Today is Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016
Hebrew date is 9 Tishrei 5777
Islamic date is 9 Muharram 1438
Mayan Tzolk’in Day is 3 Ok
Mayan Long Count is 13.0.3.15.10
Julian Day is 2457673

Today’s Birthdays: Emily Davison (1872-1913), Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), Joan Cusack (1962), Jane Krakowski (1968), Emily Deschanel (1976), Rhett McLaughlin (1977).

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt

Special Comment: A Sensitive Moment
This is certainly an interesting time — very few moments in modern American political history stand out like what we’re now seeing. We can name a few in league: the impeachment, the stolen election, the events of Sept. 11, the Iran-Contra scandal, and those strange days of August 1974 when Pres. Nixon resigned.

For those who have been watching with dismay as these travesties have gone down over the decades, what’s now happening is a culmination point: the total unraveling of a fraudulent candidacy, of the candidate himself, and of his entire political party, which is now lying in tatters.

I would remind you that what’s happening is much, much larger than it seems. It represents something going on not just in the foreground, but in the wide and deep and invisible background.

Hold that thought. Let’s go to the astrology. Today we have an exuberant aspect: Mercury conjunct Jupiter in Libra describes intelligence, beauty and balance. It describes a moment of awakening. But there are other, more sensitive aspects brewing.

The first is the Aries Full Moon, which takes place Saturday night into early Sunday, depending on your time zone. The Full Moon is building like a wave that crests in an exact conjunction to the goddess of discord and identity crisis, Eris. It’s also conjunct Uranus, a planet associated with the electrical and electronic realm. It’s also the planet of revolt and “expect the unexpected.” There’s a hint of violence with the Moon, Uranus and Eris in the sign associated with aggression.

A Full Moon in feisty Aries aligned with this era-defining conjunction means that anything is possible. At minimum, we will proceed through the week with mounting tension and a sense of not knowing what’s next. By Friday, we could see events move so quickly that news breaks by the hour. Astrology does not always deliver what is described in the chart, though that is what’s described.

Meanwhile, a conjunction between Mars and Pluto is building in Capricorn. Mars is still slow and powerful after its retrograde process that’s lasted all year. Two potent, focused energies are about to make a conjunction in the sign of government. This has a potentially violent feeling. Arlene Kramer, one of the master astrologers of our time, once said that in her opinion the keynote of Pluto in Capricorn was “heads will roll.” With Mars (which represents the head) in the equation, that’s a little ominous. It might represent many things, including something or someone being incapacitated.

Doing the chart for next week’s weekly horoscope, I noticed that the asteroid Requiem is mixed in with the Mars-Pluto conjunction. Requiem is the Roman Catholic mass for the dead. There are other hints in the chart: the presence of an asteroid about overreaction (Ophelia) and another about interwoven threads and conspiracies (Arachne).

I am not here to make predictions; I practice the philosophy that astrology can be used to avert problems, or turn negative forces to positive ends. As Marshall McLuhan reminded us, there is no inevitability as long as there is willingness to contemplate what is happening. Pay attention, and please keep your mind available and focused on dispelling violence and hatred against anyone, for any reason.

— Eric Francis Coppolino

Moon Phase: Moon is in First Quarter phase and enters waxing gibbous phase on Oct. 12 at 2:19 pm PDT / 5:19 pm EDT (21:18:42 UTC).
Next Full Moon is on Oct 15/16 at 9:23 pm 10/15 PDT / 12:23 am 10/16 EDT (04:23:02 UTC) in Aries.
Next New Moon is in Scorpio on Oct. 30 at 10:38 am PDT / 1:38 pm EDT (17:38:08 UTC).
Moon Sign: Moon is in Aquarius and enters Pisces on Oct. 12 at 5:43 am PDT / 8:43 am EDT (12:42:54 UTC).
Sun Degree: 18-19 Libra.

Planetary Stations and Sign Changes
Nope.

Interesting Selected Aspects
— Venus conjunct Juno at 9:26 pm 10/10 PDT / 12:26 am 10/11 EDT (04:26:26 UTC).
— Mercury conjunct Jupiter at 1:45 am PDT / 5:45 am EDT (09:45:23 UTC).
— Venus trine Chiron at 5:16 am PDT / 8:16 am EDT (12:16:30 UTC).
— Mars sextile Neptune at 10:03 am PDT / 1:03 pm EDT (17:03:19 UTC).
— Sun trine Pallas at 12:44 pm PDT / 4:44 pm EDT (20:43:58 UTC).

If Your Birthday is Oct. 11
(The Day of Gracious Ease) | Get Your Libra Birthday Reading
As Jane Austen illustrated with delicate acuity in Sense and Sensibility, her first published novel, wisdom and emotion are both necessary to human life. They are often presented in contrast, but are by no means mutually exclusive. Feel free to draw on them together.

Written in the Planets
Today might be considered a precursor to the much-anticipated Full Moon on Sunday. There is an opening for clarity of the sort that arrives from logic and yet satisfies a deep intuitive understanding. Mathematicians call this quality ‘elegance’. This might emerge as, if not a complete revelation, then a glimpse of more profound wisdom to come.