By ERIC FRANCIS
If you’re reading this, you just came through a rather unusual month, including Mercury retrograde, two eclipses and a wild ride of Mars in Sagittarius. The sky in November is less hectic, more focused and has a more serious tone. Serious is good — the aspects look productive, if you’re willing to bear down and maybe stay late at work whenever you need to. We will have a series of conjunctions to Saturn (the Sun, Venus and Mercury) and then something more potent than that: Mars conjunct Pluto and square Uranus. This is the month to get results. It will help immensely if you know in advance the results you want to get.
Aries (March 20-April 19) — Events this month seem destined to reveal the futility of jealousy and the thing it’s made of, which is the illusion of control. If you consciously give yourself the opportunity to be submissive to existence, you will find that you have more influence than if you try to run the whole show. I understand that you may be feeling the need, on one level, to exert your power. If you do something gentler, which is to stay in contact with your desires, and responsive to the desires of others, you will be able to get the energy moving in a way that allows a real exchange and also that brings you closer to people. This is subtle territory, and the land of mixed emotions. Stay close to your desire, informed by love.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Why are relationships so powerful in your life? That’s an honest question you seem to be asking yourself. I think you know that you need to get underneath this, rather than looking at it from the surface level, or from the viewpoint of the usual cultural myths we have about involvements with others. A particular situation or condition that has at times seemed stuck or resistant to change has indeed been a source of progress for you. And you may note the many ways the situation has evolved since it began. The astrology I’m seeing presents you with the following equation: the deeper you go, the more movement you will notice, and the more movement will be possible. You are about to enter a whole new emotional landscape, one where you will see how much freedom you really have.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You have collected plenty of information the past couple of months, and now you need to review it all. If this information has involved a health issue, you will probably need to discard most of it and keep the one or two gems that will point you in the direction of actual improvement. I suggest you focus on matters of sexual health: maintaining and nourishing your Scorpio parts, your hormones, your desire. Yes, desire is a vital part of sexual health, because where the sex organs are concerned, life really is a matter of use it or lose it. Some people love to hear this and others cannot stand to. It is, however, a matter of elementary biology to which we are all subject. And when the biological aspect of living critters is happy, there’s a good chance the rest of them will be too. It also works the other way.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Sexuality is at the creative core of who a person is. What is politely called socialization is often a process of conditioning natural sexuality and creativity out of a person, usually when they are young. What is left is someone who finds change and motion difficult to experience; someone who is calcified. Your ability to feel, to create, to be sexual and to change are all related. They are related to both inner and outer movement, and you have the choice to encourage or discourage these qualities in yourself. I suggest you keep your life moving any way you can, in any way that feels appealing and even one or two ways that feel daunting.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — What is it that creates confidence? Some people are born with it; but for most people, it’s cultivated through experience. If you were to say to a young person, all the things you would prefer to avoid are the ones that will give you the most confidence, that might not sound so appealing. I am here to tell you that you’ve already built up that particular strength, and any challenges you might experience over the next month or so are things you’ve already been through in some form. As such you can draw on your wisdom and strength and come out feeling like you are indeed strong and wise. Note that when authentic, mixed with that will often be a touch of insecurity, which is designed to keep you on your toes.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your chart strongly suggests that this is the time to practice speaking from your feelings. You have a lot of feelings to speak about, and you could just as easily, indeed more easily, retreat into silence. But that would only reinforce the illusion that you are in this all alone. And silence is a form of attempted control, and provides the conditions necessary for self-deception. The way to stay honest and in truth to remind yourself that you’re free is to share with others what you think and how you feel. You may have many reasons not to. I assure you there are several very good reasons to be bold and live as if your life depends on being true to your word about how you feel, especially when it counts the most.
Scorpio Birthday Reading Now Available for Pre-Order
Dear Friend and Reader:
If you’re born under the sign Scorpio or have Scorpio rising (or have Scorpio loved ones), this is going to be an intriguing year, one of the most meaningful in a long time. Three planets enter your sign the same day, followed by a solar eclipse.
That is an exciting solar return — a homecoming. In addition, Saturn finally makes its first moves out of your sign later in the year, and transitions into Sagittarius. This is a total change of energy and shift of emphasis.
Your birthday reading is now available for pre-order for a reduced price.
I intend to make the reading available soon; it consists of two half-hour (plus) segments of astrology, plus astrology afterthoughts and what seems to be everyone’s favorite — a tarot reading using the Voyager deck by James Wanless.
Your reading includes two excellent extra features — access to last year’s reading, so you can check my work and check the progress of your life; and also a live call-in program so you can ask questions about what I cover and (to some extent) your own astrology.
If you’re friends with a Scorpio, this reading makes a beautiful gift they’ll use and truly love. All of my readings are recorded in studio-quality audio, and can be listened to on any computer or mobile device.
You can pre-order the reading now for $29.95, and I plan to have it ready for you by next week.
Lovingly,
P.S. If you have not yet visited the new Planet Waves website, you can sign up for a complementary Introductory Membership here. This will give you access to many of our regular columnists and other features, and offers a glimpse of what a full subscribing membership offers.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — I have written many times that self-esteem is the most significant problem in Western society. There are bigger problems where people don’t have toilets, but on our side of the tracks, self-esteem is what you might call the plague. You’ve been onto this one for a while. I think you know what I’m getting at. Self-esteem regulates all other possibilities. There are some people who just naturally feel good about themselves and can live that way, though they are few and far between. You are going through a series of what you might think of as tests or experiments that will help you cultivate respect for, and confidence in, yourself. You have what it takes; you are strong and you have some energy. And you will be happy you passed through this phase of psychological growth — once you stand up and walk right into the territory.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You are bigger than any situation in your life. I would also remind you that no situation is intractable — everything is subject to movement. Everything is subject to change. That fact of existence is your best friend right now, since you have a tendency to live so much of your life as if certain things will never change. Use your discernment and apply this principle to what you know you want to move on from, but doubted that you could. Remember all the time that growth and change are inseparable; that they are necessary partners. In the midst of this, I would remind you that your capacity to feel is something to embrace as your best navigational tool. Yes, the modern way of life is to eschew feelings and tap on an icon. I would say pause, feel, and be well-guided.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Don’t let the pressure get to you — or rather, you don’t have to. You can if you want to, though your situation feels more urgent than it is. The sense that you are approaching some limitation or obstacle is more of an inner reality than an outer one. And there is a corresponding inner development — that of resolve and determination in a way that you have rarely ever felt in such a focused way. Yes, you are born under one of the most ambitious signs, capable of marshaling your energy like few others can. Yet as I am sure you’ve been aware, you must gather your strength in a new way, to meet objectives that you have yet to fully encounter. If you cooperate, the outcome is certain.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Often has it been said that only you have the power to change yourself. Yet this is either too much responsibility for most people to handle, or it defies some other logic that external factors are what really make the difference. This month Mars and Pluto form a conjunction in your birth sign, an indication that you have the ability to rewrite just about any facet of your existence. Yet this cannot be haphazard, left to chance or done with blurry vision. You must focus, you must choose, and most of all you must hold yourself accountable for what you want and what you create. If you think of this as the cost of success, you will see that it’s not so high after all, though more than most think they can afford.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You seem more determined than ever to crack through the limitations of the past. The most direct way to do that is to question your own priorities. You have been doing this, though at a glacial pace. You have made changes, though it looks like there are many more that you have, for some reason, held off on. No doubt that is because you have not felt ready, though I suggest you question the role of your attachment to the past. People seem to think it natural that they get ‘set in their ways’, as if this were some kind of entitlement. That may be true, but you don’t want everything to which you are entitled — which would be a fine way to sum up the astrology of the next four weeks.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Clearly you are preparing for something. Yes it’s true, life is one long exercise in preparation, though this is unusual and you are in a particularly sensitive phase of that preparation. One element of your life to focus on is ethics. That does not only mean doing right by others; it means making sure you do right by yourself, and that you have taken care of all your necessary plans and details. Make sure that you hold others to the same standard: that we all keep our promises. Be sure you’ve read the books that you know you’re supposed to read, in order to be fully prepared for whatever it is you’re about to do. Proceed meticulously, take each step carefully, and gather your strength for the big move.