Today is Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016
Hebrew date is 26 Elul, 5776
Islamic date is 27 Dhul Hijjah 1437
Mayan Tzolk’in Day is 4 Etz’nab’
Mayan Long Count is 13.0.3.14.18
Julian Day is 2457661

Today’s Birthdays: Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), Les Claypool (1963), Debelah Morgan (1977).

Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
— Miguel de Cervantes, author of ‘Don Quixote’

Special Comment: Libra New Moon, part 1
The Libra New Moon takes place Friday evening or overnight Friday to Saturday in most time zones where our readers are (see aspects below for exact times). The New Moon is the conjunction of the Moon and the Sun: part of the basic heartbeat of astrology, which takes us from New Moon to Full Moon and then back to New Moon. A person who lives 80 years will experience about a thousand of these cycles; each one is precious.

For today, the Moon is in Virgo, in the extreme waning phase. Overnight Wednesday to Thursday it is making a conjunction to Mercury, still slow and powerful in Virgo, which looks like the perfect blend of intuition and intellect. You may solve a problem overnight that has vexed you for months. You might sleep with a notebook and pencil just in case. You might have an idea that will spark your mind into action. Be sensitive to your own thoughts and value your ideas.

The last days of a lunar cycle are extraordinarily influential, as they are the seed moment of the new cycle. This is the time to come to a new understanding with yourself. Many people say that the New Moon is the time to ‘set intentions’. I say it’s the time to vote with your body, by taking action on what you know to be true and what you know you want.

Moon Phase: Moon is in waning crescent (or Balsamic) phase. Next New Moon is Sept. 30 at 5:11 pm PDT / 8:11 pm EDT (00:11:19 10/1 UTC) in Libra.
Corresponding Full Moon in Aries is Oct 15/16 at 9:23 pm 10/15 PDT / 12:23 am 10/16 EDT (04:23:02 UTC).
Moon Sign: Moon is in Virgo and enters Libra on Sept. 30 at 12:52 am PDT / 3:52 am EDT (07:52:18 UTC).
Sun Degree: 07-08 Libra.

Planetary Stations and Sign Changes
No stations or sign changes today; however, today’s conjunction of the Moon and Mercury involves an occultation — that is, the Moon will pass directly in front of Mercury from our perspective. That takes place at 3:12 am PDT / 6:12 am EDT (10:12:13 UTC).

Interesting Selected Aspects
— Mars conjunct Hylonome at 9:22 am PDT / 12:22 pm EDT (16:22:31 UTC).
— Mercury opposite Borasisi at 3:50 pm PDT / 6:50 pm EDT (22:50:00 UTC).
— Saturn opposite Altjira at 6:56 pm PDT / 9:56 pm EDT (01:56:18 10/1 UTC).

If Your Birthday is Sept. 29
(The Day of the Charged Reactor) | Get Your Birthday Reading
It’s time to wrap up old projects, which means keeping commitments to yourself. There may be something that you forgot that you’ll suddenly remember, or something gone missing that you’ll find. This will hold a key to the future, one that fits a door to your life that you’ve wanted to open for a long time.

Written in the Planets
We are living under digital conditions. That’s like saying we’re all suddenly under water but haven’t noticed that we cannot breathe. The lack of breath involves reason, logic and rationality. Under digital conditions, these things have left the room.

Why is that? In the digital age, everything is an abstraction of everything else, rather than something directly connected. This has overwritten the structure of memory. Digital life is a mirage, at the expense of one’s inner reality seeming nonexistent or unreal. And it’s all in zeros and ones, which describes how polarized everything and nearly everyone seems to be.

Where does this appear in the astrology? The Uranus-Eris conjunction, a rare event that last took place in 1927-1928, at the dawn of the electronic age. Over the next few days, Mercury will move through territory in Virgo where it will pick up on this conjunction, amplified by additional contact with high-powered minor planets Chiron and Pholus. Over the next few days, some mysteries will be resolved; though the real gift will be actual questions coming into focus.

This live audio class covers the most basic level of astrology: where things happen, the houses. If you understand the houses as environments and groups of themes, you can read a chart. We will hold the class by teleconference at noon EDT on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. You may sign up here.