Today is Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016
Hebrew date is 28 Tishrei 5777
Islamic date is 29 Muharram 1438
Mayan Tzolk’in Day is 9 Muluk
Mayan Long Count is 13.0.3.16.9
Julian Day is 2457692
Today’s Birthdays: John Adams (1735-1826), Elizabeth Madox Roberts (1881-1941), Otis Williams (1941), Larry Wilmore (1961), Nia Long (1970), Stalley (1982), Danielle Fong (1987).
“There is something very unnatural and odious in a government a thousand leagues off. A whole government of our own choice, managed by persons whom we love, revere, and can confide in, has charms in it for which men will fight.”
— John Adams
Special Comment: The Night Between the Worlds
All Hallows Eve, the last night of the Old Religion’s year (what we call Halloween night), is considered to be when the veil between this world and the next is the thinnest. These are the Days of the Dead in many different traditions, not just south of the border but (from what I’ve read) as far back and east as ancient Egypt.
In the Mexican tradition the way is lit for the souls of our relatives to find their way home.
Walking through the Catacombs of Paris does indeed give a sense of the world of the dead. Along endless miles of tunnel lie the remains of seven million previous inhabitants of the city.
There is a tradition of offering as gifts to one’s ancestors rum and eggplant in cemeteries. The scent of the rum is alluring to the ghosts of our friends, and the spongy quality of the aubergine is pleasurable for them to inhabit for a little while.
Meanwhile, all over the U.S., kids are roaming around in costumes collecting candy on threat of frightening you. You never know. The kids in the skeleton outfits might be an actual apparition.
Something about these nights of the year shifts our relationship to death and decay. While you’re alive, that means growth, evolution and transformation. Yet then there’s the reality of the ultimate fate of everyone incarnate. Nobody can live fully without a conscious relationship to death. It serves as an essential anchor to one’s maturity.
Tonight, one day ahead of the night between the worlds, we’re approaching the New Moon in Scorpio (details below). Scorpio is the sign most often associated with death. Any New Moon is a moment of unusual psychic transparency, so the effect is redoubled; the door opening can take us that much deeper and wider. It may change frequency and tone as the coming nights and days unfold; as the Moon moves from darkening to conjunction to lightening, making other aspects as it does so.
Many people are out partying tonight; it would seem a more appropriate night for reflection, writing, art and sex. The portal that’s opening is within you.
Look in, listen silently or step through, if you dare. Contemplate the ‘ultimate realities’ of existence. Here’s one reassuring fact: your conscious mind has barely glimpsed the possibilities.
We exist in space-time consciousness on a thin subplane of the cosmic physical plane. We live at the edge of a galaxy, far from the core, in the boondocks between two spiral arms.
Anonymous Self Portrait, by Eric Francis.
Our modest-sized galaxy is part of a vast migration of souls: the Lanniakea supercluster of 100,000 galaxies moving at what would feel like light speed if you actually experienced it for a moment. These galaxies are flooding toward a massive pool of subatomic particles that astronomers call the Great Attractor.
Whatever may lie beyond this world, there is plenty of it.
Within our meta theme for this time of of year, sexuality (by which I mean sex and eroticism) is the most accessible viaduct into existential reality. Experiment with ideas about what you really want. If you move toward embarrassment in any form you will invite discoveries not ordinarily available otherwise. Inhibition, shame and guilt are a veil beyond which exists the deeper pleasure and corresponding truth.
— efc
PS — I’ve referred to “Spanish” tradition associated with Halloween and Days of the Dead. This article by our beloved Jeanne Treadway tells the story more completely — and, I reckon, more accurately.
Moon Phase: Moon is in waning crescent (Balsamic) phase and enters New phase today at 10:38 am PDT / 1:38 pm EDT (17:38:08 UTC).
Next Full Moon is in Taurus on Nov. 14 at 5:52 am PST / 8:52 am EST (13:51:59 UTC).
Next New Moon is in Sagittarius on Nov. 29 at 4:18 am PST / 7:18 am EST (12:18:09 UTC).
Moon Sign: Moon is in Scorpio and enters Sagittarius on Nov. 1 at 7:43 am PDT / 10:43 am EDT (14:43:00 UTC).
Sun Degree: 08-09 Scorpio.
Planetary Stations and Sign Changes
Varuna stations direct at 5:41 pm PDT / 8:41 pm EDT (00:41:40 10/31 UTC).
Interesting Selected Aspects | Data by Serennu
— Venus opposite Asbolus at 12:43 am PDT / 3:43 am EDT (07:42:46 UTC).
— Mars square Eris at 5:54 am PDT / 8:54 am EDT (12:54:13 UTC).
— Mercury trine Neptune at 5:57 am PDT / 8:57 am EDT (12:57:03 UTC).
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If Your Birthday is Oct. 30
(The Day of the Overseer) | Get Your Scorpio Birthday Reading | All Other Signs
If you were an aspiring director, this would be the year you make your breakthrough film. Were you a musician, this would be the year of your seminal album. If a poet, you would express the essence of our times in one short volume. What are you? That’s the thing to aspire to be, with all your heart and soul, and every cell of your blood.
Written in the Planets
Today’s Scorpio New Moon is offering you the chance to test out and hone your inner investigative journalist, which includes your intuition and connection to your highest principles. Be prepared to evaluate ideas and fact-check statements. Eric often says, “Know when you don’t know.” Just now, that could be rephrased as: “If you don’t know, try to find out.” You may also want to listen to your instincts, especially if any situation gives you a visceral feeling. Read Eric’s article about knowing when you don’t know.
Eric has begun the early pre-order phase of the 2017 annual edition. You can read his full letter about it here. Or, go straight to the purchase page. (If you’re a Core Community or Backstage Pass member, please email us at cs@planetwaves.net for your discounted price.)