Dear Friend and Client:

As mentioned, the horoscope and full-length article will return next week. After many weeks of high-intensity coverage of Mars retrograde, the grand cross and the eclipses, I needed a moment to cool down and catch up.

Photo by Eric Francis.

I plan to be back this coming Friday, May 16, with full coverage of Mars stationing direct, which happens Sunday, May 19.

That is soon. Mars stations direct one week from Sunday. Mars is already in the degree where it turns around and begins apparent forward motion; that would be 9+ Libra. Mars will move just two-thirds of a degree over the next nine days — movement comparable to Saturn. That is an invitation to really reflect on what this Mars retrograde has been about.

This process has stirred up some profound questions for many people and has ushered in what seems like a time of total transformation. Much of this involves the nuances of the inner relationship — a person’s sense of contact with himself or herself. This in turn has extended into relational dynamics between people, in the form of long overdue questions coming into focus.

One factor in all of this involves the nuances of sexual nature, something so rarely spoken of that words barely exist to describe it. Put simply, regarding intimacy, many are now discovering what they want, or that they don’t have what they want.

As a society, what we’re experiencing is the result of the commodification of desire and intimacy. Then there is desire, mingled with guilt. Then there is receiving, mingled with resentment.

Much of what we’re experiencing is having our own desire sold back to us — not as satisfaction but as hunger. Porno is just one example of this. Victoria’s Secret is another. Much of what passes for entertainment is yet another. How these commodities have taken over consciousness is the real issue. I cover the results of this in one of the best-ever editions of Planet Waves FM, called The Walk of Shame.

I would propose that Mars, in retrograde in Libra, is currently in revolt, and is demanding authentic contact. That’s described in two aspects this weekend.

Venus Opposite Mars; Mercury Square Neptune

Two aspects happen nearly simultaneously Sunday. Venus and Mars reach full polarity in an opposition from Aries to Libra. The two are placed in one another’s signs, with Mars retrograde.

One of our blog participants, Barbara Koehler, is an astute astrologer, and she described this aspect as “part of a stretching process; testing the elasticity of our souls as well as our bodies. It most certainly is associated with all the recent cardinal cross and eclipse stuff. We need to be as pliable as possible for the ensuing energy and the activity it will manifest as. Mutable signs facilitate that and so do oppositions. Call it growth.” This is discussed in a post called Planetary Yoga and the Quest for Integrity.

Photo by Eric Francis.

I give more detail in this short post on the concept of an opposition.

The second aspect to be aware of this weekend is Mercury in Gemini square Neptune in Pisces. There is a strong need for integrity, discernment and correct speech under this aspect, which I describe in this short post about evaluating what you hear and what you say.

These are from our new shorter-format daily, which will now post five nights a week and be available several hours earlier than before, for the benefit of those in Australia and New Zealand. Here are all posts so far in that category. They post to our main website Sunday through Thursday at about 8 pm EDT.

Note: Direct email of the new format daily post will soon be available to our subscribers only. We will be sending an opt-in next week.

One other thing — as Mars retrograde draws to a close, I suggest you review my most complete coverage of the grand cross we all experienced. That came out March 21 — ages ago. The article is called Cardinal Grand Cross: A Matter of Trust.

We will see you next with the Tuesday morning letter.

Lovingly,

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Friday morning in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual subscription rate: $88/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Hillary Ghee, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Painter, Amy Silver, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward. 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.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Overnight yesterday into today was the Taurus New Moon and solar eclipse — the event that, together with the lunar eclipse two weeks ago, has bookended two weeks of this season’s incredible astrology. Exactly on cue, Eric is recording the Taurus Birthday Reading  today — right in the slipstream of this energy.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

Eric’s birthday readings are ideal for anyone with a Taurus Sun or Taurus rising, and make a wonderful birthday gift for your Taurus loved ones. You can still get access to it for $10 off the published price if you pre-order now.

In today’s Planet Waves FM  program, Eric leaps into the Taurus New Moon and solar eclipse with a message about getting closer to yourself, which serves as a preparation for the sex-and-fertility holiday of Beltane later this week. He also reads the chart of musician, poet and visionary Loreena McKennitt.

In this week’s Music Appreciation Hour, Eric and co-host Dan Sternstein have fun demonstrating the difference between rhythm and lead guitar.

Also note that the Planet Waves blog featured breaking coverage of Pope Francis’s decision to canonize the J.R.R. Tolkien character Gollum into sainthood — the first such honor for a fictional character.

In Monday’s Daily Astrology column, Eric called us to recognize how our increasingly digital lives impact our physical experience of each other, and invites us to embody the transformational experience around attachment, jealousy and control in relationships indicated by the Taurus New Moon and eclipse.

We’ll be following the story arc of the New Moon and eclipse through Beltane and the Friday issue, and plan to have new Daily Astrology posts Wednesday and Thursday. How people are experiencing and working with the energy has been as varied as each individual person, and yet we are all in this fertile, uncanny moment of transition together.

Carlos Cedillo will be back on the blog Wednesday at noon, suggesting that it’s ok if you need to go easy on yourself this week before building on the incremental changes that are surely at work within you. And of course, Len Wallick’s column will publish today at noon. He suggests we follow Mercury’s example by redirecting our thoughts into the future — away from the past two weeks, and on to greater things.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

Eric created 2014 Spring Readings for each of the signs and rising signs. You might think of these readings as astrological meditations; they will help you go deep into your own awareness, and help you clarify your thoughts. They are also motivating and will leave you feeling stronger and more aware, and Eric offers tangible ideas for how to proceed.

My readings are like an astrological meditation room.

Response to the Spring Reading has been amazing. Mary LaSelva wrote:

“The Spring Reports are, by far, the most insightful astrology I have heard. Your ability to apply what is happening in the heavens to understand various ways in which we may be affected, and provide objective guidance of how one may use it to wake up, grow, develop, and recognize opportunities, is truly unsurpassed. I am thoroughly impressed and grateful. Taking the time to listen to several signs, more than once, was well worth it.”

The current astrology describes a pivotal time in our lives. When we look back in a year or in five years, that will be obvious.

Eric’s role as an astrologer is to weave the threads of time. His intent is to help you see your options, see the resources that you have available, and to consider any obstacles in a different way.

Learn more in this letter from Eric Francis.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Last night’s total eclipse of the Moon in Libra passed by with the energy of a thunderstorm, stirring up a fuss and then leaving a moment of reflective quiet behind it. Full Moons always release tension, and lunar eclipses can enhance that effect. I covered this eclipse in a detailed article published Monday morning called The Goddess Reveals Herself: Bursts of Aries and Libra.

The Moon glows orange during this morning’s total lunar eclipse, the first of 2014, as seen from Milwaukee. Photo by Mike De Sisti.

I also explained the eclipses a different way in a special edition of Planet Waves FM that focuses on the Moon’s double conjunction to Vesta and Ceres.

The Moon is now waning toward an annular solar eclipse in Taurus on Tuesday, April 29. An annular eclipse is similar to a total eclipse, but the Moon is too close to the Earth to block out the Sun completely. Where the event is visible there can be unusual visual effects, like double shadows or the Sun wearing sunglasses.

Before that happens, Mars in Libra will retrograde into the cardinal grand cross pattern, forming a perfect alignment on Wednesday, April 23. In case you want to review that, I covered it with the April horoscope in an article called Cardinal Grand Cross: A Matter of Trust.

Last week as you may know, I just finished a project that explains this astrology for the individual signs and rising signs. This is the 2014 Spring Reading, and the response has been phenomenal. Each reading, 40 to 45 minutes long, focuses on a different theme; the readings are cross-referenced so that you can cover many facets of your life. I think these are some of the clearest, most helpful readings I’ve ever done. You can listen to samples from three signs, and the welcome message.

Len Wallick’s column publishes at noon today on the blog. He looks at how this morning’s eclipse is closely liked to an Aries-Libra eclipse last October, and invites you to consider how your intuitive body has been processing something your waking consciousness was aware of six months ago.

We’ll be back with another Daily Astrology column tonight at midnight EDT.

Lovingly,