Category Archives: Planet Waves FM

Scorpio, the Elections & Big Astrology

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


As we go deeper into this most unusual, challenging and potentially troubling phase of history, intelligence is the thing we need the most. That is the theme of the 2019-2020 annual edition of Planet Waves, now available for pre-order.


Hey Scorpio — the astrology segments of your 2018-19 Scorpio birthday reading by Eric are now available for instant access. Order today to lock in the current price.


efc181111

Eric Francis in The Place of the Way studio.

Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight’s edition of Planet Waves FM is the season finale. I’ll be taking regular editions off for two or three weeks — though I will be back on Thanksgiving morning with a musically-focused holiday special.

Tonight’s edition surveys the sky, considering Jupiter in Sagittarius, Venus direct, Mercury retrograde and Mars entering Pisces.

I give a roundup of election news, including a bunch of exciting local stories in a segment researched by Amanda Painter, and consider the ethics of asking someone you might work with out on a date.

Planet Waves FM is sponsored by you — your contributions, one-time or monthly, make this program possible. If you’re interested in being a major donor — sponsoring a special project, a category of expense, or a staff member, please give me a ring at (845) 481-5616.

Continue reading

Special Election Edition: History Will Teach Us Nothing

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


If you’re looking for intelligent, commercial-free coverage of the election returns, we suggest you tune into Democracy Now!

Eric did two mini-editions for the Pacifica Network: a short piece on election astrology, and then a summing up of the voting experiences of Planet Waves listeners.


Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight is the special election edition of Planet Waves FM. I look at two topics sure to be a big hit on Thanksgiving: the astrology of the election, and also of the presidential election of 2020, and the influence of Evangelical religion on American politics.

nov4-40-2018

Photographer Stacy Platt is our special guest tonight.

The program includes an interview with Stacy Platt, a professor of photography at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She is doing a project, independent of the university, involving documenting the 400 Evangelical churches in her city. She is also interviewing people who consider themselves “exvangelicals” — essentially, refugees of the Christian movement.

You may visit Stacy’s website here. There is an invitation to participate in the project.

Housekeeping note: I will be doing a program next Sunday, then taking a break for Thanksgiving. That will include a Bob Dylan-themed show distributed on Thanksgiving Day. I am planning to take two Sunday nights off.

Planet Waves FM is published by Chiron Return, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, which is part of the Pacifica Radio Network. We are supported by your generous contributions, large and small, which are starting to add up each month and cover the costs of the program.

Thank you for your support. All contributions are fully tax-deductible if you live in the U.S. If you want to be a major donor and sponsor an entire project or staff member, you’re welcome to contact me directly.

Continue reading

Down to the Wire: Of Bombs and Elections

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


As we go deeper into this most unusual, challenging and potentially troubling phase of history, intelligence is the thing we need the most. That is the theme of the 2019-2020 annual edition of Planet Waves, now available for pre-order.


Hey Scorpio — the astrology segments of your 2018-19 Scorpio birthday reading by Eric are now available for instant access. Order today to lock in the current price.


oct28-40-2018fm

Dear Friend and Listener:

Last week, I ended the program with the song “Bombs” by Faithless, having no idea what was about to happen.

In tonight’s Planet Waves FM, I reach out to all Scorpios and others who are feeling this Venus retrograde as some extreme experience of struggle, discomfort or weirdness. There’s no rush; I take my time with that one.

In the second segment, I look at the news of the past week, which included a kind of hoax bomb campaign, a synagogue shooting, the president spouting his toxic word soup like Linda Blair spewing green pea soup in The Exorcist — and most significantly, how to cope with this kind of dark intensity nearly all the time. You did not sign up to be a war correspondent, but you may feel like one.

I look at the chart of Neil Young, the consummate Scorpio (with an Aquarius Moon), and we feature some of his songs to illustrate who this truly unusual person is (chart is below, at full scale).

Continue reading

Scorpio Venus Retrograde Conjunct the Sun

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


Eric has completed his 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy, an excellent 12-sign audio set covering Venus retrograde, a review of Mars retrograde and more. Order all 12 signs for best value, or choose your individual signs.


The Sun entering Scorpio is met by Uranus, the jumper cables of the solar system, in the first degree of Taurus. How can you use this energy to kick into gear? Your 2018-19 Scorpio birthday reading by Eric will help you find the answers.


Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight on Planet Waves FM, I begin with a look at Venus retrograde in Scorpio, which is making its interior conjunction to the Sun on Friday. I’ve covered this in tonight’s subscriber edition as well; I’ll be exploring the themes of projection, acknowledgment of what you feel and what you want, I-statements, and seeing things from the viewpoint of the other.

oct21-40-2018fm

Chan Marshall, who records as Cat Power, considered moving away and leaving music behind when she got pregnant. Instead she started work on her new album, “Wanderer.” Photo by Ryan Pfluger. Read recent coverage of Marshall in The New York Times, which includes a sample from her new album, “Wanderer.” We feature her today as part of Faithless.

I’ll then offer a look at the news, in these last weeks before the U.S. midterm elections.

The second half of the program is an extended Tantra Studio, featuring a conversation with Planet Waves FM listener Michelle Commesso. She is a mother of four children, and explains her philosophy of educating her kids about the most challenging topics of our day, from rape culture, to how to know what you want, to the basics of sex education.

Our music today is from Faithless, featuring the women who have offered their vocal and writing talent to the British collective: Cat Power, Dido, and Zoe Johnston (as well as Harry Collier).

Planet Waves FM is published by Chiron Return, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, which is part of the Pacifica Radio Network. We are supported by your generous contributions, large and small, which are starting to add up each month and cover the costs of the program. All contributions are fully tax-deductible.

Thank you for being a one-time donor or monthly supporter. Here is how to contribute.

Chiron Return’s projects include Planet Waves FM, The Gemstone File resource for activists and reporters, and the forthcoming Investigative Reporting from the Kitchen Table. Look for a letter surveying our readers for their interest in this class, which I plan to begin in late winter.

Continue reading

In the Nature of Healing

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


Eric has now completed the first four signs of his 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Order all 12 signs now for just $88 — we will increase the price soon.


This year’s Libra equinox was accompanied by an extraordinary aspect to Chiron, and will be followed in less than two weeks by Venus retrograde. Find out what potential this offers for you or the Libra you love when you order the 2018-19 Libra birthday reading by Eric. Check out more recent and new readings here.


Dear Friend and Listener:

In tonight’s first segment, I tell the story of the first few years of my work as a professional astrologer, when I was introduced to the grief of women: their experiences of transgression and personal loss, and how I learned to work with them.

sept30-2018

Thom Yorke performing recently at Madison Square Garden. Photo by Eric Francis.

In the second segment, I look at the current astrology, including Venus stationing retrograde. Then I move on to a discussion of what happened last week at the Senate Judiciary Committee, followed by a detailed reading of the chart of Thom Yorke, followed by a short Tantra Studio.

Planet Waves FM is run on a nonprofit, noncommercial basis and is supported exclusively by your generous donations. Our publisher is Chiron Return and we are part of the Pacifica Radio Network.

If you listen to this program regularly, please chip in a dollar or $10 or whatever you can afford, to help us pull this program together. Thank you to all of you who make monthly donations and for the many generous one-time gifts we’ve received.

It is truly my pleasure to create this space to hang out each week, with space to think, and with no commercial interruptions and no special agenda except to look honestly at the world within us and around us.

Continue reading

Mega Edition: The Boss, the Full Moon and the Showdown

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


Eric’s 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy-Pathos, is now available for pre-order. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Pre-order all 12 signs now for just $88 — we will increase the price very soon.


This year’s Libra equinox is accompanied by an extraordinary aspect to Chiron, and followed in a few weeks by a rare Venus retrograde. Find out what opportunities this offers for you or the Libra you love when you order the 2018-19 Libra birthday reading by Eric. Check out more recent and new readings here.


Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight, I have a monster edition of Planet Waves FM for you. We can hang out the entire evening, or even for a few days!

420px-Bruce_Springsteen_-_Roskilde_Festival_2012

I begin with an overview of the show, and coverage of the Full Moon in Aries — which is conjunct Chiron and Salacia; square Hebe, Niobe, Vesta and Saturn; and opposite Mercury, the Sun and monster galaxy M87. You could not ask for more!

In the second segment [beginning at 50 minutes], I study the politics and the astrology of the confrontation between Christine Ford and Brett Kavanaugh, who is accused of sexual misconduct as a 17-year-old. I look behind the obvious and consider how this is single combat over the issue of Roe v. Wade, as Kavanaugh would be the deciding vote on that issue. But neither Democrats nor Republicans can state their true position.

In the third segment [beginning at about one hour and 30 minutes], I interview Peter von Stackelberg, co-author of The Gemstone File document collection, which I was involved with publishing last year (and many of you helped pay for with your generous donations).

This collection, accessible online, makes available to everyone documents from the files of Monsanto, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Westinghouse, the Navy, the Air Force and the EPA, many of which come from my collection.

Continue reading

Astrology of Paul Manafort and Pres. Trump

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


Eric’s 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy-Pathos, is now available for pre-order. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Pre-order all 12 signs now for just $77 — we will increase the price soon.


Hey Virgo — Saturn is providing a solid foundation in Capricorn, your creative 5th house, and Uranus in fellow earth-sign Taurus is jazzing up your house of spirituality and travel. Order your 2018-19 birthday reading by Eric to discover how you can harness these energies. Check out more recent and new readings here.


In tonight’s edition, I look closely at the charts of Paul Manafort and Donald Trump. Manafort is the former campaign chairman who was recently convicted of eight counts of fraud, then last week turned state’s evidence and pleaded guilty to the lot of what the special counsel had charged him with.

sept16-40-2018

Paul Manafort, Pres. Trump’s former campaign chairman. He reached a plea deal with the special counsel’s office on Thursday, according to news reports. Photo by Andrew Harnik.

I got Manafort’s data through a mutual friend, so we know it’s reliable. I look at both his and Trump’s natal and progressed. Here’s the chart file for Trump and the chart file for Manafort.

Much of the program is about the Venus and Mars retrogrades and what I see them describing.

I begin, though, with some housekeeping related to the end of my sabbatical, which is now officially over. The daily horoscope resumes one week from today, and I am about to record EMPATHY-PATHOS, which will, if all goes well, come in within a few days of the equinox.

Please note I’ve sent a special letter to all of our customers tonight. If it didn’t arrive in your inbox, here is a link.

Planet Waves FM is distributed without profit by Chiron Return, Inc. We are part of the Pacifica Radio Network. Please support our efforts with a recurring or one-time donation in any amount. We are an official nonprofit corporation; all donations are a tax write-off. If you cannot afford money, please post our programs to social media and forward them to your friends.

Continue reading

What You Must Know on this Virgo New Moon

Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.


Eric’s 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy-Pathos, is now available for pre-order. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Pre-order all 12 signs now for just $57 — we will increase the price very soon.


Hey Virgo — Saturn is providing a solid foundation in Capricorn, your creative 5th house, and Uranus in fellow earth-sign Taurus is jazzing up your house of spirituality and travel. Order your 2018-19 birthday reading by Eric to discover how you can harness these energies. Check out more recent and new readings here.


Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight’s Planet Waves FM is devoted to the Virgo New Moon and Venus in Scorpio. I begin with an urgent message about Brett Kavanaugh, who has been nominated to the Supreme Court.

Then I devote two segments to the New Moon, first discussing the configuration related to the lunation itself, then the pattern around the Galactic Center — and finally, Venus in Scorpio.

The last segment is Tantra Studio, wherein I discuss the alleged controversy of desire, picking up on Venus in Scorpio.

Planet Waves FM is supported by your tax-deductible donations to Chiron Return, publishers of this program. Thank you for your generous contributions, your monthly memberships, for referring the program to your friends, and sending your thoughtful letters.

Continue reading