Dear Friend and Reader:

We are in an era of “power aspects” — rare events that shift the tectonic plates of history. This is easy to see, difficult to look at, and challenging to feel.

Syrian Kurds gathered around a US armored vehicle on Sunday. Kurdish forces reported that U.S. troops had begun leaving the area near the Syrian border with Turkey ahead of a planned Turkish assault on the Kurds, which it considers a terrorist group. Kurdish fighters were key allies in the US-led campaign against the Islamic State. Photo by Delil Souleiman.

That would be especially true if you’re feeling unstable, overwhelmed or stuck in the mire, like those three tractors I described last week.

Those “power aspects” include Saturn conjunct Pluto, coming in early January and in full force now, the first Pluto return of the United States, Pluto square Eris, and a lot of action in the chart of the chief executive. As I learned early in my studies and have described many times before, when planets close to the Earth line up with distant planets, there can be a pronounced effect. That is what we are experiencing.

Sunday’s Full Moon in Aries is conjunct Eris, and square Saturn and Pluto. It is therefore square the United States Pluto, and Trump’s Saturn. This is easier to follow along with than it seems; I described the background pattern in my essay one week ago, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.

Let’s just say that the Full Moon, exact Sunday evening, sends a surge of power through the whole circuit — which also includes Jupiter in Sagittarius in exact alignment to the Moon, the Sun and Pluto. This will tend to pick up the pace of events, and also give a preview of what is lurking behind those aspects as they come into alignment.

What We are Witnessing

Astrology is not supposed to be self-referential. It pertains to the events of the world, and how we respond to them. Since we were last in contact on Sunday, Trump has managed to start a war between Turkey and Syria, with our allies the Kurds caught in the middle. They are now a target for “ethnic cleansing” by the Syrians, otherwise known as genocide.

Kurdish refugees from the Syrian town of Kobane sit in front of their tents in a camp in the south-eastern Turkish town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on Oct. 5, 2014. Photo by Umit Bektas / Reuters.

The month-long setup to this development involved Trump telling the Kurds to dismantle their defenses against Turkey, then inviting Turkey to invade. This all happened overnight Sunday to Monday, with Trump reversing longstanding U.S foreign policy by tweet.

The Kurds have fought bravely in the war against the Islamic State, sacrificing 10,000 soldiers (approximately how many the U.S. has lost in Iraq and Afghanistan). The Kurds were also used as an excuse for the United States to get into Bush War I (the Persian Gulf War).

Remember the refrain of how evil Saddam Hussein was because he was “gassing the Kurds”? Those are the same Kurds Trump has now sacrificed to his allegiance to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, who is now threatening to send 3.6 million refugees to Europe. And as we all know, Europe has a refugee problem out of the Middle East, one that is tearing the European Union into parts.

And it’s a gift to Russia, as it destabilizes the Middle East and drives a wedge between Turkey and NATO. It also divides the Republicans, who until the last time I checked five minutes ago were in favor of the immediately prior U.S. policy on Syria and Turkey.

Conveniently, this has all served to distract the reading and viewing audiences from the impeachment.

Impeachment-Related Developments

First among these is that the White House says it will refuse to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives. This includes resisting all subpoenas, an action which resulted in Pres. Nixon being charged with obstruction of Congress in one of his articles of impeachment.

This Facebook screen shot provided by the Campaign Legal Center shows, from left, Donald Trump Jr., Tommy Hicks, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman enjoying a “power breakfast” at the Beverly Hills Polo Lounge on May 21. Parnas and Fruman are now (as of Thursday) in custody, along with many other Trump associates.

Trump has called the impeachment “partisan” and “unconstitutional.” Actually, impeachment is in the Constitution, as an Article I power delegated to the House. This may be for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Speaking of, two associates of Rudy Giuliani, the president’s “TV lawyer,” were arrested in real life on campaign finance charges involving Ukraine.

Here’s how The New York Times reported the matter on Thursday:

The two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, believed to be important witnesses in the House’s impeachment inquiry of Mr. Trump, were arrested on campaign finance charges. The arrests and charges were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Two other men, David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin, were also indicted.

Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman aided Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to gin up investigations in Ukraine into former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, among other potentially  politically beneficial investigations for Mr. Trump.

Mr. Parnas had been scheduled to participate in a deposition with House impeachment investigators on Capitol Hill on Thursday, and Mr. Fruman on Friday. Neither had been expected to show up voluntarily. House Democrats issued subpoenas on Thursday to force them to do so. [End of quote.]

Chart of the Full Moon, set for Washington, DC. Note all the planets aligned at 20+ degrees of their signs: the Moon, the Sun, Jupiter and Pluto, all aligned to the degree. Behind many of these are other planets, in the USA chart, Trump’s chart, and future events. Taken together, this is a Full Moon of unusual potency — as we are witnessing through world events. Saturday, I will have more to say about the personal level of this event.

So, to sum up, the House had issued subpoenas for Parnas and Furman the same day that they were indicted by federal prosecutors in New York City.

This will be an interesting night to watch Lawrence O’Donnell, who usually has the best analysis of the inside baseball of this kind of development. Speaking of baseball, if you’re a fan, the Tampa Bay Seven Rays vs. the Houston Astrologers promises to be a very exciting game tonight. (I’ve spent the past two summers covering a Rays farm team, the Hudson Valley Renegades, and with any luck will have an article about that soon.)

Stay Warm, Keep Cool, Remain Connected

All this news is maddening or overwhelming, I know. Without the help of five people and a lot of experience, I could never keep up, and I’ll do my best to keep you informed.

The most important thing you can do for yourself and for all of us is to maintain your spiritual connection, and keep your awareness on. Part of the overwhelm factor is emotional exhaustion, and there is an art to floating above this.

We are living through a kind of 1960s without the fantastic music, without the party, and with a lot more paranoia about sex. We’re also a lot closer to the brink, with global warming heating up, with the internet eating away at the soul of the world, and so many people living week to week financially.

My friends and I are on this crazy ride with you. We will have your weekly horoscope and continuing coverage of the Full Moon on Saturday morning, and I will be running Planet Waves FM one day ahead of schedule, releasing the show Saturday night (per the current plan).

It’s gonna be an interesting few days.

Stay in touch!

With love,

PS — Don’t miss Amanda Painter’s coverage of the Aries Full Moon, below the featured article below. And remember to check your inbox on Saturday for the Sunday night edition. Amy Elliott has written tonight’s horoscope.

The Dauntless Moon (in Aries)

Note: This piece originally published in 2003; internet history buffs can check that out here.

Dear Friend and Reader:

When I sat down to research the Aries Moon, it seemed strange that initially, I couldn’t think of anyone born with this placement. I then searched my charts database and had a rather surprising experience as I scanned a long list of pioneers, innovators and highly original entertainers — people you might expect, having such a fiery Moon in the first sign of the zodiac, to be authentic pioneers in their fields. They include Marlon Brando, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Garcia, Anne Rice, Bill Gates and (skipping back a few hundred years) Galileo.

	Birth of the New Man — a great image of the bold, innovative Aries Moon. By Salvador Dali, whose Moon was indeed in Aries.

Galileo was the first person who saw the individual stars of the Milky Way, the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus. DeGeneres was the first lesbian TV actor to come out of the closet. Rosie O’Donnell predicted her career would flop as a result; it didn’t happen. Every industry has its Jackie Robinson (he had an Aquarius Moon, another famous for its inventors, innovators and highly successful freakos).

As for Aries Moon villains, we have Joseph Stalin, Jim Jones and Jeff Dahmer, all innovators of darkness in their times.

Let’s consider what astrological theory tells us about the Moon in this sign. The Moon is by nature watery, cool and receptive. Its natural sign is Cancer, which is about nourishment. Aries is by nature hot, fiery and assertive. It’s natural planet is Mars, which is about desire, sexuality, anger and war. Looked at this way, the Aries Moon is a contradiction. The Moon helps us interrelate with physical reality; in it, we find experiences of being in our body, of relating to our needs, and of communicating to the world through the filter of a personality. Aries Moon people adapt to this contradiction by attempting to shape the world their way. It is not easy, but they do it. Really, they have no choice. What the Moon and Aries have in common is cardinality. Both involve cardinal signs, the ones that initiate the seasons, and initiate in general.

I once worked as a hired gun for something called the Center for Judicial Accountability, which battled corrupt judges, and which was headed by a bold little woman named Elena. She was a — no, rather, the — human tornado: brilliant, contentious, opinionated, feisty, did I say contentious, and able to get the job done. Her Moon graced the sign Aries. She was out of control, in that totally in-control way, which was item one in her job description. As for her mother… she is another book.

The Aries Moon would seem to denote a restless, agitated and passionate way of going about life. I could see the Aries Moon being comfortable in its body only when it’s expressing itself, conquering or taking some kind of action, preferably naked.

Photo courtesy of the Salvador Dali Foundation, Figueres.

Have you seen the movie Contact? The scriptwriters provided the fictional character Dr. Ellie Arroway with a birthday — Aug. 25, 1964. Dr. Arroway is the brilliant astrophysicist and technological innovator who gives up her Harvard teaching career to join SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Despite the substantial professional resistance and numerous obstacles, she persists by the pure force of her personality and wits, becoming the first person to establish contact with life from another planet, then the first person to travel interdimensionally.

She is impassioned, determined, inventive, perceptive and extremely intelligent, and will stop at nothing. How does it work that a movie character’s chart works? Possibility one is synchronicity. Possibility two is that somebody hired an astrologer to create the chart (which might have been done, as mentioned). If so, the astrologer did a good job. Dr. Arroway is the incarnation of the Aries Moon, with a powerful Pisces-Virgo alignment, and born in the year of the Dragon.

“They feel with their egos and live in the future; they’re brave and restless,” writes Debbi Kempton-Smith of the Aries Moon in Secrets from a Stargazer’s Notebook, describing Arroway to a tee.

Grant Lewi, in Astrology for the Millions, concurs. The Aries Moon is “an independent thinker, a mental force, a person of intellectual or physical daring and courage. The truth is important to you — the truth, that is, as you see it individualistically, which may not bear a relation to proven facts.”

In the book Astrology: Your Place Among the Stars, Evangeline Adams speaks of “great brilliancy, acuteness, and susceptibility to the senses, but they are always on a terribly fine edge, so that extreme nervousness is likely to result.”

Jodie Foster as Dr. Ellie Arroway, protagonist in the 1997 movie Contact.

She continues, “The directness and vividness of the sensations usually lead to great mental independence and activity; mental reaction takes place very rapidly. It is very difficult for persons with this position to doubt the evidence of their senses; and, unless some other aspects tend to diminish the executive power or to delay the operation of the judgment, the native will be so convinced as to the accuracy of whatever is presented to him that he will act immediately without consideration.”

Thank God for miracles. The world needs impetuous people who don’t think the past is the only guide to the future, and who can’t be shaken in their beliefs by people who know less than they do, or worse, by those who know more. The Aries Moon doesn’t need book knowledge and it doesn’t need a badge or certificate. You’re not going to impress these people by quoting Shakespeare. As Mark Twain, an Aries moonboy to the hilt, said, “Don’t let your schoolin’ get in the way of your learnin’.”

Searching several thousand charts in my database, two names I noticed in a class by themselves were investigative journalists Bill Moyers and Peter Montague. Both do extraordinarily impressive work in a day when investigative reporting has gone the way of Earth Shoes and the Ecology flag. Moyers was, up until 2015, one of the few people in the mainstream broadcast industry today who was both fearless and unflinchingly dedicated to telling the truth about political and corporate activities. In a world of Geraldo wannabes, he did stories nobody would dare to touch which then ended up on national television, including NBC and then PBS. How he managed to pull off such stunning coverage of corporate crime in the corporate media is something of a genuine mystery of our times, though Mars, Chiron and the Sun in Gemini certainly don’t hurt matters any.

Peter Montague is the founder of the Environmental Research Foundation, which publishes Rachel’s Health and Environment News. His approach was to create a small news service that does big stories, which then find their way into the hands of journalists, editors and activists around the world (his articles have appeared repeatedly on Planet Waves). He has been the single most faithful chronicler of dioxin, PCBs, genetic engineering and numerous other issues that would terrify most other journalists, or swallow their gumption whole. He has faced vicious libel litigation from Monsanto and stood them down. His dedication to the environmental movement over more than three decades has been an inspiration to everyone who knows him, and I predict that his articles will be ever more valuable as the decades progress.

Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris, 1972. Photo by MGM.

One might describe Aries Moon natives as outspoken, blunt, brazen, dauntless, outrageous, authentic or whatever it takes to get the job done. On one level, they can appear simple, but that simplicity hides a complex worldview that they know is wise to keep mum about.

What’s really going on is they tend to refine their message to the high-contrast projection that it takes to stand out from the crowd. With this Moon, the inner and the outer person are strikingly different, with the inner being far more perceptive and sensitive than what you see.

In film, there is Marlon Brando, who embodies both the sensitivity and brashness of this Moon in equal proportions. Consider his roles, in Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris and A Streetcar Named Desire. Some of his greatest and most moving scenes were neither scripted nor acted. Rather, they were intense moments of actual human drama caught on film and made into cinema (he has Sun, Moon and Chiron in Aries trine Neptune in Leo – fire, fire, fire, fire). His characters all seem to be seamless extensions of himself, and are unapologetic, vivid and rarely-witnessed expressions of humanity. In each, there is the sense that you are dealing with an extremely receptive person behind the veil of power and conquest.

Joe Pesci is another actor who’s portrayed Mafiosi and has an Aries Moon. I don’t personally know anyone in the Mafia or I would check their charts.

I did however come up with Al Capone, who (I learned this week visiting Alcatraz) at one point in the 1930s was making $100,000 a week and who, when he was finally busted, had a carpeted jail cell with a government-sponsored telephone in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary before he became one of the first federal prisoners transferred to Alcatraz (where he had neither a carpet nor a phone).

I found another interesting example of ‘real world parallels cinema’ searching this file. Bob Fosse, the director and choreographer, is born under an Aries Moon, as is the man who portrayed him in All That Jazz, Roy Scheider. Here again, we see the essence of restlessness, innovation and passionate creativity. These are colorful, expressive men who always seem to be dancing in fire.

Jerry Garcia in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1995. Photo by Robbi Cohn.

No discussion of the Aries Moon would be complete without mention of Jerry Garcia, Leo Sun with an Aries Moon. Jerry certainly had a way of bending reality to his preference. His energy, intensity and focus were inspiring. And you could trip on a drop of his sweat.

Jerry dealt with the intense discomfort of the soft, childish Moon roasting in Aries by taking drugs. He must have consumed his formidable body weight in Persian heroin several times over. He was diabetic, which is another way of saying burning up. He did not like conflict and took it out on himself, letting loose, for the most part, only when he played. And it was a tight, ultra-refined kind of looseness, but he really could dance on those strings.

Now consider this collection of artists born under the Aries Moon. Let’s start with Salvador Dali, one of the great leaders of the Surrealist movement, whose mind is hot enough to melt reality like wax; George Braque, founder of the Cubist movement; Peter Max, the vividly outrageous psychedelic artist; and Andy Warhol, the Pop Art master. If successful artists have one thing in common, it’s that they’re not afraid to put themselves out there, quite literally putting their vision of inner and outer reality in people’s faces, and to persist in the face of the considerable adversity that the world dishes out for those who choose to live their creativity fully.

On the list of artists is Betty Dodson, the classically trained illustrator whose detailed portraits of cunts (Betty’s term) stunned the New York feminist and artistic circles in the supposedly wild 1970s. She then gave up art and went into holding women’s masturbation workshops for 25 years. Betty is author of the million-selling Sex for One and the brand new Orgasms for Two.

“If I had continued with an art career, I would have brought back realism,” Betty said in an interview this week. (Like the fictional Ellie Arroway, she is a strong Virgo with an Aries Moon.) She said she had little use for the abstract art that was so popular in the 1970s, when (for instance) Frank Stella became world famous for painting black rectangles on black backgrounds, among other innovations (such as black squares on black backgrounds). Betty is way too practical for that. And unlike the other Aries Moon artists mentioned in this essay, her work is not flamboyant. She works in pencil, often on large illustration boards that require hours of expressing details.

Early in her career as a sex activist, Betty objected to the fact that vulvas were not depicted realistically and instead were portrayed as little black triangles (apparently yet another reference to Frank Stella). She set about expressing the beauty and detail of women’s genitals in a way that, well, got a little attention. She also did realistic portrayals of people masturbating and having sex.

Betty Dodson at a 1973 sexuality conference. Photo by Bettye Lane.

Betty met Salvador Dali once and two significant contributors to our society born with their Moon in the sign of the Ram engaged one another for a moment.

He greeted her by saying, “Ah, dees ees dee fucking artist.”

“No,” Betty said, “I’m the artist who draws people fucking.”

Notice the sublime subtlety of the transaction. Betty said that Dali was too full of himself for her tastes. “There was nobody home,” she commented.

I asked Betty about her mother, since the Moon always tells us something about people in that role in our lives. The wisdom of astrology says that, as the double significator of the personality of the native, and of mom, a lot of who we are on the personality level is based on maternal influences.

We’d expect anyone with this Moon to have been raised by a woman whose personality was dynamic, intense and self-assertive; perhaps this was a lot to handle.

In fact, after my original publishing of this piece, I started getting letters from Aries Moon people telling me what wild and crazed critters their mothers were. I have described them here as pioneering and so forth, but I also heard stuff such as “childish” and “tantrums” and the like. I began to think: this Moon grants such unusual creative talent, what becomes of people who don’t get as far as a paintbrush or movie camera? What happens when there is no creative outlet? Look out!

This seems to be a message to those born under the Aries Moon to get that fire stoked and give yourself a way to express yourself. You must; you will. That impulse to expression, stoked or provoked by a dynamic, self-assertive mother, would very likely lead one to stand up to the challenge, to be undaunted.

“She was great,” Betty said of her mom. “I consider her a woman of the pioneer stock that settled this country, the ones that shot wild animals” and helped their families survive on the new frontier in the face of all adversity. Betty’s mom was born in 1899 and the family was from Kansas. She was one of the first women in her community to drive a car and truck, to get an abortion, and to travel alone. “She was a strong woman who voiced her opinions whether they were popular or not,” Betty said.

In public, people would have seen a reserved, even stoic woman who would “present a different face behind the Irish lace curtain. She was a great party girl.” As was Betty, who was as famous for her sex parties as she is for her workshops.

When I interviewed Betty, who recently turned 74 [in 2003; Betty just turned 90 in 2019], she was feeling a bit achy. “I jumped on a bicycle for the first time in 20 years and rode six miles,” she said of her recent weekend activity.

With love,

Your Electric Life and Other Poems: Instant Access

“I am absolutely impressed with my Libra birthday reading! It’s like Eric was talking directly to me. Everything he said is what has been happening. The last year has been a tremendous challenge in pretty much all areas of my life, but the birthday reading gives me hope that I really am on the right track.”

— S.R.

It’s not easy feeling safe these days; it’s not easy feeling like you belong anywhere, though astrology has some ideas for you. You’re invited to order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio. This reading covers your process of grounding yourself in the wild world of the Digital Age. You need some physical reality, and my reading of your chart suggests where to look for it: primarily at home. I have much to say about stabilizing your relationships in the chaos of the internet, getting some traction in your career, and most of all, how to frame your own reality.

Your Electric Life and Other Poems is now available for instant access for just $44 — and makes a thoughtful, truly useful gift for anyone with a Libra Sun or Libra rising. Reading includes an hour-plus astrology session, a tarot session and a special astrology extra, Self and Society.

I’ve also created a preview video for this reading [you may watch that here].

With love,

The Aries Full Moon and Friends

Dear Friend and Reader:

How’s your sleep this week? And your relationship to authority figures — the ‘real’ ones and the internalized ones? Where are your thoughts going, and how do you feel about it? What about your urges and responses in your more intimate relationships? How conscious are you about using your energy in a creative, focused way?

The 2015 Aries Full Moon above Scarborough Marsh, Maine; photo by Amanda Painter.

As we end this week, several planetary events are conspiring to drive questions like those. The headlining act is the Aries Full Moon on Sunday.

Before we get there, Mercury enters its pre-retrograde echo (or shadow) phase tomorrow. On Saturday, Venus opposes Uranus to add a little extra voltage. Let’s take them in chronological order.

Mercury entering its shadow/echo phase Friday evening is your heads up to prepare any and all things related to communication, its related technologies, spending, transit, and how you handle your frame of mind in general. As in: back up your computer, tie up any loose ends with contracts and major purchases, and begin to get back into habits that help to safeguard against sending emails that ought not to be sent.

Mercury won’t actually station retrograde until Oct. 31 (Trick or Treat!). But as you may know, things can sometimes get even funkier prior to the retrograde than during it. Mercury will station direct — still in Scorpio — on Nov. 20.

Do what you can to get very comfortable with diving deep, since Mercury is in Scorpio for the long haul (it’ll finally leave that sign on Dec. 9). If retrogrades generally signal reviews, this one appears to be a full-on self-investigation (and yes, this has fascinating implications for the impeachment hearings in the U.S.).

Who knows? You may even find yourself using Mercury’s current role as a P.I. to get under the surface of some sudden, unexpected event in an intimate relationship this week. Although Saturday’s opposition between Venus in Scorpio and Uranus in Taurus could simply translate into seeking out unusual new entertainment, art, recreation or other stimulating activity, both Taurus and Scorpio have strong sexual signatures.

Continue reading…

Bringing Opposites Together, Seamlessly

By Amanda Painter

Between the relationship-testing Aries Full Moon and Venus-Uranus opposition this week, the culture-upending Saturn-Pluto conjunction that’s building slowly, and this month’s coming Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, you might be feeling like you’re under some pressure. You might need to run. Or, maybe you just need a very specific creative project to focus all this energy and express your diverse facets.

However you’re faring this week, you may appreciate a good mash-up. In this case, it comes from screenwriter and graphic artist Todd Alcott. In between writing movies, he merges the lyrics from some of his favorite songs with actual vintage book covers, mostly of the pulp variety with forays into other mid-century genres.

Alcott describes them as a “conversation between the songwriter, the original designer, himself and the viewer.” It’s a fun conversation to eavesdrop on, and features some striking (whether intentional or not) cultural commentary — such as the image of apocalyptic seawater rising paired with Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.”

You can follow Alcott on Instagram to see all his creations, which he also sells as prints via his Etsy shop.

This week on Planet Waves FM

Impeachment Astrology, Up Close and Personal

Dear Friend and Listener:

In this week’s Planet Waves FM [play edition here], I continue exploring the national situation in the United States, including the pending impeachment and the personal astrology of Pres. Trump.

In particular, I look at where the U.S. chart, Trump’s chart, the current big astrology and the forthcoming Full Moon all line up. Note: to those outside the country who want to hear more about what is going on where you live, you’re invited to be a guest on the program.

In Tantra Studio, I consider “internal and external” as a polarity of sexual orientation.

My musical guest is 23 Degrees, my favorite ambient composers after Brian Eno. I play a few tracks from An Endless Searching for Substance, which someone gave me in the late 1990s when I lived in Miami.

This is the kind of CD you can leave on repeat for a month and it’s still as interesting to listen to as it is to ignore — Brian’s definition of ambient music from the notes to Ambient 1: Music for Airports.

Planet Waves FM is a project of Chiron Return, and an affiliate of the Pacifica Radio Network. We are a federally registered nonprofit organization that’s supported by your generous contributions, large and small. If you come back to me every week, please consider getting on board.

With love,

Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes

We published your extended monthly horoscope for October on Thursday, Sept. 26. Your extended monthly horoscope for September was published on Thursday, Aug. 29.  Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Sunday’s approaching Full Moon in your sign is offering you particular insights into the nature of relationships, polarity and projection. Of the many wisdoms in astrology, one of the most profound is that regardless of which signs are more prominent, every single one of us contains the whole zodiac. This has certain implications for the concept that we are somehow not complete without another person. It also speaks to what you hold in common with partners and friends (and indeed strangers). If you’re tempted to think you’re completely separate from everyone else, and that specific traits belong to others and not you, remember that in reality we’re all expressions of the same cosmos. Always leave room for compassion.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Self-confidence goes up and down, and the challenges you’ve faced recently are probably enough that you still have some recovering to do. One trap you’ll want to guard against this week is that of comparing yourself with others. This is an easy and fast road to feeling less than great. You don’t have to be Greta Thunberg in order to make a positive difference: your mission is to be yourself, as well as you can. You also don’t need anyone’s approval. Release yourself from the confining idea of what you believe to be socially acceptable; start with what is irrefutably true about you, based on your own feelings, and work from there.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Keep an eye on your thought processes, and take note if you’re expecting a series of events to follow a certain script. Doing this almost inevitably leads to disappointment. Experiment instead with taking the attitude that you’ll follow the best course you can see, and let it lead where it will. Further, let your creative ideas flow unrestricted. This can take practice, especially if you’re used to holding yourself in, though it helps if you foster a sense of openness toward the universe. That is, your willingness to receive what it offers you, and the intuitive impressions you sense from your environment. Create a space where you can let this flow without interruption or judgment.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You are already sacred, and you are already whole. That is the ultimate message of Sunday’s Full Moon in Aries. Cease to allow your view of yourself to rise and fall by the tides of public opinion — especially of those who don’t know you as well as they might think. Naturally it’s important to have an aim in life and a sense of purpose, to keep moving forward. Yet ideally this comes from within and is not dictated to by the petty whims or agendas of others, or any dampening effect they might have on your confidence. Your mission ultimately springs from the relationship between you and the Divine, in whatever form you experience it.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — While you’re off exploring the heights of ideal worlds, or traveling to unknown regions of fancy, it’s worth recalling that you actually have a body, and it has needs. I know — how very mundane. Nevertheless, it’s true, despite all the achievements of digital technology in dividing us from our physical reality. That reality still counts. However powerful your mental stamina is, it won’t do to leave off important routines or health practices, and you’ll almost certainly benefit from checking in regularly with how you feel in the moment. One particular point of note is that you might need to watch your intake of recreational substances, including alcohol. Err on the side of caution.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your ruler Mercury is about to enter its shadow phase, and you may already be feeling a little stilted or awkward, as if not quite finding your rhythm. This is especially likely if your confidence has lately received a knock. If so, remember this is surely temporary, and just persist as much as you can. Address any doubts that emerge relating to the concept of “deserving” or similar, by using instead the language of need, desire, want — without judging any of those things. In addition, when a seeming problem arises, look for the resources to solve it within you, or in your possession. You may well find you’re more capable than you thought.

In These Times — 2019 Autumn Reading

How do we confront this dual problem of premeditated decay of society, and the inner issue of needing the strength to take some meaningful action? Where do we start? As in few other times, this calls for a response from a spiritual place: of deep caring and responsibility; the quest for honest connection above all else.

It has called forth all of my knowledge, experience and wisdom to do this work. I have proceeded in the spirit of therapy, knowing that most people do not or will not go. That spirit first involves seeking refuge, becoming aware of your situation, ordering your priorities, and then making choices. But the single most important factor of therapy — and of old school spiritual mentorship — is not giving answers, but helping the client find them for themselves. What I have to offer you are 12 readings of approximately one hour each, which use astrology to address the matter: the one about how to orient yourself to make the most of the difficult and challenging times we are in.

All 12 signs are currently $111. I am keeping that price low to encourage having access to all of the work. Individual readings are $44 for the first and $22 for each additional.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — This week’s Aries Full Moon is likely to enhance your glamour and your inherent charm. You’ll sparkle in the social realm, and probably have more influence than usual with loved ones also. Enjoy the fun; just take care to keep it real, and to value honesty as an irreplaceable component in everything you say and do. Appearances fade, and disguises wither, yet integrity has a clarity and substance that’s stronger than any illusion, as are all things rooted in fact. That also works, by the way, for false negative impressions. Even if someone takes an unreasonable dislike to you — which usually occurs when people are envious or discontented — your true self will shine through solidly.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — It may be wise to consider carefully before committing firmly to a particular course of action or theory. Take as much time as you need, and do as much fact-finding as you possibly can. Things might not be quite as they appear, especially if they appear irrefutable or beyond question. This imperfect world has ways of not conforming to clear-cut rules or utopian ideals. Let go once and for all of any notion that specific actions will guarantee a specific response, and instead focus on what is already true in the present. None of this is to say you should avoid risks completely. Rather, make sure your expectations are in line with what you see and know to be real.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Your imaginative powers would seem to be in full flow, and the approaching Aries Full Moon is likely to bring them to a peak. You currently have a knack for coming up with ideas that get to the heart of an issue. Don’t waste a moment of this precious time. Get yourself into a position where you can give free rein to your mind. Draw on all the resources you have, and all the experience you’ve gained. Make a note of everything that comes through, no matter how outlandish it might seem. It’s rare that discoveries appear in one gigantic eureka moment; they usually drip into being in far more mundane fashion, via lots of work and practice.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — The forthcoming Saturn-Pluto conjunction in your sign is highlighted on Sunday by the Full Moon in Aries. This could be a useful period to focus your efforts, and make some decisions concerning the way forward. You are likely to get a glimpse of the conditions ahead, and may well be more sensitive to them than anyone around you, so be ready to impart any insights you receive. Above all, trust yourself. The challenges you’re facing may be unlike any others you have known, yet in a way these are shoes you’ve been growing into all this time. You are more than ready to take on this moment and become the person you know you’re capable of being.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — In general, the course of development and healing is a slow path, and it’s easy to become impatient when the journey seems long or repetitive. Yet it’s likewise easy to forget how far we’ve traveled over time. You have changed a good deal, such that your younger self might find it hard to believe you could effect such a transformation. Yet here you are, with the lessons of your past experiences and trials behind you, and as time passes you are progressing still further. Your strength, steadiness and wisdom are reliable resources on which you can draw, and your presence is a comfort to all who perceive your true character.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — There is something of the visionary quality surrounding you at present, and your mind seems to be a fertile ground in which the shoots of your creative imagination can spring up and blossom. Make sure you give yourself enough space this week to nurture them. What might also be useful for you as the Full Moon approaches is to focus on bringing one or two specific projects forward, or certain ideas into concrete form. Prioritize any matter that involves keeping a promise you’ve made, and ensure you get anything like that out of the way before turning your attention to newer endeavors. Doing this will help you clear the route so you can go full throttle.