 230 out of 290 members of the Iranian parliament and by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as the majority of his people. Although a few Iranian Tea Partiers did hurl eggs and a shoe in his direction, many more were said to be celebrating. The fact that an Iranian attack on Israel would be suicidal is well understood on the street.

Rouhani and Obama spoke on the phone early this week, the first dialogue between heads of state from these two countries in more than thirty years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promptly declared the whole thing a scam, calling Rouhani a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and a “cult leader.”

Iranian vice president Massoumeh Ebtekhar published a piece in The Guardian on Wednesday underlining Iran’s sincerity and commitment to a peaceful way out of the stalemate. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that to completely reject the possibility of better relations with Iran would be “diplomatic malpractice of the worst order,” adding that actions, not words, would be the measure of Iran’s good intent.

Plans are underway for a mid-October meeting in Geneva between high-ranking officials from Iran and the five member nations of the UN Security Council.

Banking on the Consumer’s Right to Know for GMO Labeling Win

GMO-labeling foes Monsanto and DuPont are facing off against Dr. Bronner’s and other “right to know” advocates at the polls — again — this time in Washington state. The three companies are the major donors in record-setting fundraising campaigns on either side of Initiative 522, a GMO labeling bill very similar to one that failed last November in California.

Due to multimillion-dollar contributions by Monsanto and DuPont, the No on I-522 Committee has taken second place all-time for fundraising by a campaign opposing a statewide ballot measure. When combined, totals from both sides in late September pushed the campaigns into the top five of collective fundraising totals.

The No on I-522 committee has so far raised $11.6 million from eight donors. Monsanto and DuPont gave single contributions of $4.6 million and $3.2 million, respectively.

Meanwhile the Yes on I-522 committee has raised about $4.4 million to date, according to Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps has contributed about $1.5 million. Other contributors to the Yes on I-522 campaign include Mercola.com and Nature’s Path Foods USA, according to the organization’s website.

Both sides have started airing television spots that echo some of the same rhetoric as California’s campaign.

While it’s unlikely the Yes side will be able to match the No side’s money, it’s counting on the strength of one argument to win the measure: consumers’ right to know.

“They [opponents] can’t take on the right to know, because it’s a loser for them,” said David Bronner, CEO of the organic soap company.

The fearless Elizabeth Warren now seems to be cooperating in the effort to block the rights of states to identity GMO foods for consumers.

Last week we reported that Elizabeth Warren was supporting a measure that would, in effect, ban states from being ble to require labeling when she revived a 2001 “draft guidance” by the FDA. A guidance is like the FDA giving non-mandatory advice, but it has the effect of blocking states from over-riding it with their own policies.

According to an FDA website, a “guidance document represents FDA’s current thinking on a topic. They do not create or confer any rights for or on any person and do not operate to bind FDA or the public.”

It’s a federal voluntary labeling plan — one that plays right into the hands of the biotech and big food industries because it has the effect of blocking local state policies on the same issue.

Currently, states have the right to enact GMO labeling laws precisely because the FDA has not formally ruled on GMO labeling. Without the finalized guidance, companies would have to use stricter state mandates if they become law, like the ones proposed in Washington and California.

We’re wondering why Warren — who was elected senator in Massachusetts this year on the strength of her reputation for consumer advocacy — is suddenly doing a 180, siding with those who would keep consumers from knowing what’s really in their food. Has she been persuaded by Monsanto et al — now that she’s on Capitol Hill — that too much knowledge is a bad thing?

Fracking Wastewater Found Highly Radioactive In Study

The fracking nightmare continues, reflecting Saturn in Scorpio dredging up toxic (even deadly) watery secrets — while oil and gas companies sidestep the Clean Water Act and other environmental directives. A study published on Wednesday found river sediments from wastewater downstream of a Pennsylvania fracking plant contained 200 times more radium than in mud that’s naturally present upstream of the plant. In high doses radium can cause cancer and other long-term health effects.

Water contaminated by fracking operations in Pennsylvania. Photo: Melanie Blanding.

Radioactive waste levels found in the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility are higher than those found in some radioactive waste dumps, according to Avner Vengosh, a co-author of the study and a professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University.

They exceed the minimum threshold the federal government uses to qualify a disposal site as a radioactive dumpsite, he said.

Levels of salinity in the plant’s discharge were up to 200 times higher than what is allowed under the Clean Water Act — and 10 times saltier than ocean water, Vengosh said. But fracking wastewater is exempt from that law, he said.

Researchers say they are sure the contaminants are coming from fracking because the Josephine facility treats this oil and gas wastewater, and the water contains the same chemical signature as rocks in the Marcellus Shale Formation, Vengosh said.

“The occurrence of radium is alarming — this is a radioactive constituent that is likely to increase rates of genetic mutation” and poses “a significant radioactive health hazard for humans,” said William Schlesinger, a researcher and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in Millbrook, New York.

In Rare Move, Top Generals Told to Retire

Citing negligence and a “pattern of failure,” the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps told two two-star generals on Monday, Sept. 30, that they were relieved of command, the first time such high-ranking personnel have been let go since the Vietnam War era.

Charles Gurganus and Gregg Sturdevant had been in charge of Marine operations at Camp Bastion, a NATO base in Afghanistan. In September of 2012, fifteen Taliban operatives dressed in U.S. Army uniforms entered the base via an unguarded entrance.

Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, left, and Maj. Gen. Gregg A. Sturdevant, who have been ‘asked to retire’.

Two Marines were killed, eight wounded, and $200 million worth of NATO Harrier jets destroyed.

Patrols by Marines and British soldiers around the perimeter of the base had been cut back as troop withdrawals proceeded; the guardhouse had been turned over to Tongan soldiers. General Gurganus investigated the security failure and expressed his opinion that the insurgents “just got lucky.”

Not so much, decided the high command, saying that security should have remained a higher priority than it evidently was, especially at the same base where an Afghani translator had rammed a van into a plane carrying Leon Panetta, then Secretary of Defense, and attempted to run over Gurganus himself. During the investigation of the September 2012 attack, officers testified that Marines who could have been walking perimeter control were taking online classes or extra workouts instead.

A Washington Post article about the lack of security on the night of the attack triggered the renewed investigation.

Despite the widespread use of the word “fired” in reporting the story, “asked to resign” is the more accurate phrase. The Secretary of the Navy is now responsible for determining the rank at which the two will be retiring. If allowed to retire as major generals, each will still receive an annual pension of $145,000.

War: Pentagon Goes on Eve-of-Shutdown Shopping Spree

What to do to keep busy in the Pentagon the night before a governmental shutdown that will furlough 400,000 Defense Department employees? Why, spend more than $5 billion on military-related contracts, of course.

But honey, the old one was getting shabby — and this was such a great deal! The adorable MH-6 Little Bird helicopter; photo: militaryfactory.com

The end-of-the-fiscal-year action is an annual occurrence, but sometimes context is everything — and Monday night the number of contracts awarded jumped from 14 on Sept. 3, the start of the work month, to 94.

Among the items purchased in the weapons shopping spree were: $2.5 billion worth of “various weapons system spare parts” used by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, from aircraft-engine maker Pratt & Whitney; $40 million worth of Finnish hand grenades that allow “users to choose the level of blast needed for the situation”; and spy gear for the Air Force, including satellites, drones and drug-dealer hunting planes.

Defense-related research was funded, too: the Air Force Research Lab gave Johns Hopkins University $7 million to develop software that can scan raw communications signals and images “to detect significant ‘events’ in real time,” and Boeing received a $49 million contract to upgrade the Army’s MH-6 Little Bird helicopter.

But don’t think for a second the Pentagon ignored ‘the little people’: janitors at Navy medical centers in San Diego got $9 million added to their existing nine-figure contract; and militaries in other countries will receive $200 million worth of Interceptor-brand body armor made by Federal Prisons Industries (perpetuating the exploitation of the incarcerated, one foreign war at a time!).

It’s ok, though, since nine companies are sharing $900 million to figure out alternative energy projects to keep the Army Corps of Engineers busy. Apparently it’s easy to be green in D.C. — as long as it means giving money to the military.

Peace: Yousafzai, Snowden Nominated for Human Rights Award

Edward Snowden, the American NSA contract worker who blew the lid off his employer’s widespread spying activities, and Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl who was attacked by the Taliban for promoting education and women’s rights, are both finalists for the Sakharov Prize.

Malala Yousafzai, left, and Edward Snowden.

Awarded by the European Parliament, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought honors “exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression,” according to the parliament’s website.

The front-runner is widely seen as Yousafzai, who was nominated by six different parties.

Yousafzai spoke for the first time last July at the UN Youth Assembly, saying, “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” and “There was a time when women asked men to stand up for women’s rights. This time we will do it for ourselves.”

Snowden was nominated by Europe’s Green party and a leftist group, GUE/NGL.

“The surveillance of whole populations, rather than individuals, threatens to be the greatest human rights challenge of our time,” he said in a statement that was read aloud in the Parliament on Monday, according to The New York Times.

The Koch Brothers Don’t Want You to Have Health Care

The Koch brothers — oil oligarchs trying to dismantle government to escape regulation — have been funding the anti-Obamacare camp for months, if not years. Now their tactics are hitting people (and especially young adults) where they’re most vulnerable: their rape fears.

Logo for Koch Brothers Exposed.

You may have already seen the two creepiest anti-Affordable Care Act ads out there. In one, a disturbing Uncle Sam pops up between a woman’s feet, clutching a speculum, as she lies on an exam table in stirrups; in another, he arrives behind a man who’s curled up awaiting a prostate exam, donning a latex glove.

The ads do exactly what they are intended to: prey on anyone who finds these basic medical procedures even a little uncomfortable, upsetting or invasive. “Don’t let government play doctor,” the ad ends. “Opt out of Obamacare.”

The ads conflate government involvement with rape, distracting viewers from the fact that any form of universal health care coverage requires intergenerational participation to be sure the system works for all. It’s like how everyone who works pays into Medicare to support those who need it, on the understanding that the next generation will do the same, and that those now dependent on these services have already paid for things like public education for younger generations.

Generation Opportunity, the supposed youth political group responsible for creating the ads, has made it their mission to derail the Affordable Care Act by killing off enrollment by healthy Millennials. According to an Alternet article by Marty Kaplan, along with the TV ads “the Kochs are funding a propaganda blitz at town fairs, tailgate parties and on 20 campuses, where pizza and lies will be handed out to young Americans.”

More like ‘Generation Opportunist’. And they’re just one of many groups that either receive significant donations from the Kochs to kill off Obamacare, or which are outright front groups for their economic policy bullying, raping and pillaging.

Who defines what counts as artistic collaboration — those involved or those watching? Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but music lives in all parts of the body. Video still: Bottom Percussion 2.

Getting to the Bottom of Things, Drummer-Style

When the band Patax released its first Bottom Percussion video on YouTube, some people loved the playful ingenuity of Spanish jazz fusion percussionist Jorge Perez as he drummed on four toned (and tuned) derrieres. Others leveled accusations of misogyny and objectification at him for apparently treating women as objects. But was he? Or were viewers making gross assumptions based on partial information?

In response, Patax released a short secondary video showing that all was not as it seemed — then quickly realized the conversation swirling around issues of creativity, sexism, racism, degradation and more deserved a more comprehensive, beautiful and articulate response. Be sure to watch all the way to the end.

Government Shutdown, Libra New Moon and The Mars Effect

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I cover the shutdown of the U.S. government [link to chart on Facebook here]. Is this really a shutdown? How is it happening and how long is it going to last?

Erica Quitzow played Backstage Studio Productions on Sept. 20, 2013. Photo by Eric Francis.

I also cover the Libra New Moon [view chart here] that happens today, with the Sun fully involved in the Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto-Typhon grand cross in the cardinal signs.

And I also introduce the 2014 annual edition of Planet Waves — called The Mars Effect. It will focus on Mars retrograde in Libra — the defining (extended) event of 2014. This will include written and audio readings for all 12 signs. It also includes articles and resources. I describe my method of casting and reading the astrology and explain why my readings work so well.

The annual is a Planet Waves tradition — this year is my 14th time doing the project (the first was in 1999, so it’s something that started in the 20th century). Before we offer it separately, we’re offering it as part of the All-Access Pass — our “you can have it all” option.

My musical guest is the magnificent Erica Quitzow, who performed recently at Backstage Studio Productions in Kingston, NY. I play three of Erica’s songs. Here is her Facebook page.

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Weekly horoscope for Friday, Oct. 4, 2013 #969 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Look closer at what seem to be contradictory demands within a relationship, whether they’re being made on you, or you figure out you’re making them on someone else. Your chart suggests that you want perfect freedom for yourself and perfect fidelity from someone else. This would work in a perfect world where we understand that fidelity and honoring freedom are the same thing. It works less well when those you care about have to compensate for your position, make allowances and ultimately put up with some hypocrisy because they love you. However, sooner or later their goodwill may run out, and you may be seeing signs of it wearing thin already. To solve this, listen to what partners and loved ones say about what they need — and take the initiative to provide that. If a request or desire leads you to feel threatened or hemmed in, consider the specifics carefully, and by that, I mean in a way that is fair — as they see it, not just as you see it.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — On the outside you appear to be in a “get serious” moment, yet what you’re doing internally is trying to resolve a paradox. Taking things earnestly will help resolve the part about exterior boundaries and mutually agreed-upon rules of conduct. To work out the inner level will call for some subtlety of self-observation. You’re likely to see various unconscious patterns show up in your relationships — even things you thought you addressed years ago. The fact that they are showing up now does not mean that you’re back where you started. It means you get a new opportunity to look at them and make a decision about what they mean and whether you want to let them go. The theme once again is who has adult power in your life — and whether you’ve taken this authority in a meaningful way. As you do all of this, Friday’s New Moon in Libra is a reminder to keep things on the practical level. Look for real things you can do that are designed to get a noticeable, useful result.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Don’t overthink a work- or health-related problem — use your intuition (there is such a thing, and you have access to it) and your creativity (it’s good for more than making collages). I know there are many jobs, and tasks within those jobs, that seem routine — seemingly subject to no form of inspiration. There are plenty of bosses who want things done in the most straightforward way. The end product, therefore, must match what the task requires, but how you get there is your own process. One thing your charts are suggesting is your having access to information you might not be in line for, especially with the help of someone in a position of authority. If you’re taken into someone’s confidence, treat that as a sacred honor and protect your source. For you who already have considerable responsibility on your hands, the solution may come from someone younger and less experienced who just happens to know something or who can see the problem in a way that it can be solved.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Someone wrote to me recently and said there’s been too much mention of sex in the Cancer horoscope. Sex relates to just about everything, especially the things that people come to astrologers for the most often: money, creativity and relationships. Your chart is becoming increasingly focused on the topic rather than less so. Mercury is now in Scorpio (sex, emotional depth and transformation), which is your 5th solar house (erotic play and creativity). Soon it’s going to be retrograde in that sign, meaning it’s going to spend close to two months in one of the most sensitive regions of your chart. There are many messages here, especially this: what you think has nothing to do with sex is all about sex. And this: get ready to learn some things about your past that might surprise you. The most pressing question is: what do you need to feel safe, as a lover, as a member of a family or household, and as a person making your contribution on the planet? In two words, the answer is: no secrets.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The astrology of the moment suggests you could get involved in nearly anything with anyone — so use some discernment. The same astrology is also granting you leverage to open doors and the insight to look through situations, figure out what information is relevant and make decisions that have actual impact on your world and the world around you. It would help if you tuned in to the scale of your situation — to see what you’re working with, who and what is influencing you, and who you’re influencing. You seem to be walking a fine line, though you’re on much more solid ground than you may imagine, with many more options than you may think. The main asset I suggest you cultivate is flexibility. Start in small ways. Change your routines a little. Travel home a different way than you went someplace. Look from side to side instead of straight ahead. There is interesting and even useful information coming from all directions. Where any one task, project or commitment is concerned, you have many more options than you think.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Think of self-worth as human currency that you can trade for other experiences and opportunities. Well, you don’t really trade it, because you’ll end up with more of the stuff when you’ve accomplished something meaningful to you. Yet it is similar to credit in that the ability to ‘pay’ for an experience (which means to come through for yourself, to stand up to a challenge or to learn something that enriches your life) is what keeps you in the game. Start with the strength to dare. Allow yourself to experiment with something you think is over your level of talent or ability, or that you might not have the confidence to try. Then go for it. I don’t mean to say that all self-esteem is based on what you achieve, but I will say that a significant dimension of it is. This is especially true if you achieve something you thought you couldn’t do or didn’t have the guts to dare. Then you allow that to become a life lesson — or said another way, something you learn about yourself.

Attention Libras (and those with Libra rising or Moon): To get the best price on your 2013 birthday reading by Eric Francis, pre-order now here. Pre-ordering gets you $10 off the published price, and we’ll email the access info to you as soon as it is ready.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You stand at a crossroads, on a scale that you may not even dare imagine. It’s an inner intersection that joins together where you’ve come from with where you are now, and several potential realities that you have the option to manifest. Yet lately you may feel like it’s more of a crosshairs than a meeting of avenues. That sense of impending risk, danger or challenge is a slightly veiled sensation of your potential coming into maturity. This doesn’t necessarily arrive with the promise of how wonderful life will be when you step into a dream. It might arrive with a hint of how daunting it is to confront the truth of your own talent, or the potential to realize a desire. Whether you’re confronting a question, embarking on a mission or freeing yourself from a commitment that no longer works for you, your astrology is describing a sense of awe at what is possible. Now the key is to see this as something inside yourself rather than external to you.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Mercury in your sign is a wakeup call, which means an invitation to use your intelligence. You might be thinking that the mental and emotional challenges you face are beyond your ability to handle them, though this seems to be more about the influence of something from the past rather than a proven truth about who you are right now. How you handle this is a matter of psychological perspective. If you feel overwhelmed, you may be feeling like a child who is being asked to stand up to an adult, or who’s being expected to grow up too young. In a sense that is (or at least was) true, though the ‘adult’ is something that you’ve internalized. One of its messages is that change is impossible. Yet while that voice is whispering to you, you seem to be secretly dreaming of revolution. It is indeed when change seems impossible that revolution is the most necessary.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — I am sure you’ve had the insight that the world would be a happier place if more of us were as interested in what we could contribute to a situation as what we could get out of it. With Jupiter, your ruling planet, coming under focus in Cancer (the sign of nurturing) and in your solar 8th house (that of exchange), the question of what you offer and receive in your relationships is a top priority. Jupiter is suggesting that you have a lot to offer, and that at the same time, if you’re open, plenty is coming your way. You can therefore afford to be generous. Yet if you’re feeling resistant to sharing yourself in some way, I would propose that it’s the result of a deeper anxiety: something hinting at your relationship to existence. It’s difficult to get access to the source of this kind of issue, though you have it now, and will have increasing access over the next few weeks. You can understand this, and you can work it out.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Come on like a storm. Refuse to hesitate, to second guess, to equivocate. Present yourself at full strength and with your full intent. But let beauty and refinement be your camouflage. Set your goals, focus on what you want and actively take the steps to get there. Yet make sure everything is presented elegantly, diplomatically and in a way that honors the aesthetics that one might expect under the specific circumstances involved. Yes, there is a way to be radical and tasteful; revolutionarily beautiful. You can say just about anything you want, as long as you say it well, and proofread your copy. You can present any idea you want, as long as you make it easy for people to understand. You can do nearly anything you want, as long as you do it with some finesse. Beauty, finesse and clarity offer credibility, by demonstrating that you really do care about others. Perhaps it’s a trick of the mind, or a trick of astrology involving a magnificent Libra event in your chart. What matters is that you will get results, even if you think that’s unlikely.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — There is a spiritual solution to what you’re facing, which is to say that nothing is impossible and nothing is beyond the reach of healing. Yet two things are necessary. One is focusing on your relationship with your inner Source, wisdom and intelligence as a higher priority than focusing on a human relationship. This is not an either/or situation but rather an order of priorities in a moment when you are trying to work out something that may seem beyond human power. Allow the light to work through you, and then stand back and allow it to work through the situation. Ask for a change of perception, that is, to see the situation a different way. I suggest you not focus on the results, but rather on how you see things and how you feel. Your willingness is the essential ingredient. So be willing, state it to yourself out loud, take a breath and know that your next steps are guided.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You may find that unresolved circumstances and hanging questions progress rapidly over the next couple of days. I suggest therefore that you make no investment in what you don’t want, or in solving problems that have resisted your best efforts, and focus on affirming what you want. If you’re unsure of that in the ultimate sense, focus on what is working in your life by doing more of it. Emphasize the positive, and people who keep you in a life-affirming state of mind, if only to increase your chances of feeling good. If you find yourself resisting something, focus on something that is easier, more fun or more personally relevant. I would remind you of one other thing: you may be the missing presence in any situation that requires a catalyst, spiritual boost or infusion of energy. This is less about what you do and more about the fact that you show up with an open mind and consciously choose to allow the situation to unfold.

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And Now We Are Arming al-Qaeda

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Let the Akashic Record reflect that on the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 incident, the United States began providing weapons to al-Qaeda. It’s not being advertised that way — it’s being advertised as the U.S. providing weapons to the Syrian anti-government rebels (who you might happen to know include al-Qaeda fighters).

George Bush, atop the WTC rubble with retired FDNY firefighter Bob Beckwith, promises to get the terrorists that his government accused of the Sept. 11 attack. Today we promise to get them some guns.

Thursday’s Washington Post story doesn’t include the term “al-Qaeda” — that would be nauseating so close to the anniversary, though everyone involved in government and media knows the truth. Even Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad mentioned this fact in his recent interview with Charlie Rose.

This development fulfills yet again the astrological chart for the Sept. 11 incident, which has as its main feature an aspect pattern recognized back to the days of Ptolemy — a mutual reception. Among other things, the chart pattern describes terrorists and the government trading places. Though it doesn’t prove anything, the chart nicely illustrates the variable — Mercury (representing the terrorists) is rising in Libra; Saturn (representing the government) is in Gemini. Saturn is exalted in Libra and Mercury rules Gemini.

The two planets can therefore reverse placements in the chart. They are also in a perfect trine, indicating cooperation and easy flow of energy (in whatever form). Spotters of the classical rules may note that the exact trine makes the mutual reception all the more prominent, as does the fact that Mercury is rising to the degree.

At least from the standpoint of traditional astrology, it’s not stretching things at all to say that the chart illustrates a false flag event — something where the wrong party was blamed, for a political or military purpose. It also suggests that the government was the terrorist. Twelve years later, this is not so shocking. Based on a seemingly endless flood of evidence, many people have figured out that something smells about the Sept. 11 story. Though the initial shock has taken a while to wear off, it’s a little easier to see the many pieces of the story that don’t fit together, that blatantly contradict one another or that are outright lies.

Though I fancy myself someone who has looked into the matter, I was not aware until this week of the numerous reports of what were called “secondary explosions” in World Trade Center towers 1 and 2 that on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a top Fire Department official believed brought the buildings down, killing hundreds of firefighters. Now, those “secondary explosions” are esoteric knowledge or relegated to the realm of conspiracy theory.

Tried and convicted by 11:47 am, MSNBC shows a photo of Osama bin Laden, said by intelligence officials to be in Afghanistan. Even on the 11th, the government was promising military action against Afghanistan. The Army cornered him in late 2001, then let him go.

With the dust and smoke and pain still fresh in our hearts and minds, the United States proceeded to embark on an open-ended war for 12 years and counting, sacrificing more than 5,000 American lives and countless severe injuries to our troops, and millions of people displaced, and hundreds of thousands killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, all ostensibly to get al-Qaeda.

You might say it was costly, but that also translates to profitable. The trillions expended on these battles and on the national security state went somewhere, to people and corporations.

And now we are providing the supposed terrorists with weapons, which arrived in Syria none other than on Sept. 11, 2013. There was apparently some kind of bureaucratic delay that was resolved none other than on the anniversary.

You might think that someone could have delayed either the shipment or the announcement by a few days so as not to be crass about it. But it makes one wonder whether someone either has a sick sense of humor or they were sending a message to the American public that the whole business had finally come full circle.

Speaking of full circle, the one thing that has indeed come back around to where it started was Jupiter, which has returned to its natal position and just today just crossed the midheaven (the government angle) of the main chart for Sept. 11, 2001. We must once again ask the question: who benefits? Who in the corporate and government spheres is making a lot of money on this whole seemingly endless business? It’s a very, very long list and it probably does not include you.

The gift of guns to al-Qaeda fighters arrives at the end of what was by any measure an astonishing week, which began Monday morning in London with a CBS News reporter named Margaret Brennan asking John Kerry what it might take to stop the attack on Syria.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Pat Dawson of NBC News reported that FDNY’s chief of safety, Albert Turrey — one of the first to respond to the scene — said there were “secondary explosions” in the World Trade Center that he believes brought down the towers and killed hundreds of his men. Today, this is a conspiracy theory. View full video here — skip to 1:25.

Kerry answered off the cuff that they could turn over all their chemical weapons stockpiles, which of course (in his opinion) would be impossible. The State Department issued a statement an hour later trying to walk back the offer, claiming that Kerry was merely speaking “rhetorically” (a good description of how Kerry talks).

But Russia picked up on it, signaling that it was a good idea. Then Obama picked up on that — for him, it was a great idea for many reasons: he didn’t have the votes in Congress to approve the bombing campaign.

Peaceniks were aligning with hard-right Republicans in opposition to the attack. That’s pretty amazing — and it presents a template of how we can actually accomplish something difficult in times of strife and controversy.
No matter how much centrist, conservative and liberal views may diverge, there is always common ground. There are always common values, even if they have seemingly different motives.

It helped that a wide swath of the American public was not signing on to the project, contacting their congressional representatives in droves. Many Democrats felt betrayed by Obama, who was not supposed to be following in George Bush’s footsteps. So this provided Obama an important means of saving face before the public. Accounts of the alleged gas attack the night of Aug. 21 were not adding up — they still are not, and the Internet was exploding with this sentiment.

Given that Kerry is touting an exact number of people presumably killed and an exact number of children presumably killed, to me the most significant missing fact is a list of the dead. We don’t even have an accounting of how many are militants and how many are civilians, and also the time of the incident. If something really happened and if we have a body count, we should at least have those basic facts. It might be easier to accept this on faith, except we all know the story of Iraq: a war started on a litany of lies. Some people remember Vietnam, a war started on a total pretense; a fabrication called the Tonkin Gulf Incident.

Margaret Brennan of CBS News put the question to John Kerry: what would Syria have to do to avoid being bombed?

It was this rare combination of factors that prevented a bombing and missile campaign, one that could have inflamed a regional war, indeed, a kind of world war — the planet is so rigged with nuclear bombs and other weapons systems that anything of this nature has the potential to run out of control.

So, we have a rare example of how the perfect storm of factors can actually stop a war, or at least the expansion of a civil war into a full-on bombing campaign by the United States, with an uncertain outcome. That’s a pretty special moment.

And back in Damascus, while that vicious civil war rages on, at least there is not, for now, the prospect of it raining artillery on civilians and the soldiers sitting in bunkers. But American arms, delivered by the CIA, are now going to the people who are fighting the Assad government. Among the organizations with an agenda taking advantage of this situation is al-Qaeda, which will now have access to fine American-made artillery.

This is enough to make anyone’s head spin, except it’s the normal way things go when war is on the agenda. It’s one reason why it’s safe to be against war in all circumstances — there is always a sham of some kind, people are always hurt, and there is never an agenda that benefits people.

It’s well about time we figured that out.

Lovingly,

Note, I’ve covered the events of the week, and of the Syria conflict and the associated astrology, in detail in two recent editions of Planet Waves FM. Additional research: Amanda Painter.
This week’s news briefs were written and researched by Amanda Painter, Susan Scheck, Carol van Strum and your friendly neighborhood news editor, Eric Francis.

Mercury in Libra, Through the Maze

If this past week wasn’t an exercise in anger management (or stress management) with Mars making a square to Saturn, consider yourself fortunate. While this astrology presented a diversity of emotional challenges and may have offered some back-handed progress, I would propose sending out a big rousing ‘amen’ for the fact that the U.S. didn’t start bombing Syria, dragging Iran and Russia into another phase of endless war.

Jonah, with Virgo Sun-Moon, uses The Moment of Astrology by Geoff Cornelius as a pillow. Photo by Beth Bagner.

Mercury in Libra takes the lead through the weekend. Monday, Mercury reached Libra (representing news about diplomacy). That put it on course for the often-mentioned Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto configuration (sometimes called the Uranus-Pluto square, now with Jupiter in the mix).

Located in Aries, Cancer and Capricorn, that’s a cardinal-sign T-square that’s been setting the tone of the times we’re living through.

Each week we live through a month of news or personal movement, remember that alignment. Every day that feels like everything, all at once, you know what to look to for information.

Libra is the open end of the square. It’s the one cardinal sign without a (well-known or traditionally used) slow-mover present. (There is a not-so-well-known slow-mover there, called Typhon, a strange object discovered orbiting our Sun in 2002.)

On a fairly regular basis something we recognize passes through Libra and completes the square — and currently that something is Mercury. Recently it was Venus; soon it will be the Sun. For now, it’s Mercury. Though my astrology tends to depend on the slow-movers for its emphasis, I’ve noticed that Mercury is a planet of truly extraordinary influence — underrated by most astrologers.

Its influence may come from the fact that we live in a time where nearly everything we do falls under a Mercury rulership — all of our gadgets, everything we say with them, this ocean of ‘communication’ that we live in, all of it is thematically connected to Mercury.

But Mercury is more than the means of delivery, such as the device or the printing press — it’s also the message itself. And going closer to the source, it’s also the awareness that conjures the thought — borrowing from the Bhagavad Gita, “the mind of the senses, the consciousness of creatures.”

Mercury square Pluto on Saturday, Sept. 14. Note the imminent conjunction of Venus to Saturn in Scorpio (upper right side of chart).

Libra is the sign of beauty, justice, balance and fairness. I suggest you make sure these things are ingredients in whatever you do.

For the next few days, Mercury is passing through one of the most powerful aspect patterns of our lifetimes. Putting things into context, in my opinion the Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto-Typhon alignment is up there with the top five most influential patterns of the past 50 years (two others took place from 1989-1991, and 2001-2002).

And now the ‘mind of the senses’ is about to jump into the fray. You may experience your thoughts going deeper, getting weirder, being more focused or more creative in unexpected ways. This aspect pattern has a touch of Tim Leary and Ram Dass to it — it’s the kind of thing that can change your perspective on life, and indeed can change you.

It’s a time to respect the power of ideas, something that’s too-rarely done, especially in our age of disposable thought. It’s a time to be real with yourself and real with others; it’s a time to recognize the importance of beginnings, endings and points of decision.

Venus emphasizes the point, now in Scorpio about to make a conjunction to Saturn. Along the way Venus will be part of the grand water trine, suggesting that you not allow emotions to rule everything — a fact emphasized by both the approaching conjunction to Saturn (a full stop, and moment of reflection) and the aspects that Mercury is making, described above.

As this develops, the Moon waxes toward full phase in Pisces — the Full Moon is on Sept. 19. That may come with a sense of gathering momentum, flashes of insight and maybe a touch of clairvoyance. You might be more sensitive, reactive or intuitive. You might find yourself up at night, which would be a time to use creatively rather than tossing and turning.

Yes, it may be a restless moment, and also a profoundly meaningful one, when real breakthroughs and turning points are possible.

NSA Passing Citizens’ Data to Israel; Weakening Online Encryption

If you’re already incensed about the NSA intercepting your private communications — it gets worse. The Guardian reported Wednesday the NSA has routinely passed raw intelligence to Israel without first removing information about U.S. citizens.

Skype worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video and audio conversations. With weakened encryption, why ask permission? Photo: Patrick Sinkel/AP.

“The NSA was sharing what they call raw signals intelligence, which includes things like who you are calling and when you are calling, the content of your phone call, the text of your emails, your text messages, your chat messages,” said Alex Abdo of the American Civil Liberties Union on Democracy Now! “It sounds like all of that was handed over.”

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden detailed the secret intelligence-sharing agreement between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart, which places no legally binding limits on the use of the data by the Israelis. This is in contradiction of assurances by the Obama administration that safeguards exist to protect innocent citizens’ data caught in transit.

News of this raw-signal sharing came less than a week after Glenn Greenwald, collaborating with The New York Times and ProPublica, revealed that the NSA has developed methods to crack online encryption used to protect emails, banking and medical records.

“Encryption is really the system that lets the Internet function as an important commercial instrument all around the world,” said Greenwald.

Documents released by Snowden show the NSA spends $250 million a year on a program that works with technology companies to covertly influence their product designs, deliberately weakening international encryption standards. Documents also show the NSA’s British counterpart, the GCHQ, is trying to gain access into encrypted traffic on Hotmail, Google, Yahoo and Facebook — the “big four” service providers.

Public Asked to Protest Monsanto Protection Act

House Republicans are extending the controversial Monsanto Protection Act rider (officially named the Farmer Assurance Provision) that was quietly slipped into a governmental spending bill last spring, and later signed by the president amidst huge public protest. The previous bill containing the Monsanto rider is about to expire, and without action to remove it on the part of lawmakers, it will stay there.

The rider in essence prevents judges from placing injunctions on GM seeds even if they are deemed unsafe. Planet Waves reported last March on the legal issues surrounding the Monsanto Protection Act and the intense opposition to it at that time.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), sponsor of a petition last spring that garnered more than 100,000 signatures against its inclusion, is taking action again. “I will fight the House’s efforts to extend this special interest loophole that nullifies court orders that are protecting farmers, the environment, and public health.”

GMO activists hope the public gets involved again, in greater numbers than they did before. Petitions last spring by Food Democracy Now picked up 100,000 signatures and one by CREDO Action, an online progressive group with about three million members, had more than 250,000 signatures.

“That’s big for us, the fact that it went from zero to 100,000 in just 24 hours,” Becky Bond, the head of CREDO, said in an article at the time. “People are really passionate about this issue. A lot of time people feel helpless with regard to corporate decisions … The fact that there’s someone in the Senate who’s fighting for this is exciting to people, and they’re eager to get their names on it.”

Center for Food Safety, another organization critical of the Monsanto Protection Act, is asking Americans to protest the rider once more. You can sign on to the petition here.

After ‘Secret Fracking’ Expose, L.A. Leaders Call for Moratorium

City Council members in Los Angeles have called for a moratorium on fracking (hydraulic fracturing) in the region after residents near areas of the controversial drilling process reported increased health problems and severe property damage. Council members Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin are concerned that fracking threatens L.A.’s water supply, air quality and private property.

Actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. speaks at a news conference on the City Hall steps in support of a ban on fracking in Los Angeles, with Councilmen Paul Koretz, left, and Mike Bonin, right. Photo: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times.

The move comes two months after Truthout and the Associated Press revealed that at least 12 fracking operations had been approved on oil rigs in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California as long ago as 2009 — minus the updated environmental impact review that federal law may require, and without any public notice.

The California Coastal Commission and other state officials reportedly had expressed surprise at the news.

Koretz and Bonin are hoping to outlaw fracking by changing the city’s zoning laws. Several local and national citizen-action organizations are joining forces in support of the ban, in a state where the oil industry is the biggest corporate lobbyist and Governor Jerry Brown is reportedly fast-tracking a plan to build peripheral tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The tunnels would be used to transport massive quantities of water to oil companies’ fracking sites, as well as to agribusiness — threatening several species of fish.

“If a group of people poisoned millions of gallons of California’s water while no one was looking we would label it terrorism and call out the troops,” Koretz said. “Yet that is what’s happening with fracking right now in California.”

Koretz and Bonin’s measure has gone to the Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee for review and public hearings, which have yet to be scheduled. David Graham-Caso, communications director and environmental policy advisor to Bonin, let Planet Waves know yesterday that readers can support the moratorium by signing a petition with CREDO here.

“My outfit is not an invitation”; “Critiques about my body are not welcome”; “My name is not Baby, Shorty, Sexy, Sweetie, Honey, Pretty, Boo, Sweetheart, Ma” — just a few of the messages that could appear in street art by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh in a city near you.

Street Art vs. Street Harassment

When does someone cross the line from ‘just trying to be friendly’ to ‘being invasive’? Is it the tone of voice, the words said or an expectation that the person one is speaking to is obligated to respond in kind? It’s a fine line, and the men who cross it make life harder for those men who really do try to be sensitive, considerate and friendly — though arguably things are even harder for women subjected to it.

Brooklyn-based artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is challenging this rampant lack of awareness and respect through her street-art project Stop Telling Women to Smile. After talking to friends about their experiences with street harassment, she drew their portraits, coupled them with text speaking to offenders (who often are not called out), and began posting the work in Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

“For most of [my friends], we sat and had a conversation about their experiences and what it is they’d like to say back to harassers. I used those conversations as inspiration for the text underneath their portraits.”

Fazlalizadeh says she is open to expanding the project to men who have experienced harassment:

“I know it happens, and it’s important, and it’s something I may take on in the future. Right now though, I want to focus on women — of varying backgrounds — to really tackle the ways in which our bodies are sexualized and mistreated in the public space.”

Fazlalizadeh has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for traveling to other U.S. cities to talk to and draw women across the country, putting the art up in their neighborhoods.

Syria Scam Derailed; Sept. 11 Anniversary

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I look at the astonishing events that began the week, including a diplomatic path of resolution suggested by Margaret Brennan, a CBS News reporter who questioned Kerry Monday morning about what it would take to stop the bombing proposal.

I describe the astrology associated with this, though I neglected one meaningful point — there will be a development over the weekend when Mercury in Libra reaches its square to Pluto, and then continues on to an opposition to Uranus and then a square to Jupiter. That is to say, I hope the whole deal doesn’t come unraveled — however — the longer this drags on, the less likely there is to be a bombing campaign.

After the music break I tell the story of how I figured out that the official story of the Sept. 11 incident was a lie — from a photo of the Pentagon, reproduced in high resolution here. Look at the photo at full size and see if you can find any hint of an airplane crash. Remember, an airplane is 100 tons of aluminum, titanium and plastic, full of people, baggage and fuel.

I don’t talk about the astrology — though I’ve covered that many times. I reference an article called Were it So, in which I tell the story of my discovery of how the official story of Sept. 11 was not true.

My personal favorite astrology-news piece on Sept. 11 is called History, Turning on a Phrase. Here is last year’s podcast going into detail on the Sept. 11 incident.

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published the extended monthly horoscopes for September on Friday, Aug. 23. We published the Inner Space horoscopes for September Friday, Aug. 30. We published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Aquarius Full Moon on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The Moonshine horoscopes for the Virgo New Moon were published Tuesday, Sept. 3. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscopes on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space usually publishes the following Tuesday.

Weekly horoscope for Friday, Sept. 13, 2013 #966 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Someone close to you is going through what you recently went through, or at least something similar. Even if it seems to be less meaningful (to you) or seems (to you) to have less impact, I suggest you recognize their emotional reality for what it is. You, and the people around you, are having certain experiences of coming up against your limitations, which you may be experiencing as reaching a breaking point. What you may observe as both interesting and informative is the way in which a partner or loved one demonstrates their flexibility in ways that you tend to be rigid, stuck or stubborn. It’s not that they’re going through less than you — indeed, what they’re experiencing appears to be profound and to reach a deep place. Their response and approach to the equation is informed by other values, including the concept of equilibrium. This is something you would do well to learn, and you can learn a lot from observation.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Pause and reconsider your point of view. There’s an urgent need for a mature approach to a relationship question, and that approach involves getting clear about how not to make everyone or anyone into your parent figure. Our society is rife with parent-child dynamics, from how we interact with cops and politicians, to how we relate with intimate partners, colleagues and bosses. It’s up to each individual person to grow up and be an adult. Often the excuse for not doing so is not wanting to lose one’s child-like nature. Yet that nature is vulnerable without an adult to protect it, and that adult must be you, not someone else — despite what is currently a tremendous temptation to project that responsibility onto another person. This may be for the sake of companionship, or of seeking approval, or because you need protection. Yet is any of that true? I suggest you ask yourself whether how you’re handling things is more or less likely to offer you the sense of belonging and safety that you need.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Awareness of mortality is awareness of life. It’s closely related to awareness of change and growth. How we feel about death closely resembles how we feel about existence. It’s therefore unhelpful to deny mortality or to pretend that you have no relationship to death. Being mindful of how forms transform, and of what elements follow the story from one phase to the next, will all be helpful. If you find yourself feeling backed into a corner, like nothing matters or like your time is running out, you may be suppressing something from your awareness. In the most basic psychological terms, that might be the need to change. There appears to be some element in your environment that’s inviting you to do just that. It might be a commitment to someone, your sense of contact with something greater than yourself, or your changing relationship to the passage of time. Work with it, not against it.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — There’s certainly something elemental and childlike about sexual play, though for adults it calls for the conscious use of ethics. The way society deals with this is to turn sex into a moral issue, which it’s not. Imposed morality only tends to make people less answerable to themselves. Morality makes everything wrong, especially pleasure. As I define the term, ethics is about the ability to discern the shades of appropriateness, and to make a decision about what is right for you at any given time. If you can do that, you’ll have more freedom; if you cannot, you’re more likely to encounter an imposed limitation. As well, what you have now is the opportunity to explore the nature of a certain blockage that’s been lingering around in your body, emotions or energy field for the past few seasons. On one level this seems to be about what is right and wrong for you. On another it’s about how you take a risk in an ethically conscious way.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Mars in your sign is showing you how consistency and persistence are the way to work through obstacles. If you slow down just a little, you’ll see that they are not providing the resistance that you thought they might offer. Brilliant ideas save work and get results. And they are available to you if you open up to them, which is another good reason for why you want to pause and think about any obstacle or problem before you attempt to tackle it. What you can have right now is a mix of inspiration and deep thinking. It’s not a matter of one or the other — every useful idea needs to be applied in a conscious way. The inspiration part is about the insight or the idea; the deep thinking part is about how to use it. Remember to match the right solution to the right problem. They may not be interchangeable but if you try out a few combinations, you will find a few perfect matches.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Lately it’s as if you’ve been making your way along a narrow ledge on a tall building. While this would obviously be a tense situation, you seem to have a source of anxiety originating somewhere else. This is not about whether you’re right or wrong. You do so much of what is right that you should have no anxiety whatsoever. Here’s a personal question: have you considered the possibility that much of the background static that you experience involves your experience of your sexuality? This is a specific form of anxiety that psychologists don’t like to talk about that much, though not only is it real, it’s connected to the core source of vital energy — which is why it’s so powerful. This, in turn, is perhaps the most significant factor for determining a person’s self-esteem, particularly your own. Society sends many messages not to think about any of this, to focus on appearances and the supposed monetary value of your sexiness. What you experience over the next few days will reveal the value of going much deeper.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You have many options open, though they may feel like situations to which you must respond. That’s a compelling kind of option, and included in it is the chance to turn what looks like a problem into an opportunity. I know a lot of people have probably made a lot of money with that statement, which relatively few people know what to do with. Here’s how it looks in the chart: You encounter something that triggers you emotionally. You have the option to gloss over the issue and move on, or figure out what was at the bottom of your response. I suggest you do that, because as Mercury moves through your sign, it does so in an increasingly provocative and emotional way. The sooner you make contact with the material at the root of the matter, the sooner you will make sense of your situation and be able to find the opportunities within it. Most of them involve emotional healing and finding a place of clarity with someone who you really wish you could understand a lot better.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — When in doubt, be brave. Take a chance. You have an emotional state that’s urging you to caution at the same time you have one that’s encouraging you to be bold and determined. The question is which one you’re going to listen to. I suggest you listen to the one that’s really you. Here is a clue: There’s one level of worry or concern that belongs to someone else. It comes from somewhere else and belongs to another place and time. There’s another dimension to what you’re experiencing that feels unusually bold, and in some ways unlike you but in other ways familiar and welcome. Though this feels good, and may make you a little nervous, you may be wondering whether that’s accurate or whether you’re feeling too big for your britches. Now take these two emotions and match them to people in your family of origin. What feeling resembles whom the most accurately? Which feeling seems unique to you?

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — It’s time for a dialog about what makes you the most uncomfortable — that is, your personal taboo. This will seem bolder and braver before you do it and maybe for the first five minutes, and then it’s likely to feel perfectly normal. Whomever you’re discussing this with is likely to have a similar experience, so don’t worry about burdening them or thinking that you’re pushing them into weird territory. Rather than push, lead the way with a personal disclosure that at least seems daring and like you must cross an inner boundary to get there. That will get the discussion going. There are likely to be a few surprises as you proceed, potentially quite pleasant and liberating. While there are a few possible emotional and intellectual destinations, you will discover something about your own point of view as well as that of your conversation partner. One discovery might be something like how little you need to have in common in order to have something really special between you.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Focus on your message, which means having clear ideas and putting them into clear words. Keep it simple: don’t worry about being deep. You can do this without dumbing down anything, or compromising your point of view. Indeed, the idea is to get closer to your actual position, so that it can be more understandable to others. In that spirit, be accurate, precise and clear. If you’re writing and you make an error, admit to it and correct it visibly. Impeccability will lead you in the direction you want to go. Along this same line of reasoning: it’s important that you not push an argument or point of view; state it clearly and wait for a reply, even if that response takes several days to come back. Your words carry considerable authority, and one reason that someone may delay in responding is because they are having a response that they cannot articulate yet. Give any scenario till the 22nd to work out — the equinox is an obvious turning point. Till then, be patient. And be precise.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You have a lot on your hands, including much that you were not expecting to be dealing with. Help is on the way. The key element in receiving that help will be trust, in particular, trusting whomever responds to your needs is not also running another agenda. If you have a real question, ask — and listen to the answer. You may choose to have faith in the situation despite some actual concerns. Sort those out. If you do, you’ll see that some are old and no longer apply to you or your current environment; this is a good time to address any lingering hangover from the past. Some will involve what may be a level of mistrusting women. That, too, is a lingering artifact of history. Treat people as who they are today. Setting all that aside, you need to delegate at least some of your responsibility to someone who arrives to assist you, which is always a matter of having faith in a person; so keep this on a human level and start there.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Emotions are complex; lately yours have been especially so, though you now seem to be in a moment of clarity. I would suggest you not push too hard against anyone or anything. There is always an easier way to get a result, and I suggest you look for that easier way. One thing to bear in mind is that time is on your side, and that momentum is carrying you in the right direction. Plant the seed of an idea in anyone you need to persuade, and then allow the conversation to develop. Don’t worry if negotiations are stalled or if you seem to hold inferior cards. There are a number of developments that will come to light, as partners and associates gain an understanding of the environment and their own responsibilities. Then over the next week, as the Full Moon in your birth sign approaches, it will be easier for you to work out stalemates, deadlocks and impasses without needing to exert much effort.

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How You Can Tell Syria is a Scam

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Saturday afternoon, with an aircraft carrier battle group underway to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Pres. Obama managed to stun the world by saying he would defer to Congress the decision on whether to bomb Syria. The prior week Obama was ready to move against Syria without congressional approval under the War Powers Act.

Michel Foucault’s pendulum swings in the Pantheon of Paris, tracing the turning of the world on its axis. Photo by Eric Francis.

Obama’s and Kerry’s rationale for the bombing campaign, as you’ve no doubt heard, was an alleged chemical attack by Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad on rebels involved in an internal war within the country. That war was an outgrowth of the Arab Spring protests, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in March 2011.

The alleged gas attack on the Syrian rebels is said to have taken place in a Damascus suburb the morning of Aug. 21. The exact time is unknown; the death toll varies by a factor of five, depending on whose estimate you listen to; and a U.N. team has not yet produced its report on the incident. No proof has been offered who actually did the attack, assuming it happened. Even after Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, government officials are asking the public to just simply trust that they are telling the truth and know what they’re doing.

Last year Obama made his infamous red line statement — that the U.S. would get involved in the Syrian civil war if the government used chemical agents on the rebels, who include al-Qaeda fighters and who are now supposedly allies of the United States. The U.S. has been providing weapons to these insurgents for about a year, who this week were shown executing seven members of the official Syrian army in a video obtained by The New York Times.

Obama and Kerry reminded everyone of the horrors of chemical weapons in World War I and how the world was almost unanimously against their use. Gas also has an irrevocable connection to the Nazis, who killed many civilians in the death camps using Zyklon B, a cyanide-based insecticide used to murder millions in Nazi gas chambers.

Assad was accused of using chemical weapons, and Obama immediately promised to retaliate, presumably along with the British and the French. But days later, the House of Commons dumped a proposal by Prime Minister David Cameron to join the United States in a bombing campaign. Public support in the U.K. and the U.S. was and remains nonexistent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during last week’s debate over Syria before the House of Commons. Many MPs defied orders to vote with their party. Photo: Daily Mirror.

That’s when Obama got on television and said he would be seeking congressional approval. You can look at this as a clever political move, deferring potential blame back to Congress and in particular the Republicans in case the project went badly (or dragged the U.S. into a long war, as may be the plan).

My impression is that Obama was under pressure from corporate leaders and his own top military advisors to go in without congressional approval. But with no backing from the U.K. and no public support at home, he had to pass the responsibility for the decision.

Notably, the British government was accused of “breathtaking laxity” in its arms controls after it emerged this week that officials authorized the export to Syria of two chemicals capable of being used to make a nerve agent such as sarin a year ago, the [UK] Independent reported.

Speaking of nerve gas, a Turkish newspaper reported that, “Russia has called on Turkey to share its findings in the case of Syrian rebels who were seized on the Turkish-Syrian border with a 2kg cylinder full of nerve gas sarin.” This calls into question who actually deployed the chemical agent, assuming it was used, the night of Aug. 21.

Meanwhile, reports that the Assad government has a stockpile of chemical agents at least seem plausible; after this is all over, assuming they exist, they will end up in the hands of someone, and neither side in this struggle seems particularly friendly — the government we’re planning to punish or our supposed friends the rebels, who are demonstrably vicious as well.

In light of this impressive mess, it’s not surprising Obama balked on his threat of military action and deferred to Congress. He knows that congressional approval is required to start a war (even if that requirement has been ignored many times). I don’t think he wanted to take full responsibility for whatever might happen next, or if any of these facts — not reported in the American press, so far — came to the surface.

Kerry testifies before Congress in 1971, protesting the Vietnam War. He asked his famous question, “How can you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” Photographer unknown.

Then Kerry went on a kind of dead children tour, repeating again and again, in press briefings, in congressional hearings and now on an international trip, his one and only talking point: that there were lots of dead bodies, including 426 kids, insisting that the U.S. must respond with bombs. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the only thing to do.

Don’t worry, it’ll be limited action — in theory designed to send a message and to destroy chemical weapons facilities. It will send a message to Assad, whom the American government claims has more WMDs than Saddam in his wildest dreams.

Don’t worry mom, I know the garage is full of oily rags; it’ll just be a small fire. I just want to send one smoke signal.

This week as the congressional debate set in and people started taking sides, the rationale shifted, but it’s others who are delivering this part of the message, from a diversity of political points of view: the United States (in the person of Obama) promised to bomb Syria and it must do so, lest we signal our weakness to Iran or North Korea; lest we signal that the United States doesn’t speak with one voice. (This, as if nobody knows that Democrats and Republicans can barely get together to pay the bills.)

If we don’t bomb Syria we lose our credibility. In order for that to be true, we would need some credibility to begin with, and where matters of war are concerned the United States is running an extreme deficit. That’s why the entire public is telling Obama and Kerry to sod off and why brutal dictators do whatever the heck they want.

Then let the commercial break go by and you see video of Kerry talking about the 426 dead kids. In a gas attack. Just like World War I. Which the civilized world abhors. It’s our responsibility. We must maintain the rule of law. We will bomb them and it will all go beautifully. This week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee narrowly approved the use of military action; it goes to the full Senate next week, and to the House of Representatives.

Members of both the House and the Senate are facing overwhelming resistance from their constituents. And any Republican who goes along with Obama risks being forced out of office by a primary race from someone to the right. This is putting hawkish Republicans in the odd position of being against military intervention — their favorite thing ever.

Medea Benjamin and other members of Code Pink hold up hands symbolically painted in blood as Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. C-Span video.

If it’s not plainly obvious that Obama and Kerry are lying, and working several layers of some agenda they are not stating out loud, the bald hypocrisy of their moralizing over a chemical attack and dead children should be enough to provoke extreme nausea.

After the Bush War I, the United States and the U.K. maintained a bombing campaign of civilian facilities in Iraq that killed 500,000 children, mainly through destruction of fresh water plants that resulted in outbreaks of cholera.

Madeline Albright, then Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, said on 60 Minutes that she thought it was worth it. It still amazes me that we don’t think of this every time we see Clinton’s face.

Add to that all the children killed and displaced in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, East Timor, the first bombing of Iraq, Afghanistan, Bush War II featuring Nixon retreads Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and then relentless drones in Pakistan, and Yemen, and all the “unidentified enemy combatants” that Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange told us about, and it sounds disingenuous that Obama and Kerry want to go to war over some dead civilians in Syria.

In the 30 months the Syrian civil war has raged, 100,000 civilians have been killed; we didn’t find it necessary to get directly involved before last week (though the U.S. has been aiding the conflict in various ways for two years). Do they think it’s better to be killed by a cluster bomb or by starvation or disease than it is by a chemical agent?

Here’s how you really know the gas attack rationale is a lie: it’s the only reason they’re giving for going to war. This would be a war in an extremely volatile part of the world, which could have entirely unpredictable results. Besides the facts on the chemical attack not adding up, there’s never just one reason for dropping bombs on a country. You know Kerry is lying because on Thursday he told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes: “I don’t believe this is taking America to war.”

You know Obama and Kerry are lying because they’re making it sound so simple, stating just one rationale. No country ever goes to war for one reason alone. In addition to concealing all of their other motives, they’re refusing to address the supposedly ‘unintended’ consequences of military action, such as the enemy fighting back. Nobody seems concerned that we would be going to war to support a branch of al-Qaeda, and that the Senate version of the bill calls for arming the rebels.

Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeline Albright on 60 Minutes saying it was worth killing 500,000 Iraqi children, mainly from cholera, after the first Gulf War. See video here.

Both Obama and Kerry, who are clearly spokesmen for a larger organization of some kind, are omitting from the discussion the incredibly vast complexities involved in the Middle East situation, including unstable governments, extreme factionalism and the way that the region is like an exploding chessboard where an eternal proxy war is being staged.

They are omitting the influence of petroleum in the region and its central role in the American and global economies. They are omitting the fact that Syria is Iran’s closest ally, and many in the United States power structure have wanted to bomb Iran for years.

Yet the macabre, pointless and expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have made that challenging. We also didn’t have an explicit reason to bomb Iran — but now we have an excuse to go after Syria, which would be an easy way to get Iran involved in a war.

Before getting into the astrology of this whole scenario, let’s consider a few of these potential influences, the reasons that nobody is talking about. I don’t know if you watch cable news, but when you turn on a news channel all you hear about are basically two things — the gas attack and the credibility of the United States in keeping its promise to bomb Damascus.

Situation One — the petrodollar. Most oil is traded in dollars, which creates an artificial demand for American currency. Countries must stockpile dollars and treasury notes in order to have money to spend on oil. That demand props up the value of the dollar, which would have little value otherwise because it’s backed neither by gold nor by exports.

Nixon took the dollar off of the gold standard, locking in the petrodollar.

Basically, the dollar is our export. And if countries don’t buy it, we have nothing to fall back on. The Federal Reserve is in essence printing counterfeit dollars, but those dollars are in demand because they can be traded for oil. This pumps wealth into the United States, which we’ve largely used to buy a massive military machine.

If oil-exporting countries switch to the euro as a standard currency, the value of the dollar and thus the whole U.S. economy can go into free fall. That’s what Iraq did just before the U.S. began its latest 10-year bombing campaign there in 2003.

This doesn’t make that much sense in terms of bombing Syria, which ranks 35th in world oil reserves, but it makes a lot more sense if you consider how a war with Syria would be a proxy war with Iran. Read more about the petrodollar issue here.

Situation Two — Iran. Granted, the United States is not very good at handling Iran; U.S. policy always seems to make the problem worse. But the central powers of the United States and its business partners want a Western-controlled Iranian government, just like we had under the Shah of Iran prior to 1979. And one way to do that is to clobber them in a war or two. That is the theory anyway.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.

The United States is made nervous by any country that it doesn’t control. Our government is still freaking out over Cuba, which is stockpiled with sugar, cigars and sex.

And it has a lot of reasons to want to control Iran. The ongoing excuse to go after Iran has been that they might turn out to make an atomic bomb. That’s true enough — every country with nuclear power sooner or later ends up with a nuclear arsenal, and Iran has nuclear power. That fear is made worse by the notion that Iran might give one of its bombs to terrorists.

However, there’s a lot of oil sitting under Iran. And that oil is going to be sold somewhere, in some currency. As peak oil takes hold, these big stashes of oil become even more valuable. Saudi reserves are not all they’re cracked up to be.

Far from being a “limited intervention,” an attack on Syria could lead to something akin to a world war, though certainly a war with Iran is possible. It’s so possible that it seems to be an intentional means of drawing Iran into the conflict, and giving the U.S. an opportunity to ‘defend’ itself and end up in a not so finite, not so limited war that goes on forever.

Situation Three — intra-Muslim politics. I know so little about this that I can barely write a whole sentence, but I know the issue exists and that it’s extremely complex. The Sunni and Shia branches of Islam have been slugging it out since the earliest days of their existence.

The situation in Syria is complicated by the fact that Assad and most of those in his regime are Alawite (a branch of Shia Islam) but most Syrians are Sunni. This contributes to the conflict, since Alawites are a minority in Syria yet they have been in power for decades.

I know that most Americans think of all Muslims as being the same thing, but that’s not how Muslims see it. If we get into a war with Syria, we are jumping not only into the midst of a civil war in that country; we would be plunging into the Sunni-Shia battle.

U.S. officials might have a political intent in doing this; for example, Saudi Arabia is Sunni; Iran is Shia. We owe Saudi Arabia about a million favors after both Bush Wars and in particular how badly the second one went. The U.S. consumes a lot of Saudi oil — oil that is running out. So the U.S. pretty much does what the Saudis want.

But don’t think about that — think of how heinous chemical warfare is. Don’t think about how the U.S. waged chemical war in Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia, featuring napalm and Agent Orange, and forget about the white phosphorous that the U.S. used in Iraq, including on civilians.

Forget how American police departments use chemical agents on American activists on a regular basis, less dangerous than sarin but chemical agents nonetheless.

Think about the sarin victims, even though we don’t know who they are, by name or family affiliation; and we don’t have a suspect based on real evidence — we don’t know exactly what happened, who set off the gas if indeed any was used, or where the suspects got it (except for the part about the Brits selling the stuff to the Syrians last year — don’t think about that part). And just because someone has something does not implicate them; one would think that to go to war evidence besides the government’s say-so would be necessary.

Well, Obama has done us a big favor by referring the proposed bombing of Damascus to Congress — we are at least having a discussion, even if you get very little of it in the mainstream media; there is plenty to read about on the Internet. In this case the pretense of following the Constitution is not such a pretense.

What all of this says to me is that there is some other much larger agenda at work, one that is currently obscured by the fog of war.

Astrology of the Syria Situation

The Syria situation is making a lot of charts. The problem is that there is no one accurately timed chart to connect the situation to. After doing hundreds of news chart analyses, I’m made skeptical by any widely notorious event that cannot be precisely timed. The gas attack has no known exact time. Many people would have heard the first missile strike.

Syria’s natal chart, per Nick Campion’s Book of World Horoscopes. Note the Mars-Uranus-Vesta conjunction to the upper right side of the chart. Also note that Syria’s Sun is at 9+ Capricorn — right in line with the Uranus-Pluto square. This goes on for a while longer.

My astrology collaborator Tracy Delaney said Thursday, “Trying to read that chart seems to bring home the fact that this did not happen in a vacuum; it kind of says go join the dots then.”

When we start doing that, we find a pattern of interlocking charts that includes the 1944 chart for Syria; Pres. Obama’s chart; the current Uranus-Pluto square, including the night of the chemical attack; the current charts; and the fact that Bashar al-Assad was born during the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 1965-1966Let’s connect some of those dots, considering a few of the charts involved. The background is the Uranus-Pluto square — the 2012 aspect pattern that lasts from 2011-2015 with effects that will reach into the end of the decade. Uranus is in Aries; Pluto is in Capricorn; Jupiter is now in Cancer; planets keep moving through Libra, completing the grand cross in the cardinal signs. Through all of this, Chiron is in Pisces, just like it was for the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 1965-1966.

Here are some highlights:

The Syrian Protest Movement Begins on March 15, 2011. This happened just four days after Uranus ingressed Aries, and officially takes its part in the Uranus-Pluto square. That’s also four days after the tsunami and earthquake that set off the worst nuclear disaster in history — at Fukushima, Japan, which has apparently killed the Pacific Ocean and is at this moment spinning out of control. This is the same astrology that sets off the rest of Arab Spring, the Wisconsin movement and the international Occupy movement.

The Aquarius Full Moon. This was exact the night of the alleged sarin gas attack. The time range of 2 am to 4:40 am directly encompasses the exact Moon-Sun opposition, which was at 4:44 am (daylight savings) local time. The Full Moon was conjunct Nessus, a centaur associated with revenge, poison and karma coming back to the person who sets off the chain of events (in the myth, in the form of how his own poison comes back to Heracles and kills him).

The alleged sarin gas attack was timed with the second Aquarius Full Moon. The Moon was conjunct Nessus, which is associated with poison and revenge. The event sets off Syria’s natal chart as well.

This is a colossal chart. Within hours of the Full Moon, Jupiter in Cancer makes its exact square to Uranus in Aries and a trine to Chiron in Pisces. Speaking astrologically, it’s one of the biggest moments so far in the 2012 era. It’s the moment of first contact between Jupiter and the square; and Chiron is right there to pick up the energy and throw the door open to something a lot bigger (one expression of the trine aspect).

A reading of the full aspect list from that day shows Mercury making five different exact, simultaneous aspects to minor planets, including a door-opening trine to Eris, who in one manifestation exists to precipitate war and strife, and a square to Varuna — the breaking of a promise.

The dubious chart for 2 am, the earliest stated time of the alleged gas attack, is indeed a chart illustrating a situation where “the government attacks its own people,” but that chart takes a ride and it’s not clear what really happened. But it’s clear that something happened.

The Natal Chart of Syria. The source of this data is the eminent Nick Campion’s Book of World Horoscopes. This is not a friendly chart. We really do have the horoscope of a duplicitous, volatile, pent-up raging enemy of the people of the world. Go figure.

The chart features a Mars-Uranus conjunction in Gemini on the 8th/9th cusp. The chart has Pluto in Leo on the North Node, like a warhead. We really don’t want this country in possession of too many fancy weapons. Is this really someone we want to bomb?

The chart was set for hair-trigger the night of the Full Moon. And it fits another world horoscope rather nicely…

Natal chart for Barack Obama. It fits many ways with the Syria chart and the chart for the current moment (see SKY section below).

Barack Obama’s Chart. Barack Obama’s sensitive Gemini Moon is conjunct Mars-Uranus in the Syria chart. He feels personally provoked and he probably does not know why. But he had the good sense to pass on responsibility for the decision to bomb Syria. Meanwhile, Obama and Syria have planets piled up all over one another — when you put the two charts around one another, you get all kinds of conjunctions, with Obama’s Neptune making an impressive appearance in Syria’s chart: it’s square Syria’s North Node and Pluto.

The Current Chart — Mars square Saturn. One last. We are currently under the influence of Mars in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio. I unpack this fully in the current edition of Planet Waves FM and in some detail in SKY below.

The upshot is that Mars in Leo is bringing a lot of passion, drive and vital force into contact with Saturn, which in Scorpio is chilly and represents some form of stuck energy. The sensation is that of pressure building, which comes to a head on Tuesday — the congressional debates of early next week will sure be interesting.

What stands out is that the Mars-Saturn square fits — to the degree — Pluto and the lunar nodes in the Syria chart, and Obama’s Neptune. And along comes Mars, plunging into the whole arrangement.

As has been asked before though never often enough: what could possibly go wrong? What has ever gone wrong before?

Lovingly,

Additional Research: Wesam Badr, Sunya Bhutta, Priya Kale, Kelly Karalis, Amanda Painter, Susan Scheck and Lizanne Webb.

Mars-Saturn: The Slow, Steady Burn

The Virgo New Moon was exact Thursday at 7:37 am EDT. That’s a conjunction of the Moon and Sun in Virgo. This New Moon stands out because it’s the last New Moon before the equinox, and it stands out because it’s opposite Chiron.

Simplified chart section for Mars square Saturn, exact at 7:06 am EDT Sept. 9. From top: lunar North Node, Saturn and Moon in Scorpio, Mercury in Libra, the Sun in mid-Virgo and Mars in Leo.

On one level this chart contrasts fact and imagination, mental experience and emotional experience. It points to the need to balance the two sides of the Virgo-Pisces equation. This translates to keeping a mental perspective on your emotions. This can be challenging in a world where we’re taught to emote in all directions rather than to think in any one direction, though it’ll be worth rising to the occasion.

In the background of the current astrology is an aspect that’s developing — Mars square Saturn. While this aspect is exact early next week, we are under its influence now. It contrasts the fiery passion of Mars in Leo with the chillier, potentially tuck quality of Saturn in Scorpio.

You will likely experience this as some form of pressure or drive. It might be emotional pressure, such as experiencing the effects of emotions and desire you’ve denied; it might be creative drive, such as a push to express an idea or bring to completion a project that you started a while ago.

The key to this aspect is the slow, steady burn. Don’t try to storm the mountain or demolish all your inhibitions at once. Take them one at a time; approach your feelings gently, or at least as gently as you can. If you push too hard, you run the risk of burning out. If you don’t apply enough heat and pressure, your energy could fizzle out.

Mars in Leo encountering Saturn in Scorpio is calling for a conscious blend of yin and yang, of assertive change and voluntary letting go of what is blocking your progress.

As this develops, on Friday (today) the Moon ingresses Libra; on Monday, Mercury follows suit. Anything that ingresses Libra (as the Sun will soon do) gets involved with the longstanding Uranus-Pluto square and will come with events that reveal deeper facets of the times in which we’re living.

For those following the situation in Syria, Mercury ingressing Libra is a sign of ‘news about diplomacy’. But Mercury makes a series of surprising moves over the next week, as it passes through the Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto configuration. That means agreements made now will be subject to some radical revisions over the coming days.

One last astrology item: the Moon eclipses Venus in Libra Sunday. There’s something here about sussing out the difference between desire and need. If you find yourself in a discussion on the emotional content of a relationship, that would be a topic to bring into focus.

The Price of War Debated at Global Economic Summit

Is anyone really surprised that war clouds over Syria also have clouded the Group of 20 economic talks now taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia? The summit on the global economy among the leading 20 developed and developing nations was overshadowed by the conflict, with U.S. President Obama facing growing pressure by members not to go forward with a military strike.

Putin and Obama not looking too thrilled at last year’s G20 in Los Cabos, Mexico. This year, they might get downright nasty over Syria.

Russia, China, the European Union, the BRICS emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Pope Francis — in a letter — warned of the dangers of military intervention without the approval of the U.N. Security Council.

“Military action would have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price — it will cause a hike in the oil price,” Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said.

Obama said before talks at the summit with Japan’s prime minister that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was “not only a tragedy but also a violation of international law that must be addressed.”

He was to present his case at the leaders’ dinner and hoped to build support for military action, according to aides, who also conceded a consensus might be hard to find.

Prison Officials Say Castro Killed Himself

Less than a month after being sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison for pleading guilty to 937 counts including rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder, Ohio prison officials said that Ariel Castro was found hanging dead in his cell Tuesday night. Castro had held three women captive in his Cleveland, Ohio, home for a decade. He was arrested in May after Amanda Berry and her six-year-old daughter escaped and called police, who freed Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

State officials claim that an autopsy has determined Castro’s death to be a suicide; they say he used his bed sheet.

Ariel Castro; photo: Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department.

Castro’s attorney, Craig Weintraub, has said that his client was initially put on suicide watch, in part due to a history of psychological problems, but was later downgraded. When Castro was transferred to the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, he was put in protective custody, which meant he was in a cell by himself and checked by guards every 30 minutes — standard practice for inmates who are at risk from other prisoners. A guard found Castro hanging at 9:20 pm, and attempted to revive him.

The chart for the incident is inconclusive whether it was murder or suicide, and it looks a bit cheerful for either possibility (Venus in Libra is the strongest planet, followed by Mars in Leo.) There does appear to be an accomplice present who was involved in whatever happened, and there also appears to be government complicity. Perhaps he’s now hanging out in Cuba with Kenny Lay.

“As horrifying as Mr. Castro’s crimes may be, the state has a responsibility to ensure his safety from himself and others,” said ACLU of Ohio executive director Christine Link. “Questions remain whether Mr. Castro was properly screened for suicide risk and mental illness. Prisons officials must address these issues, not only to fully account for how Mr. Castro was able to commit suicide, but also to prevent this from occurring again.”

Ohio prison officials have begun a review of Castro’s death. The Ohio State Highway Patrol will conduct a separate investigation.

According to Weintraub, he had asked Cuyahoga County jail officials to allow Castro to be interviewed by a forensic psychiatrist in the presence of his lawyers after the Aug. 1 sentencing. That request was turned down — surprising given the disjointed excuses given by Castro, his lack of remorse and a suicide note reportedly found in his home after his arrest.

EU Ban on Bee Killing Chemicals Challenged by Bayer, Syngenta

Displeased with having to wait out the two-year European ban on their bee-killing chemicals, Bayer and Syngenta late last month began legal action toward the European Union to abolish it. The ban, which comes into force on December 1, covers three neonicotinoids: clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam.

Certain studies have linked neonicontinoids in lab experiments to bee fatalities, yet some scientists say these experiments do not correspond with what happens in nature. A spokeswoman for the European Commission said that its measures were based on scientific information and the conclusions of the European Food Safety Agency, which has ruled that these insecticides could pose a risk to bees in some circumstances.

Greenpeace activists scale the Syngenta headquarters in Switzerland in May to hang a protest banner. Photo: Greenpeace.

Syngenta, based in Switzerland, is challenging the EU only on thiamethoxam, saying the decision was made “on the basis of a flawed process.” John Atkin, the company’s chief operating officer, added that the European Commission, which initiated the ban, was wrong to link thiamethoxam to declines in bee health.

“Syngenta continues to ignore scientific evidence that clearly links thiamethoxam and other pesticides to bee-mortality. Instead of taking the Commission to court, it should act responsibly and stop marketing its bee-killing pesticides,” Greenpeace spokesperson Mark Breddy said.

Bayer CropScience of Germany is challenging the ban on all three chemicals. In a statement, it said that the Commission’s move is “unjustified, disproportionate and goes beyond the existing regulatory framework.”

Historical note: Bayer is a former subsidiary of the principal Nazi German company I.G. Farben. It was the state-run corporation that had a near-monopoly on chemical production in Germany during the war, and which owned the patent on Zyklon B gas.

The Nazis worked hand in glove with Farben, to the point where chemical factories in conquered territory were turned over to the company, which in turn did work for the war effort, for profit. (This is why fascism is also called corporatism.) After the war, the company was broken up; three of the units survive today.

One of the units became BASF, which makes recording tape and many other products. BASF appears in the history of dioxin, as one of the worst offenders (there is something called the Badische incident, infamous in dioxin history, where people were contaminated). Agfa we’ve all heard of — you can buy their film in drug stores today. Bayer sells their products in every 7-Eleven and supermarket in the world.

Arizona Nuclear Power Plant Fire Sparks Emergency Status

An “unusual event” (a technical class of near-emergency) — the second in two months — was reported in the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona on Monday night. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks said it appeared that insulation that covers very hot metal surfaces had become soaked by bearing lubrication over time.

Sure, the Palo Verde station looks pretty in the moonlight. But what happens when something worse than an “unusual event” happens? And what about all the radioactive waste from this and other plants? Photo: Arizona Public Service Co.

The night fire did not interrupt power production at the three-reactor plant located 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix, and Arizona Public Service Co. said the plant continued to run normally Tuesday, and there was no release of radiation or threat to public safety.

An unusual event is the lowest of four emergency levels for nuclear power plants. The last unusual event was on July 2, when a reactor temporarily reduced its power production after there was a minor explosion in a cabinet that holds electrical switching gear.

Dricks said officials were not concerned because the two incidents were not related. However, astrology says that the ongoing Pluto-Uranus square speaks to sudden changes in nuclear-powered equipment — and common sense says that nuclear power is not viable for the long term, regardless of the astrology.

Calling All Creators of Erotic Art!

Sheri Winston, friend of Planet Waves and founder of the Center for Intimate Arts, is in the final stages of her new book, Succulent SexCraft: Your Hands-on Guide to Erotic Play and Practice. One of the final steps is to augment her selection of classical and historic erotic images with new, original art — and she’d like you to get involved. Sheri writes:

“Do you create erotic artwork that’s sexy, fun, funny, interesting, hot, controversial, beautiful? If so, we’d love to consider your art!

“We’d love to have images that depict a range of sexiness, including color, gender, orientation, body type, age and anything else you can think of that’s inclusive of diversity. We’re looking for images that are non-porny (if you know what I mean).”

To submit your art for consideration, send your images in JPEG form to fatima@intimateartscenter.com, or else a link to an online gallery. If Sheri and her production team are interested, they’ll let you know. While she is unable to offer payment for use of your art, you will receive a signed copy of the book, “boatloads of appreciation and gratitude,” plus full credit with your URL and contact information.

Proposed Syria Attack, Virgo New Moon & Mars square Saturn

Will we go to war with Syria? Why are we asking this kind of question again? Yes, we’re being invited once more to endorse the state of perpetual war. I do my best to untangle this overwhelming situation. Mars is the leading planet — the congressional vote requested by Pres. Obama on Saturday is likely to happen just as Mars and Saturn form their exact square. Along the way is the Virgo New Moon, exact Thursday morning EDT, bubbling with tension, passion and the sense of something about to happen. My musical guest today is Graveyard Lovers from New York City, with two songs from their new CD “Dreamers.”

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Weekly horoscope for Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 #965 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19) — If you find yourself meeting the resistance of a partner, I suggest you explore your options rather than fight. You may feel ready to take on whatever issue directly, though it’s unlikely to get you the results that you want. One result might be the freedom to express your passion, curiosity and creativity without the interference of someone else. You may be feeling like a certain agreement or commitment has reached the point where it’s no longer useful. That may be true, and you may also be able to get yourself over the hump and continue on. How many times has this happened? How many times have you reached the point of maximum tolerance and/or frustration? If more than three times, you might consider that there’s more to life than frustration, and why you need anyone in the role of restrictor, enforcer or defender of the faith — yourself included.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Be conscious of a tendency to divide your personality to deal with feelings that are too intense to be comfortable. This is sometimes described as compartmentalization; sometimes it’s known as denial. The polar opposite tendency might be some form of confrontation, whether with yourself or someone else. Between these two extremes is plenty of room to maneuver. What will make it easier to do so is the idea that you can compromise on anything except how you feel. You can adapt your life patterns, your actions and to some extent, what you say. Yet how you feel is how you feel. That alone may be the issue, and if it is, if your emotional response or reaction to anyone or anything is what you’re grappling with, then start there. If you are direct with yourself about your anger, passion, rage or restlessness, you will be less likely to project the cause onto someone else and more likely to use your ability to choose.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — If you end up in the role of diplomat or mediator, you may be taking on more than you can handle, or at least more than you’re expecting. That said, you’re likely to take this role, if only because it feels natural and you’re up for a challenge. Therefore, be aware of the landscape that surrounds you. What appears to be a lack of balance is actually the result of some factor pushing the situation out of balance intentionally. Whomever or whatever this may be, it’s the one element of the equation that’s non-negotiable. I suggest therefore that you not try to negotiate with a typhoon, or try to become one to get a result. You may know the truth about something and notice that others are less than interested. Proceed in a way that works for you and that also serves the greater good — not in your opinion but in a documentable way. Vast forces are in motion all around you; please respect them.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — The way to move stuck sexual energy is to focus on feeling good about yourself. I don’t mean getting your nails and hair done. I mean acting in the world with courage and determination, and standing up for your most deeply held values in the situations where they matter. If there’s a situation involving what feels like an erotic blockage of some kind — a lack of dates, a stall-out in bed with your current partner or a lack of drive or desire — I would propose that it’s not what it seems. You may be taking way too much personal responsibility for what someone else is directing at you. You may be uncomfortable about how you would be perceived if you were freer with yourself and your desires — and this might not be merely a figment of your imagination. You still have the power to penetrate this and come out in a better place. I would remind you that if it’s liberation you seek, seek liberation within yourself first, and then share it.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You may be encountering the intractability of another person on an important matter, probably a domestic situation. Now is not the time to push the issue. By now, I mean over the next few days, tempting though it may be. This situation looks like a playback of family material, so the person who seems to be involved may be a sock puppet rather than an actual cause. I suggest that before confronting anyone or making a decision you cannot reverse, investigate the ways in which the matter is a projection of your inner reality. You may conclude that there are other causes or factors, but the astrology of the moment is pointing you within first, to seek a thorough review of your own emotional and psychological factors. Once you do that, and you’re fairly certain you’re not projecting, it will be far easier to address your concerns in a friendly, productive way — though I would suggest not before the middle of next week.

Hello Virgo — your birthday reading is ready! For $29.95, you’ll receive an hour of astrology in two segments and a tarot reading, plus access to an extended description for your sign, photos of the charts and tarot spread, plus access to last year’s reading so you can check my accuracy. Order here now.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You may be feeling extremely edgy, as if someone is following you with binoculars, or like everyone knows your secret fears. They don’t actually — you’re far more inscrutable than you think. What I suggest you guard against, meanwhile, is allowing others to dictate the terms of your relationship with yourself. This could happen over the next week or so as you find yourself moving through a series of challenging circumstances with colleagues or associates. What you have that they may lack (at least temporarily) is a sense of connection to the world; the priority that oneself is not the only thing that matters. If you find yourself in a disagreement with anyone, probe that as a possible source of the friction. You would be wise to associate with people who not only care about the world but who are actually doing something about it. Values are like talents — they are merely potentials until we put them to good use.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Over the next few days Venus leaves your sign and Mercury enters your sign. One implication is that it’s time to share with others how you really feel, rather than entertaining them with pretenses of any kind. Appearances can be important; we are now in a get-real moment. You may be concerned about how others who are more blunt than you are will react; what I suggest you pay attention to is your response to whatever they may be saying or doing. You face an ongoing challenge to speak up for yourself, accentuated by how powerful you perceive others as being. Yet their power is mediated by how you perceive them, your style of ommunication and more significantly how you relate to yourself. If you’re intimidated, people will seem powerful in ways that are disproportionate to reality. If you pluck up some courage and have a conversation about what really matters, they will seem more like your equal.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You have nothing to live up to except your own passion and drive to move forward. If you forsake that in service of an easy life, you may feel tossed around by forces outside your control. This is a moment to take authority over your life. You may be aware that once you do, that will have a cascade effect and you will need to make many decisions that you’ve put off, potentially for years. That alone might be enough to get you to decide that you’ll wait for the next opportunity to come along; you’ve had many and you may be assuming that many more are coming. Even if that’s true, there won’t be another moment like you have today. You may be hesitant to act on what you perceive as irritation, negativity or conflict, but you might ask what else would get you to make a decision. And you would probably get an answer that fits the current scenario, if you look at it honestly.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Make sure you’re playing a supportive role in the lives of the people around you. By supportive I mean something other than competitive; preferably collaborative. That would call on you to let go of what may be considerable anxiety, which seems to flare up every time you want to do something that taps into your determination and creative vision. Listen to the fear and don’t let it stop you. Listen and don’t put others into the role of rival. You may have the feeling that you and everything and everyone around you are balanced on a hair-trigger, and that if you say or do anything meaningful there will be an earthquake. You’ll have to be willing to test that theory to claim some emotional space, though a good start is reminding yourself, every time you feel a burst of anxiety or uncertainty, that you can act in modest ways to hold the world together — and you’ll feel better for doing so.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You may fear that the conversation will veer in the direction of sensitive issues or extremely private subject matter, and if that’s true then it’s exactly where I suggest you allow things to go. You want depth and many factors in your life are offering the opportunity to go there. I suggest you be mindful of how much you may fear your secrets getting out into the public. Indeed it may be your worst fear, but if you allow that to run your private life then you’re living like an emotional hostage. People care a lot less about your secrets than you may think. Everyone has plenty else on their mind; what you’re experiencing is the fear of an illusion. That said, there is a lot of relief to be gained when you stop caring about the views of others on your most private matters, or perhaps more to the point, when you decide you simply must be known for who you are.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may feel out of your element, or like a certain relationship situation is pushing you beyond your limits. Yet in a strange way you also might feel entirely comfortable with where you are. You’re moving through the emotions and demands of your situation more gracefully than you may reckon, and in many ways it’s bringing out the best in you. Still, I am sure you would appreciate some relief from the constant pressure, particularly where the necessities of a personal situation intersect with those of a professional one. It would be great if you could devote yourself to one or the other and really go in deep. Yet your astrology as it’s currently structured is suggesting that the opposite is true. As you toggle back and forth between commitments, you will gradually design your life in a way that integrates both and excludes neither.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You would be surprised the extent to which you’re living under an externally imposed belief system of some kind. It could be something installed by your parents, by teachers or by religion; it could go back much further than that, including being legacy material from institutions who have held down humanity for a long time. If you know this, you stand a decent chance of getting free from whatever this is. The way to do that is not to dissect or dismantle it but rather to make contact with what you value, and in particular, how radical it is in contrast to much of what you see, feel and hear going on around you. Make peace that you’re the weird one. Trust that even if you don’t have an influence on some of the stuffy people around you (which you do) that your determination to live your own truth is attracting people who appreciate you and whose company you will enjoy.

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Of Uranus, Pluto and Fragile Revolutions

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Dear Friend and Reader:

The developments of Arab Spring and the Uranus-Pluto square that precipitated it have taken another violent turn this week, as the Egyptian military killed more than 600 protesters and injured thousands in a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. As we go to press, many sources are reporting that the standoffs may be escalating and that there is more bloodshed expected.

The New York Times from Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013. Children of the future will be curious what a newspaper looked like. Photo by Eric.

Egypt’s armed forces invaded two protest camps in Cairo early Wednesday morning, firing teargas and assault rifles into the Occupy-like villages that were created in support of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, who was forced from power in early July.

In addition, the military attacked mosques and churches, while protesters retaliated by burning down government buildings with Molotov cocktails.

Morsi became president after the Arab Spring protests of 2011 in what have been described as the first free elections in Egypt’s long history. After a year and three days in office, a combination of massive protests and military action forced Morsi from power six weeks ago in what was essentially a publicly supported military coup. That the U.S. government has been reluctant to call it that seems to involve Pres. Obama not wanting to lose what little influence he has with the Egyptian military.

As soon has he says the word “coup” he must cut aid to Egypt, which would also mean cutting off communication with its military leaders. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security advisor under Pres. Carter, said that Obama is also attempting to hedge his bets on who will get into power. He said it was more likely that the military would eventually settle down and be open to discussions than the Muslim Brotherhood would be.

Since Morsi was ousted on July 3, his supporters, organized by a political party called the Muslim Brotherhood, have held demonstrations and set up two camps in Cairo and in many other cities. The military moved against the camps across the country simultaneously. NBC News reported that the death toll was higher outside of Cairo than it was within the capital.

Egyptians walk among the burned remains of the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo, Egypt, August 15, 2013.

One reason why this is an unexpected and particularly tragic development is that the Egyptian military has, until now, shown significant restraint through many long phases of citizen protests and government transitions, and had the reputation of being on the side of the people. In many tense situations they seemed to demonstrate impeccable restraint; as Egypt has gone through its gyrations they seemed to be the most dependable and even-handed element of the equation.

But this seems to have been an illusion — the Egyptian military has long existed as a self-serving entity, out only for its own interests. For example, PBS reported from Cairo last year that, “Most analysts and retired officers here say that the military’s increasingly brutal show of force foreshadows the fact that it is not likely to give up executive power easily in large part because it seeks to hold on to its sprawling economic interests — that stretch from industry to hotels to supermarkets and huge real estate portfolios.”

Now the military has created a state of domestic warfare, and quite possibly precipitated a full-on civil war. It’s worth stating that pro-Morsi protesters were aware that sooner or later, if they did not negotiate, they would be attacked. They may have been the ones with the plan, even if the government seemed to lack one. But that would only work if the Islamic Brotherhood is offered wide-scale the public sympathy that it anticipated following the massacre.

Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter

In the background of all current world events is a long-standing aspect called the Uranus-Pluto square. This consists of Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn. Both are slow-moving planets, and their cycle lasts well over a century.

Time that the attack on protesters began, according to a report in Wednesday’s New York Times. Other sources are putting it at “first light,” which is imprecise and hours earlier. View glyph legend here.

Uranus and Pluto formed a conjunction in 1965-66, which like all aspects between these two planets has effects that fan out for a decade or more. In many ways we are still living with the effects of cultural and political events that took place during that era. Yet some of the most productive gains under a Uranus-Pluto aspect are also the most fragile. The spirit that initially supported them can be difficult or impossible to sustain for long.

Slow-moving aspects like this can lurk in the background, influencing both the historical process and our individual lives invisibly. Then when faster-moving planets enter the aspect pattern, we have clear experiences that make the effect obvious.

Currently, Jupiter in Cancer is square Uranus in Aries and opposite Pluto in Capricorn. (One way I describe this kind of pattern is to say that the planet is “moving through the Uranus-Pluto square.” I give another example in the SKY column, below. Venus has just ingressed Libra and we’re about to have a grand cross pattern involving Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto.)

Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in the Egypt massacre chart are in what is called a T-square — planets at three points of a square. Wherever it manifests, this can represent a high-tension situation that is aching for resolution. The involvement of Jupiter in Cancer implies something that will come home. Home can be wherever an event happens, but I am concerned that there will be an emotional impact of this event that has a chilling effect on protests everywhere.

It will be interesting to see what happens as Venus in Libra completes the grand cross during the next couple of weeks. Venus, the fastest-moving planet in the mix, could become a target — or it could be a catalyst that invokes the love of justice.

Two Other Aspect Patterns

Another aspect pattern in the chart is Mars in late Cancer square Eris in late Aries. The aspect is approaching its exact alignment, which happens Friday. Applying aspects have a sensation of imminence or pressure that is seeking a point of release.

Headless quartzite statue of King Amenesse in the Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of Karnak in Luxor. Photo by Sarite Sanders.

Mars and Eris can both have violent tendencies, though Mars usually works through direct aggression and Eris through what is sometimes called ‘passive’ aggression. That really means covert operations or a sneak attack of some kind. We saw both of these at work in the attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood protest camps.

The last aspect pattern involves the ascendant and its ruler, Mercury. The chart has Virgo rising, making Mercury one of the chart rulers. Mercury is in Leo, making a square to the lunar nodes.

Anything square the nodes describes the nature of the turning point, or the tipping point. Mercury in Leo can have an adolescent or petulant quality. The government seemed, at least, to understand that unless stopped, such protests could gather momentum. Yet there were obviously more mature ways that the government could have addressed what it perceived as the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood protests.

Mercury is making contact with many planets: it’s semi-sextile Jupiter, trine Uranus, quincunx Pluto, loosely square Saturn and quincunx Chiron. And as mentioned it’s square the nodes, tying all those points into one complex pattern that is still in the process of unfolding.

A report in Thursday’s New York Times suggested that the assault on the protesters was not fully thought through by the government. I’ve been going back and forth on whether I think it was or was not. By this, I mean that I am questioning whether the effect — whatever comes next — was indeed planned and intentional. The square of Mercury to the nodes to me describes an incomplete deliberation process. It doesn’t really make sense to turn Muslims into martyrs, particularly if there are a lot of them around.

Yet there are other elements in the chart that suggest a deep degree of secrecy or conspiracy, and hint at a story that we will not know the truth of for at least one year (that’s my reading of the Sun, Vesta and Ceres in Leo and in the 12th house). There is a lot happening that we cannot see, and that 12th in many ways seems to contain the true motive of the action.

Pyramid of Khafre, on the Giza Plateau on the edge of Cairo, with the Sphinx in the foreground. Photo by Sarite Sanders.

Chiron in Pisces for its part is right on the descendant. It’s setting — that is, on the 7th house cusp — exactly at the moment of the incident. I am having some difficulty putting this into words, but Chiron in Pisces is such a bold statement of empathy and compassion, a reminder that this whole scenario was not necessary.

Chiron in Pisces is also one of the most vivid illustrations of the interconnectedness of all things. It is suggesting that in true quantum style, every factor influences every other factor. Chiron in Pisces is a picture of holographic reality — and it boldly stands out in this chart. As I’ve mentioned before, Chiron was in Pisces through the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the mid-1960s, and I believe that’s what provided the populist, inclusive, peace-and-love vibe of the era.

We need it now more than ever, given that the Uranus-Pluto square is in the cardinal signs Aries and Capricorn, which are considerably more assertive than where the Sixties conjunction took place — in Virgo.

As we continue to move through the Uranus-Pluto square, we need to wake up and remember this fact. We need to remember that all effects have causes and all actions have consequences, many of them ‘unexpected’ but still predictable if we pause and reflect for a moment.

Having studied the Uranus-Pluto cycle with some respect, I also know that whatever good emerges — the awakenings, the revolutions (whether of politics or of awareness) — it is all extremely fragile. They will need continual love and focus long after this aspect has passed, if we want to make any progress at all — if there’s to be any potential to rise up out of the darkness that is threatening to swallow the world.

Lovingly,

Venus in Libra: Where I Belong I’m Right

The Beatles song “Fixing a Hole” comes to mind with this weekend’s astrology.

As you may know, we’re in the era of a world transit — the Uranus-Pluto square. That’s a long-term event, with effects that will span from 2010 to 2020 plus or minus a few years: a big one. Uranus is in Aries; Pluto is in Capricorn.

Grand cross in the cardinal signs, which comes into full focus on Aug. 24. View a chart with all the planets. View glyph legend here.

This year, Jupiter joined the mix. It’s in Cancer, square Uranus and opposite Pluto. That’s a pattern called a T-square: three legs of a square are filled, in this case along the all-powerful cardinal cross — the signs that start the seasons. The cardinal signs represent dauntless initiative and connect with the “personal is political” Aries Point.

Yet this setup has had an empty spot, in Libra. This has felt like something was missing or out of balance. Especially with Libra being the missing leg of the cross, the whole theme of balance itself can describe the missing element.

That is, until now. Venus arrives in Libra on Friday, Aug. 16 at 11:37 am. Not only will there be the presence in Libra of a major planet, it’s also the ruling planet of the sign. Just the mention of the words “Venus in Libra” is enough to make any astrologer’s heart sing. It’s a beautiful placement, but a powerful one too, which is a good thing. Venus will need that strength to stand up to the many tasks ahead.

It starts its journey with an opposition to the Aries Point. That alone is news, and it could really be news — any time a particularly strong planet makes contact with the Aries Point we might see a distinct effect in the world, and I am sure some astrologers are speculating that the demise of New York City’s absurd “stop and frisk” policy sounds rather perfectly Venus in Libra.

But this story lasts a while. And I haven’t said what it’s a story about — except that it involves multifaceted Venus (affection, attraction, love, sex, creativity, attraction of pleasure and wealth) and a series of encounters with deep planets. Venus is in formidable company on the cardinal cross, and it will be making aspects to each of the planets already there. Venus is passing through the Uranus-Pluto square with the presence of Jupiter, which is also passing through the Uranus-Pluto square.

Here’s why that’s notable: The Uranus-Pluto square has a way of staying in the background, coloring the whole experience of existing within society in these years of our lives. Like all environments, it can be difficult to discern (ref: Marshall McLuhan: the environment is invisible, including what he called the media environment).

When another planet comes along and enters the aspect structure, as Jupiter has been doing, or as Venus is about to do, we can feel the background pattern more palpably because there is some contrast. In the case of Venus, there is an emotionally grounded, visceral, sensory presence that is calling attention to the slower-moving pattern.

Moss grows on Lot 1 of the Grandmother Land. Photo by Eric.

Venus is one of the most useful planets, perhaps second only to Chiron. It bestows gifts, talents and practical abilities on every level; next to Chiron it’s probably the most multifaceted planet, and unlike Chiron it doesn’t come with an edgy feeling.

Venus is giving us an opportunity to engage fully with the Uranus-Pluto square on every level. If you know your chart, consider where Libra is, and that will give you a clue about the most accessible ways for this to manifest. Said another way, Venus is giving us an opportunity to live and fully participate in these times in which we’re alive.

We need no thought of the future or the past right now: we’ve arrived at the destination, at the crossroads, and at one of the most interesting parts of the journey all at the same time.

In terms of specific details, in case you’re curious, here is the schedule of Venus aspects, which represent hotspots in the cycle. Remember, though, that this ride begins the moment that Venus ingresses Libra.

Venus ingresses Libra; opposite Aries Point on Aug. 16

Venus quincunx Neptune on Aug. 19

Venus square Pluto on Aug. 24

Venus opposite Uranus and quincunx Chiron on Aug. 26

Venus square Jupiter on Aug. 27

Venus ingresses Scorpio on Sept. 11

Venus (in Scorpio) square Mars (in Leo) on Sept. 28

Federal Judge Blocks Stop and Frisk as Racist

Monday’s decision by federal judge Shira A. Scheindlin on the New York City Police Department’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy was a major blow to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has made it a cornerstone of his crime-fighting policy over the past decade. [Note, Eric covers this in detail in the current edition of Planet Waves FM.]

Judge Scheindlin said the NYPD resorted to a “policy of indirect racial profiling” as it increased the number of stops in minority communities.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, center, walks with demonstrators June 17, 2012, during a silent march to end the “stop-and-frisk” program in New York City. Photo by Seth Wenig / Associated Press.

In her 195-page decision, she concluded that the stops, which soared to almost 200,000 per quarter in 2011 and began to decline last year, violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, as well as the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

In a new poll by The New York Times, New Yorkers are divided about whether the stop-and-frisk practice is acceptable or excessive. But as the judge said, the only issue before her is whether the policy was legal — not whether it was considered an effective police tool. And she pointed out that the resentment in the communities where it was practiced most was evidence that it was an intrusion on constitutional rights.

Yet the ruling rings true to many men of color, as expressed in this reader comment that appeared in response to a New York Times article:

I cried reading Scheindlin’s decision.

It is the first time in a long time I have read anything so officious that so clearly validates my experience, born and raised as a Black male living in New York City.

The affect that being watched due to my skin color has had upon me can barely be described. It is so deleterious, so pernicious, so violating, so omnipresent.

It is no wonder more Black men do not go mad from the constant surveillance and suspicion — the presumption that, since you exist, you are a criminal.

Sometimes the profiling is by the police. Other examples are as well known: the white woman who shirks when all I am about to do is nod hello; the cab driver speeding past my hail; the store owner’s omnipresent stare.

On some days, the weight of it all forces me to a place where I WANT to become Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” for it seems I am forever noticed, for the wrong reason. Today is not one of those days.

I wish I could go to Judge Scheindlin and in earnest embrace her. Not just for me, but for some I know who never made it. The history of injustices never reversed forced tears to well inside me when I read her decision that made visible my pain.

I am not to be profiled by the police, or anyone, as so much scum to be washed down the drain. I am Black, male and, today, unbowed by the caricature of a hooligan too often hoisted upon me.

Today, I am nothing more than, nothing less, than human. With rights.

Thank you, Judge Scheindlin.

— Tony Glover, New York

New Law Boosts Potential for Voter Suppression

In a move that has sparked lawsuits from civil rights activists, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill Monday requiring photo identification at the polls, along with gutting measures that would ensure minorities and others have a fair chance to vote.

Participants in an NAACP-led march in Raleigh, North Carolina, earlier this year weighed in against voter suppression. Photo by Sue Sturgis and used by the Institute for Southern Studies in their index of North Carolina voter statistics.

The bill will require voters to show photo identification — a driver’s license, passport, veteran’s ID, tribal card — beginning in the 2016 elections. The bill reduces early voting by one week, eliminates same-day registration, ends pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds and a student civics program, kills an annual state-sponsored voter registration drive and lessens the amount of public reporting required for so-called dark money groups, also known as 501(c)(4)s, according to an article in the Huffington Post.

The ACLU of North Carolina and a coalition of other groups filed a lawsuit against the bill, charging that it violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The North Carolina NAACP and Advancement Project followed shortly after, filing another lawsuit.

The bill has the potential to reduce turnout for key Democratic constituencies — minorities, the elderly and students. It’s the latest in a string of conservative legislation signed into law in the state, such as new restrictions for abortion clinics (attached to a motorcycle safety bill), which Planet Waves reported on here.

Seed Law Reform Sows Controversy in Argentina

A heated debate is brewing in Argentina over reform of the country’s seed laws, which pit those concerned about native seed and land preservation against the onslaught of Monsanto’s monoculture and GMO technology.

More than a year ago, the agriculture ministry said it would present a bill to overhaul a 1973 law on seeds that has been modified several times since the 1990s to accommodate the expansion of monoculture and genetically modified seeds. Two drafts have been drawn up, but a bill has not been introduced.

A protester standing outside the Monsanto headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, telling Monsanto to get out of Latin America during this year’s March Against Monsanto protests on May 25. Photo: Martin Zabala/Xinhua/Global Times.

The proposed reform is criticized by social and rural organizations and scientists that see it as an attempt to restrict farmers from saving or selling their own seeds for further planting.

In Argentina, the world’s third-largest producer of soy, around 98 percent of the crop is Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy, which is resistant to the company’s own glyphosate herbicide. GM soy is now Argentina’s chief export.

In addition, 80 percent of the maize grown in Argentina is transgenic.

Monsanto plans to build a new plant to produce GM maize seed in the central Argentine province of Cordoba in 2014, which will produce 60,000 tons of seed a year. Protests erupted in Cordoba last May during the March on Monsanto against this plant and the company’s presence in the province. An Argentinian survey revealed that 58 percent of the population does not want Monsanto in their area.

Carlos Carballo, professor of food sovereignty in the Agronomy Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires, said the expansion of GM seeds threatens the diversity of native seeds that are adapted to the soil and climate conditions of each region.

“Seeds aren’t merchandise; they are part of humanity’s heritage,” Carballo said.

BP Sues U.S. Government for New Contracts After Gulf Oil Spill

BP, one of the companies that in 2010 was responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill — among the greatest environmental disasters in U.S. history — and that pled guilty to manslaughter

in the deaths of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, believes it should be allowed to bid on new federal government contracts.

BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion in 2010 killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history, the ecological effects of which are ongoing. Photo: Reuters.

The company on Monday sought an injunction that would lift the November 2012 order by the Environmental Protection Agency suspending the company from such contracts.

The Houston Chronicle reported that BP said in court papers filed in Houston federal court that the EPA’s decision to suspend the company from such contracts and its continued enforcement of that order is arbitrary, capricious and “an abuse of discretion.”

BP in November 2012 also pled guilty for lying to Congress about the size of the spill from its broken well, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil into the water and onto the shores of Gulf states. A New Orleans federal judge in January accepted BP’s guilty plea, which also included the company paying a record $4 billion in penalties.

In a related case, Halliburton Energy Services, BP’s cement contractor on the Macondo well at the Deepwater Horizon rig, is set to plead guilty at a federal hearing on Sept. 19 to one count of destroying evidence after the oil spill in a deal with the Justice Department.

Halliburton also has agreed to pay the statutory maximum fine of $200,000, to be on probation for
three years and to cooperate with the government’s criminal investigation. It will not face criminal charges.

Snowden: Reporters and Sources Must Use Encrypted Email

In a portrait of documentary film maker Laura Poitras this week in the The New York Times, Peter Maass included his recent, encrypted interview with Edward Snowden, for whom Poitras served as intermediary. An award-winning filmmaker in the process of creating a trilogy about post-9/11 U.S. policy, it was Poitras who filmed the now famous interview between her collaborator, Glenn Greenwald, and Snowden in Hong Kong, last spring.

Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras in Berlin. Photo by Olaf Blecker for The New York Times.

Snowden initially reached out to Greenwald, but Poitras, herself a long time target of surveillance and expert in utilizing the encryption tools Snowden insisted upon, first established communication with him, after Greenwald did not respond to Snowden’s request and instructions for encrypted correspondence. Here is a sample of the interview:

“Peter Maass: Why did you seek out Laura and Glenn, rather than journalists from major American news outlets (N.Y.T., W.P., W.S.J. etc.)? In particular, why Laura, a documentary filmmaker?

Edward Snowden: After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power — the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government — for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism. From a business perspective, this was the obvious strategy, but what benefited the institutions ended up costing the public dearly. The major outlets are still only beginning to recover from this cold period.

Laura and Glenn are among the few who reported fearlessly on controversial topics throughout this period, even in the face of withering personal criticism, and resulted in Laura specifically becoming targeted by the very programs involved in the recent disclosures. She had demonstrated the courage, personal experience and skill needed to handle what is probably the most dangerous assignment any journalist can be given — reporting on the secret misdeeds of the most powerful government in the world — making her an obvious choice.”

At one point during Maass’ interview, Snowden said he was “surprised to realize that there were people in news organizations who didn’t recognize any unencrypted message sent over the Internet is being delivered to every intelligence service in the world. In the wake of this year’s disclosures, it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless.”

Canadian musician and “ukulele-based motivational speaker” James Hill teasing the audience with a few recognizable bars of hip hop on the “chronically underestimated” ukulele.

When is a ukulele not a ukulele? When it is played with chopsticks by James Hill — in which case, it becomes an amazing hip hop sound machine. Hill, who has performed around the world (including with the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra in New Zealand this past March), is a bit of a ukulele ambassador. Hill’s website is full of dates for performances and workshops, including his roving ukulele teacher certification program (most recently in Taipei and coming to Thailand next year). He’s a quirky yet impressive testament to the power of elementary school music programs.

Talking About Jealousy — Mercury Opposite Juno

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I take off on the themes associated with Mercury in Leo opposite Juno in Aquarius — in particular, questioning our presumptions about relationships, jealousy and possessiveness.

Jeff Bujak and Jen Dulong.

Juno in Aquarius represents intense social pressures to conform to cultural relationship norms. Aquarius can be as oppressive as it is freedom-seeking; with Juno that quality can be more dominant. Mercury in Leo represents the childlike desire to be an alive individual with your own ideas — coming right up against the past.

I also take a look at the Stop-and-Frisk decision. Our musical guest is Bujak, the ensemble created by Jeff Bujak featuring Jen Dulong.

Blue Studio Sessions:

How to Talk about Sex

The Planet Waves FM Blue Studio Sessions are back. Begun last autumn, this series of recordings is about the honest discussion of sex.

In tonight’s edition, Diva Carla Sanders and I talk about how to have conversations about sex, whether about pregnancy, STIs, or figuring out what kind of sex is appropriate to the relationship or encounter that you’re having. We talk about all the reasons not to have the conversation, how awkward it can be, and how to make it easier. This is the first conversation in a series. I believe it’s suitable and indeed essential material for young adults trying to make sense out of the sexual and relational landscape.

I make reference to several sex education webpages that you may find helpful. One is Scarleteen. Another is Everyday Feminism, which is not about sex ed per se but includes some good articles. I also recommend Solotouch because reading reader stories will give you a clue how diverse sexual experience and fantasy are. Read Solo for a while and you’ll figure out that you’re right in range of perfectly normal, no matter how weird you may think you are.

Older editions of Blue Studio Sessions are located here.

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

The extended monthly horoscopes for August were published Friday, July 26. Inner Space for August was published Friday, Aug. 2. On Tuesday, July 16, we published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Aquarius Full Moon. We published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Leo New Moon on Tuesday, Aug. 6. We will publish the Moonshine horoscopes for the Aquarius Full Moon Tuesday Aug. 20. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscopes on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space usually publishes the following Tuesday.

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, #962 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You are not as insecure as you think. But the question lately seems to be how to stop rattling your own cage, then reacting as if someone else is doing it. There is a friendly influence in your life at the moment, someone genuinely attracted to you and also sensitive to who you are. I suggest you treat this situation gently, with a spirit of appreciation and curiosity. It would be easy to look at these charts and advise you to tone yourself down — I am not saying that, however. What I am saying is pay attention to who this person is, how they feel and how they arrived where they are today. There’s part of your story being told by whoever this is, which is one reason why I suggest you listen carefully. The other reason is that opening your ears is the easiest way to open your heart, and if your heart is open, the people around you will feel more welcome, which is good for everyone.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You seem to be leaning on a mountain, hoping it will move. You are the one who needs to move or allow yourself to be moved, though it may seem as if everything will come unraveled if you do. Actually, this is an excellent time for you to address certain emotional subject matter you’ve avoided or forgotten about. The current conditions of the sky make this an ideal time to take some bold initiative on your healing process, particularly involving two vital subject areas: one is relationships. You seem ready to confront some dark idea you have in the approximate area of ‘need’ — being needy, others being needy, or so on (that one word being one of the worst contemporary insults). Second is work. It’s time for you to confront one particular fear associated with your talent in any form, and demonstrate that the fear or insecurity you experience points directly to a source of energy that you must take over and make your own.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The topic you’re avoiding may be easier to write about. I was reminded of this in a conversation with a mom about how her daughter prefers to text to her about certain subject matter she would never speak out loud. There are certain circumstances when a face-to-face conversation is imperative. Writing allows a certain emotional distance, the ability to revise your ideas and to get your thoughts in order. It’s possible to take yourself through the evolution of your ideas as you go through a revision process. That in turn could make it easier to speak about something when the time comes. Now, here is the problem with writing: Unlike the spoken word, it lasts a while. It’s there for others to see. It might outlive you. It’s the record of what you think and know at a given time. As such, it serves as a form of your conscience. You might change your mind, but there would be less denying where you came from on the way to where you’re going. You might find this quality helpful right now, since these things matter.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Mars in your sign is acting like an irritant leading you to get a thicker skin and develop some resistance to the insults and injuries doled out so generously by the world. One potential problem with Mars in your sign (Cancer, in particular) — as you’ve no doubt noticed — is that it can come with a measure of defensiveness. Yet you can learn a lot from studying your responses to people and situations. These include what happens when you encounter authority, be it your own or that of someone else. You’re also in an extended moment of working out the specifics of whether and how you trust women. But there’s a bigger theme. To me, your charts look like a story of getting repeated shocks into understanding that your use of power must not be self-serving. It’s necessary to look after your own interests sufficiently to do what you have to do — but that’s different. Now more than ever, your credo must be: Serving the greatest good for all concerned.

Leo readers: your birthday report is ready! You can read a little more about your 2013-2014 birthday reading here — or go straight to this page to order instant access. That’s an hour of astrology plus a tarot reading by Eric Francis for only $29.95.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — What is the secret you’re clinging to that you don’t want to reveal? It’s not as bad as you think. It may not even be your material that’s troubling you — it could be that of a relative who influenced you (such as with their ideas about marriage or the rules you supposedly have to follow in relationships). Those rules, guidelines or expectations have reached a practical limit. That limit can be a building block as effectively as it can be a limit. So the choice is yours, though clearly, some of the responsibility resides with a partner as well. One thing you may be coming up against is that person’s history of abuse. For a long time (since around 2005) they’ve been on a path of working that into a more evolved place, and it’s at the point where a spiritual solution is on the verge of possible. Still, there is one level of programming that seems to be taking its sweet time, and there are days you may have the feeling that it’s intractable. That, too, is not as bad as you think.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — It may seem impossible for you to describe your situation, though you’ll have clues coming in the form of your physical and mental health. The feelings, symptoms and conditions you may be experiencing relate directly to the material you’re trying to process. You do look a bit like the boa constrictor trying to digest an elephant. I would offer that whatever psychic material you’re working through is not entirely your own, or not yours at all. I don’t say this as a means of absolving your responsibility for dealing with it in some way. Rather, I offer this idea because it might provide you with the incentive to come up with a new strategy for how to do so, with this additional information. The fact that you’re the one facing the scenario gives you the choice for how to do so. You have figured out at least once, probably at least three times, that denial is not the answer — though it remains an appealing temptation. Events of the next few days will demonstrate clearly that there are much better options.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — There are challenges that come with being oneself. While many influences tell us how wonderful it is to be authentic and in your integrity and all of that, few reveal what a pain in the ass it can be. If you’re ever wondering why authenticity is not more popular, that’s my theory — it’s not easy, and it comes at a cost. It is, however, considerably more convenient to be open and clear with the world voluntarily than it is to be so under some form of duress. I suggest you practice, which is to say, make a practice of full disclosure, and willingness to have the whole conversation. To do this, you’ll have to be willing to give up some aspect of your image, or self-image; the grit of reality and the polish of public relations do not mix well. The practice will serve you well. Over the next few weeks you will find yourself in situations compelling you to be increasingly real, with yourself and with others. It would be excellent if you were to emphasize that point as a matter of choice before you have to.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — There is no pre-existing belief system that just fits a person. Even if someone claims there is, it’s likely that they are making custom modifications, additions and/or granting themselves exceptions to the rules. This doesn’t mean that the world is ruled by anarchy, though it’s a common phobia that “without all these rigid laws and policies (most of them grounded in religion) the world would descend into chaos.” Actually, we could use a little more chaos rather than a little less. Most of the pain the world is in right now is due to an excess of order rather than of flexibility. You can afford to be less dogmatic and more creative about the ideas you depend on to run your life. The more pressure you put yourself under to believe something, or to comply with the beliefs of others, the more chaos you will create. I would remind you that ideas about sex and religion are a dangerous blend, and both have a way of being invisible. I suggest you open your eyes.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — If your desire nature or ability for exchanging love with others keeps getting caught in your security issues, you now have a welcome moment of relief. But you won’t be able to experience it until you dare to say or do something that you could not bring yourself to do in the past. What I’m suggesting is that you return to the scene of a boundary that you could not cross and see how it feels to be there and to consider going over it. This is better than being picked up and carried, or met at the gate by someone willing to hold your hand. The difference is that you get to be the one making the decisions, and you get to have the satisfaction of taking the risk successfully. This is a good time to question what you’re so worried about. I would propose that you’re more irked by the possibility of good things happening than you are about bad things.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Shadows may keep arising in your relationships — the feelings and perceptions you don’t want to be there but that somehow persist. This may be the thing that’s driving you to try to get control over that which ultimately cannot be controlled. As this goes on, you might discover that it gets harder to have a grip on your emotions or the feelings of others. I suggest that you engage directly with whatever you think is the thing you want to avoid the most. You may fear that you’re smaller than whatever it is you’re worried about, but you won’t know until you meet it in a conscious way. This doesn’t need to be a confrontation; it would be wise of you to approach from the edges and work your way into the subject matter gently but with some resolve. Remember that shadow is not a thing in itself; it’s the absence of light. The strongest light in the universe is that of awareness.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may feel like someone is trying to reveal the deepest flaws in your fears or sense of betrayal. Part of this sensation is an internal phenomenon. Something inside you, some set of conditions or the results of past experiences, is becoming undeniable, and you may feel like everyone else can see and feel your thoughts. This, in turn, could have you feeling a bit paranoid or edgy. When someone actually can perceive your situation clearly, that is likely to arrive with a sensation of strength, being willing to rise to a challenge, or as noticing someone is an example that you want to take on. You still may feel a bit nervous at the prospect. Yet that’s a different experience than the paranoia that your weaknesses will be revealed and taken advantage of. At this stage of your life, I would propose that you be honest about the issues you’re addressing, as well as their histories. You will feel better and safer for being known than for trying to conceal your reality.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Given the choice between focusing your energy on healing or pleasure, I suggest you opt for pleasure. It’s just as healing as anything else, especially now. Given the choice between taking on more responsibility or expressing yourself creatively, I suggest you go for passion rather than duty. Given the choice between taking care of yourself or others, take care of yourself first. Your sense of passion is, at least at the moment, closely tuned to or synchronized with the deeper levels of necessity than what you will encounter in the work-a-day world. You may need to guide yourself into that frame of reference, however, making a series of choices until you find an easy opening. This may take some gentle persistence but it’s easier than solving the Rubik’s Cube with your eyes open. In fact you are incredibly perceptive at the moment, and if you look through both your normal sense and your Piscean ‘extra’ senses, and have a good idea of what you want, you are very likely to find whatever that is.

The Washington Post: An American Story

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Just hours before the Leo New Moon, the owners of The Washington Post announced that they had sold the paper to Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com.

While everyone said they were shocked, The Post had been struggling, and seeking a buyer, for a while. Nobody could be that surprised that the money to buy the paper came from the industry that has all but swallowed print media — the Internet.

The historical development that The Washington Post helped create — the resignation of Richard Nixon, after 18 months of relentless coverage of Watergate by Woodward and Bernstein.

The Post, founded in 1877, went through a succession of owners before it was purchased at a bankruptcy auction in 1933 by financier Eugene Meyer during the Great Depression.

Meyer had served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930-1933, and then served as the first president of the World Bank Group — that is, the World Bank. So the 80-year history of Meyer-Graham control of the paper begins with an investment by someone who could legitimately be called part of the global elite.

What is interesting is that the paper became one of the liberal bastions of American journalism, and was sometimes referred to as “Pravda on the Potomac.” FBI big boss J. Edgar Hoover said he never read the thing, because it reminded him of Worker’s World, a socialist newspaper.

Meyer restored the paper to vitality and served as its publisher until 1946, when he was appointed as president of the World Bank. He passed the reins to his son-in-law, Philip Graham. He was a striking and charismatic figure inside the Beltway, and a successful businessman, expanding the newspaper’s holdings vastly. And he was a symbol of the new young elite of the early 1960s, the Camelot era.

As he grew older, however, Graham developed mental illness. In her memoir, his widow Katharine Graham said that her husband drank heavily and lapsed into periods of depression, and also suffered severe manic episodes. He was in and out of mental hospitals. During one hospital stay in August 1963, he convinced his doctors to let him take a break. He went home and shot himself with a .28-gauge shotgun.

Katharine Graham, member of the global elite who did not act like one. Photo courtesy of The Washington Post.

His suicide cast a pall over the capital that was still looming like storm clouds on the day that John F. Kennedy was shot just three months later. Two of Washington’s most dynamic socialites were dead.

Katharine Graham was not an extrovert or anyone with the inherent desire to lead a company, much less be in a position of national authority. But she overcame her anxieties and, with trust in the paper’s editors, she led the newspaper through its most important phase in the early 1970s.

She had the guts to incur the wrath of Richard Nixon, and published the Pentagon Papers in 1971 — the leaked documents proving that the Vietnam War was constructed on false pretenses by the U.S. government. The New York Times was the first to publish articles based on the Pentagon Papers, but The Post’s coverage was considered just as meaningful.

Nixon sued both The Times and The Post, attempting to block publication of articles about the leaked documents — in advance, known as prior restraint — but in neither case would the courts allow the censorship to take place. The judge who got The Post’s case refused to sign an injunction.

The Times’ case made it to the Supreme Court, where Justice Hugo Black famously wrote, “Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.”

From left to right, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and their editor, Ben Bradlee, in The Washington Post’s newsroom.

If The Times outshined the Post on its coverage of the Pentagon Papers, the Post more than made up for it in its coverage of the Watergate scandal. Though the story is credited to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, as well as executive editor Benjamin Bradlee, it was Katharine Graham who, behind the scenes, made sure that the story stayed in the paper. It’s easy for the top leadership of a company to balk at something like going after such a powerful figure as Nixon, but she had the courage to go forward.

John Mitchell, Nixon’s attorney general, famously warned Bernstein that “Katie Graham’s gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that’s published.” In the end, of course, it was Nixon’s tit that got caught in the wringer of reality.

While we are on the topic of Watergate, it’s worth adding one point. This was not the story of a “second rate burglary,” as Nixon apologists still like to say. The arrests for the break-in unraveled a vast conspiracy starting in the brain of Richard Nixon, extending into the FBI, the IRS, and the manipulation of the 1972 Democratic primary and the general election. It was a web of evil so wide, few would think it safe to believe it was real, much less to do something about it.

To me, the story of The Washington Post as we know it is the story of an American family going through what so many families go through, which is dealing with human reality in the midst of running a very challenging business. But when I think of The Post I think of Katharine Graham’s steadfastness and courage in leading the newspaper through many, many dangerous moments, and having the guts to do what few publishers would do today. She did this rising above the grief of losing her beloved husband to suicide, one of the most painful scenarios that a survivor can go through.

Girl reads news of the Moon landing in The Washington Post in 1969. Viral image.

Her family’s ownership had its roots in the elite governing powers of the country and indeed the world, but she did not act that way. She did what she thought was right, at potentially enormous peril to herself, her company and her fortune.

Now the paper has been purchased by Jeff Bezos, one of the wealthiest men on Earth.
He was someone who had a vision of what the Internet could be. He pitched the idea for Amazon.com to the hedge fund where he was working, and when they passed on the idea, he quit and started the company himself.

In founding Amazon, Bezos took advantage of a new ruling that said that companies did not have to charge sales tax in states where they did not have a physical presence. He turned an online bookstore into an online shopping mall and eventually into one of the most powerful data management companies in the world.

It’s also one that is involved with the shadow U.S. government. The company was recently awarded a $600 million contract to build a secure cloud storage facility for the CIA. It was Amazon, if you recall, had kicked WikiLeaks off of its servers when Julian Assange was a focus in the news — it’s now clear where Bezos’ real loyalty was.

Amazon has the same spotty record as just about any other multinational company. One glaring example of its treatment of workers comes out of a facility in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

The Morning Call newspaper reported in 2011, “Workers said they were forced to endure brutal heat inside the sprawling warehouse and were pushed to work at a pace many could not sustain. Employees were frequently reprimanded regarding their productivity and threatened with termination, workers said.”

“Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions? Will you bluff it out when you’re wrong, or will you apologize?” Bezos speaks to Princeton’s class of 2010. Photo: Oprah.com.

Instead of putting air conditioning in the facility, “During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress,” continuing, “An emergency room doctor in June called federal regulators to report an ‘unsafe environment’ after he treated
several Amazon warehouse workers for heat-related problems. The doctor’s report was echoed by warehouse workers who also complained to regulators, including a security guard who reported seeing pregnant employees suffering in the heat.”

We don’t really know what Bezos’ plans for the newspaper are; we do know that he predicted the end of printed newspapers within 20 years, except maybe a few specimens for select clients of posh hotels — kind of like the endangered species dinner. It doesn’t look like The Washington Post is going to be Pravda on the Potomac. But that is just an educated guess.

The astrology of The Post, of Bezos and of the transaction is worth a look. I plan to go over the charts in Tuesday’s edition of Planet Waves FM.

Lovingly,

Additional research: Sarah Victoria Emory. For an interesting discussion of the advertising-based model of newspapers in the context of The Post’s sale to Bezos, visit this page on Planet Waves FM and check the entry by Ezra Klein.

This week’s news briefs were written and researched by Alison Beth Levy, Amanda Painter, Susan Scheck, Carol van Strum and your friendly neighborhood news editor, Eric Francis. Fact checking support by Jessica Keet, Alex Miller, Len Wallick and our Thursday night Fact Checker list. If you want to help with that project, please write to me.

Getting Serious: Mercury square Saturn

Mercury has been working its way through late Cancer, still settling down from its recent retrograde. A lot came out in the wash when Mercury stationed direct on July 20, as if deeper layers of emotional and mental reality suddenly opened up in a downpour.

This has been driven by more going on in the water signs than we’ve seen in years: Jupiter, Pallas, Mars, Saturn, the North Node, Neptune and Chiron are all in water signs (as was Mercury until yesterday), and many of these factors are slow-movers.

Chart for Mercury square Saturn (be flexible, and act your age), which happens to fall on the anniversary of a famous total solar eclipse — the grand cross and total solar eclipse of 1999. We still have two articles about that event — Thinking of You on Judgment Day and Flashpoints: The Continuation of Burning Man (a 1999 diary).

Water can be a challenging element in our over-dry society on our drying-out planet. It’s the constant challenge to feel, a challenge that nearly every factor in our society guides us to evade. As part of that evasion, we are pushed to remain immature and distracted, and to keep our true opinions to ourselves.

Mercury has been in Cancer since May 31. That’s a long time for fast-moving Mercury to be in one sign, especially a water sign; in the water signs, Mercury can lack objectivity and the ability to perceive multiple viewpoints (Pisces may be an exception).

Mercury in Cancer can be self-absorbed and subjective, and come with the sense that one’s own feelings are what should (or do) dominate existence. Interest in the feelings of others can be compromised, if it’s there at all.

On Thursday, Mercury changed signs to Leo. I think we’re feeling that shift, especially since we’ve lived with Mercury in one sign for 10 weeks, through its full retrograde cycle. Remember, this is the year that Mercury is spending more than half its time in water signs, due to its retrogrades in Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio.

Mercury in Leo can be the bright idea, but it also comes with its own cautions, which include some of that subjectivity and also pride in one’s knowledge. That can include thinking you know when you’re actually not so sure. Note that our culture is based on the “fake it till you make it” intellectual model rather than the “beginner’s mind” model.

While Leo has a fixed quality and can get stuck in a viewpoint, it has the advantage of an association with children and childhood, meaning there’s a touch of that beginner’s mind quality available. But it may not be so easy to access if it’s hidden inside a petulant or adolescent quality. That can take many forms, from bullying to an obsession with entertainment. The solar quality of Leo is pushing Mercury to grow up and not be so proud or opinionated.

What don’t you think you should talk about? Photo by Eric Francis, 2006, St. Gilles, Belgium.

Fortunately, there’s a kind of check-stop included in the astrology: over the weekend, Mercury makes a square to Saturn. That is a moment of ‘grow up and get serious’ — which I would count as the bogeyman of modern society. For all our talk about authenticity, nothing clears the room faster than someone getting real. Squares are not popular aspects, but they may be the most useful. They are leverage points, and potential moments of awakening, when something relevant happens.

What Mercury is running into is a square to Saturn in Scorpio. With this placement, there’s always the question of the role of what is unsaid, taboo or presumed to be in the realm of secrecy. If you’re stumbling over something, consider the possibility that it might be something you’re not saying, whether because you’re unwilling or afraid to say it — or because it runs into the values or objections of an adult from your past, who is still influencing you today.

That is a large category of topics, especially where Scorpio (the sign of sex, evolution, transformation and death) is concerned. If you’re in a dialog and you don’t know what it’s about, or if it seems to get stuck, consider all of the things that you were told must remain unsaid, and the cost you pay for not speaking up.

Sometimes it seems to make sense that these topics be veiled in an impenetrable taboo. The question to ask, I would propose, is why.

Rounding Out the Boundaries
The Land Preservation Projects of Bob Anderberg

By Eric Francis Coppolino

When Mohonk Preserve wants to expand its land holdings, they often depend on the services of a man named Robert K. Anderberg, a former trustee of the Preserve and currently general counsel of the Open Space Institute (OSI). [The Preserve recently lost another case involving an attempted land acquisition; see related story from Planet Waves last week.]

Anderberg’s land acquisition playbook includes purchasing the mortgage out from under a neighbor and foreclosing on them, setting up front companies to do transactions, buying land from someone who doesn’t own it, claiming land by adverse possession (squatter’s rights) and setting the Preserve’s neighbors up for costly litigation, sometimes pitting them against one another.

Waterfall at Smitty’s Dude Ranch. Photo by Eric Francis.

There are many examples of this over the years where Anderberg acted as land acquisition agent for Mohonk Preserve. Several of them focus on one particular property formerly called Smitty’s Dude Ranch.

Once owned by Wilbur Smith, it was a mecca for hippies and nature lovers, who would turn out in droves every weekend and hang out naked by the stream. But by the mid-1980s, Smith was in foreclosure and was facing the potential auctioning off of his land. The end of an era was drawing near. Mohonk wanted the land and was watching carefully.

When I interviewed Smith for Woodstock Times, he told me that at the time, he was exhausted from repeated attempts by the Mohonk Preserve to take his property or prevent him from using it. He didn’t have the money or the skills to defend himself, so he sold the ranch to Karen Pardini and Michael Fink, his old friends who were frequent visitors to Smitty’s. Ultimately they saved him from foreclosure and made sure that he got at least some money from the sale of his property rather than none at all.

In 1985, while Smith was still owner, Seward Weber, the new executive director of Mohonk Preserve, filed his last quarterly report of the year. “A major challenge and opportunity faces the Preserve in that the first and second mortgage holders on Smitty’s Ranch plan to foreclose on that property about the middle of December,” Weber wrote to his board of trustees.

“Bob Anderberg is studying ways the MP might obtain this land which I am sure everyone realizes is of critical importance to us since it is contiguous, large (over 200 acres) and contains the most attractive stretch of the Coxing Kill including a waterfall,” he wrote.