Notes on Love and Courage

“The shoes are marching for us.” @nicoleghio via Twitter.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Well, the Saturn-Neptune square certainly has begun with some energy. It’s been warming up all year, and is now at its first of three major peaks. The world has hardly ever seemed more chaotic, with more horrid things going on in more places.

It’s appealing to push it all away, to not pay attention, to have a few glasses of wine, turn off the ringer and put on a CD, or do a bong hit and watch South Park (a rare bastion of truth).

A SWAT vehicle carries police officers near the scene of a shooting in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday. Photo by Mica Escamilla.

Indeed the lives of most people are already so overwhelming that few have time to even follow one of these events, much less track them carefully and assemble the pieces. To do this, I have the help of many people and we are at it nearly all the time. We tackle it together. For most people, it’s all just overwhelming and painful, and disgustingly repetitive.

For some, the feeling of being repelled by these events, and the world situation, verges on a kind of violent denial or chosen ignorance. Yet I don’t think there’s ever been a more critical time to pay attention and follow events. If they all seem designed to instill fear and chaos, awareness and understanding are the only way to penetrate that.

It hasn’t even been three weeks since the 11/13 incidents in Paris. During that time, the French government has carried out 2,335 raids on private homes and other locations. That’s a lot of raids. Imagine going to the grocery store that many times. Imagine SWAT teams storming through your building or neighborhood. France remains in a state of emergency.

Belgium has also conducted numerous raids on civilians, including one where someone whom authorities claimed to be the 11/13 mastermind was killed by a suicide bomb.

Countries within the European Union have begun to seal their borders, and the world has been turned against Syrian refugees. All it took to do that was the claim of one Syrian passport found at a crime scene in Paris. That’s how easy it is these days to blame a whole country.

Migrants pulled an inflatable boat crowded with Syrian refugees arriving last month on Lesbos, Greece, from the Turkish coast. The war in Syria has created more than 4.2 million refugees. Photo by Sergey Ponomarev.

The U.K. and France have joined bombing Syria. This is crucial: the main response to 11/13 was to bomb Syria. The United States has run well over 7,000 bombing runs on Syria recently.

The U.S. is now sending more ground troops into Iraq, which most likely means Syria too — describing them in perfect doublespeak as a “specialized expeditionary targeting force.”

Meanwhile, the majority of governors in the United States have openly vowed to block Syrians from entering, even though they lack any power to do so — at least now. The way things are going, if we don’t wake up and turn this around, we’ll be seeing security checkpoints on the New York-New Jersey line before long. That’s what happens when we think greater ‘security’ makes us more secure. The two have nothing to do with one another.

Presidential candidate Jeb Bush has said he wants people to be made to prove that they’re Christian. There must be some way, he said. What does he mean? Religious affiliation papers? Digital implants? Tattoos? Reciting the Hail Mary backwards, like a field sobriety test? Is he that stupid? He may be.

Is this the world you want to live in? I don’t think so.

While the shock of Paris was still reverberating, on Nov. 27 there was a shooting and five-hour standoff at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Three people were killed. This is yet another incident in the ongoing war against women’s reproductive rights.

Jeb Bush — whose campaign is going brilliantly horribly worse than anyone thought possible — wants people to prove they are Christian; or else what? He has no sense of irony. Photo by Brian Snyder.

Five days later, this past Wednesday, Dec. 2, there was an attack on a social services facility in San Bernardino, California, followed by a purported shootout between the perpetrators and the police.

This took 16 lives, including those of the two people alleged to have done the shooting. Twenty-one other people were injured. We’re told the assailants were armed with semi-automatic weapons and explosives, were in possession of thousands of rounds of ammunition and were dressed in combat-styled attire.

We are being told that their home contained a kind of bomb factory. I’ll come back to this scenario in a moment, and the associated chart.

Here is something I noticed going through my day Wednesday. I woke up that morning and listened to Amy Goodman’s coverage of the COP21 climate change coverage on Democracy Now! [Listen at this link.]

Leaders of 100 countries are currently gathered just outside Paris, supposedly to negotiate a treaty that will keep the average global temperature from rising more than 1.5 or 2 or 3 or 5 or however many degrees centigrade. This may all be a sham. The problem is pretty far-gone as it is, and changes made now won’t have an effect for decades.

That day, Goodman, who is providing live daily coverage this week and next, was talking about something that has barely made news — the fact that Exxon’s internal corporate documents indicate the company had been aware that its activities were causing global warming since 1977.

Amy Goodman reporting this week from the COP21 climate change conference just outside Paris. Image from Democracy Now!

They had some of the best climate scientists working with an excellent budget, and they figured it out before anyone else did. Then, with that information, they embarked on a policy of climate change denial. Heck, we should credit them with inventing climate denial.

While this Exxon angle wasn’t getting much coverage, the conference itself was getting some attention in the mainstream media. This partly involved the French ban on protests in the wake of the 11/13 incidents. Rightfully, the world should be enraged about the conduct of both governments and oil companies given how the climate issue has developed. The French love to protest (it’s the national sport) and can turn out massive, orderly crowds on little notice.

No such thing is happening. And now coverage of COP21 has disappeared, of course with the exception of Democracy Now!

There’s one additional major news item to weave into context, for the full picture. Earlier this week, Chicago mayor (and former Obama chief of staff) Rahm Emmanuel fired his police chief, Garry McCarthy. This involved McCarthy’s handling of the killing of Laquan McDonald, an unarmed black youth who was shot 16 times by a white cop in the summer of 2014.

Police claimed McDonald had lunged at them, but video evidence proved otherwise. McCarthy, the police chief, was aware of this the day after the shooting but kept quiet the fact that he knew about it, and continued to issue denials.

Exxon knew about the effects of carbon dioxide in 1977. Learn more about that in this video from Democracy Now!

Jason Van Dyke, the officer, was charged with first-degree murder — but only when the court-ordered release of the video was imminent. The fact of police officers being charged with a crime in these incidents is a new development this year. The fact of these police shootings happening over and over again is not new, as we all know. But covering up videotape of a kid being shot 16 times by an officer?

There are many common threads here. One of them is using guns and bombs on unarmed people. Countless thousands of bombing runs on Syria, a list of names of people shot by the police that could fill a war memorial, and an ongoing litany of mass shootings in the U.S.

Today someone said that the incident yesterday in San Bernardino was staged by the government. Why exactly? So they can come for our guns. That’s the level of paranoia and misunderstanding we’re dealing with now. There has been absolutely no serious talk of gun control, and the “gun show loophole” is still so wide open that any psychotic multiple felon can arm himself with weapons of war in 15 minutes.

Is anyone aware that there have been 353 mass shootings in the United States this year alone? We’re also at the three-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. Back then the gun nuts were also saying this was staged so they could take our guns away. The solution to gun violence is always more guns, till soon we’ll all be living at the O.K. Corral. Only this gunfight won’t last 30 seconds. Pope Francis recently called it “piecemeal World War III.”

Pope Francis walks inside the Austro-Hungarian cemetery at Fogliano in Redipuglia last year. He recently described the world situation as “piecemeal World War III.” He has a good point. It does seem that way.

One last point — as my friend and collaborator Andrew McLuhan pointed out recently, the power of the media magnifies each of these events beyond what impact it would have otherwise.

Since the advent of newspapers, the speed and loudness of events used to start wars has increased exponentially. That increased by many orders of magnitude with broadcast media, then again with the Internet, then again with ‘social’ media. So whatever we are witnessing, we’re seeing it in exaggerated, distorted form. The speed and impact of events are turned up; facts matter less than impressions; people respond to conflicting information with fear, suspicion or by dismissing what they read.

What is frightening is that the more events there are, and the more fear they generate, the less we tend to think about each of them. In total, this greatly increases their propaganda value.

The Chart for San Bernardino

One challenge with presenting an event chart (I have heard from some readers) is that people who are not astrologically literate tend to skip those sections. To encourage reading, I’m going to make this as short and as simple as I can, providing enough information for other astrologers to test out my theory.

This event is totally confounding. The chart gives the clearest picture. When I get a chart for one of these events, the first thing I check for is veracity. To put it bluntly, I am looking for evidence of a false-flag event — which means something blamed on the wrong party.

Chart for the earliest known report of the San Bernardino shooting. On the very top left are Saturn, the Sun and Mercury. Many factors point you back to the 10th house of government. Jupiter is the orange number 4 on the right side of the chart. The Moon is also on the right. All of these factors point to the house associated with governmental authority.

With a team of about 15 people I am also searching the news coverage for whether the reports have credibility and consistency; whether they make any sense at all. Sometimes they do; sometimes they don’t. One psychological obstacle that I do not have, that many people do have, is that I know what large organizations are capable of, and capable of covering up.

I do my best to correct for observer bias by using strict rules of chart interpretation, by working with other astrologers and many fact-checkers whose viewpoints I understand. For my chart I am using 10:59 am, the earliest time verified by CBS News.

In the chart for San Bernardino, we have something that looks like a government job, top to bottom. I do not believe this about every event and I am a tough customer on these mass shootings. I think that a lot of them are done by authentic weirdos, and influenced by psychotropic meds. This looks like a different kind of event from every angle.

The section of the chart at the top left is the one that deals with the government. It’s called the 10th house. Every major factor in the chart points back to the 10th house. There would seem to be no way out. Every way you run the logic, you come back to the same place.

The 10th in this chart is Sagittarius. The ever-important rulers of both the 1st and 7th houses (ascendant and descendant) are in Sagittarius and the 10th, in a conjunction. A conjunction is about collaboration, collusion and mutual involvement.

Bill McKibben, a founder of environmental group 350.org, was arrested recently for his one-man protest outside an Exxon station.

If we look for the ruler of Sagittarius (which would represent the government’s position), we find Jupiter in Virgo in the 8th house (the house of the cause of death). If we look for the ruler of the 8th and Virgo (the cause of death) we find Mercury in the 10th house. Mercury and Jupiter are in what’s called mutual reception — the astrological term for collusion or total mutual involvement.

The Moon is in Virgo. In this kind of astrology a critical factor is what the Moon does next. What it does is make a square to Saturn in the 10th. So the Moon also points to the 10th.

Last, the 4th house (opposite the 10th) seems to be a good indicator of the shadow government (that is, the level of officialdom that comes with the ‘black budget’ that even senators cannot see, ‘black ops’ such as assassinations, spying on the public, etc.). The 4th has Gemini on the cusp, which is ruled by Mercury — and that, too, is on the 10th house.

I could go on for a while.

Now, this was supposed to be a domestic act, but that’s not likely with Sagittarius up there. As of press time, officials are describing the perpetrators as having ties to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and are starting to say that they may have had jihadist motives. That is not jiving with the “workplace shooting” version of the story. There are many, many elements of the official version of events that make no sense at all.

But what I think we’re likely to see is that somehow this is going to be blamed on Islamic extremism and that as a result we will be told that the war has officially come home to roost in the United States. This will be made into an international issue somehow.

A trust game — but trust is more than a game. Image by Gorskiya, Wikimedia Commons.

As for love and courage. We have seen what fear and hatred have done to our society, and we’re feeling the effects of what it does to us as individuals. It takes courage to be alive right now, and we’re going to need to find the strength to trust ourselves and one another.

The trust issue is huge. Here in the post-9/11 world of relationships, everyone is a potential stalker or spy.

This political event has had profound personal implications for everyone. From the first moments anyone could see that it would be used as a means of getting people to be afraid, to shut own, to distrust anyone in your field of view. The social climate has become so uptight it feels weird to relax a little, and for some it feels impossible to be anything but suspicious.

Since then that same thing has happened over and over again. The planet is heating up and the world has grown colder. This is not a place we can live safely, or with any modicum of sanity. They are equally important issues. And while we may not be able to do much about the meteorological climate today, there’s plenty we can do right now about the social climate.

Lovingly,

Additional research: Fe Bongolan, Amy Elliott, Andrew McLuhan, Amanda Painter, Cindy Ragusa, Carol van Strum, Sarah Taylor, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Thursday evening in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Designer: Lizanne Webb. Office Manager: Lauren Gdovin. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Eric’s Assistant: Whitney Beecroft. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick.

Weekend Astrology: Empowerment, Devotion and Ethical Ambition

Dear Friend and Reader:

As I write this on Wednesday, the COP21 UN Climate Summit in Paris is in its third day. The ban on public protests that was instituted as part of a ‘state of emergency’ (which some are calling a police state) in the wake of the Nov. 13 attacks was scheduled to end Tuesday; instead, it has been extended by French police until Dec. 13 — specifically for central Paris and for Le Bourget, where COP21 is being held.

You might see that decision as a ‘necessary limit’ to protect safety (meanwhile, French police have conducted more than 2,000 house raids to look for suspected terrorists). Or, perhaps you consider it a misguided overreaction.

One of the 600-plus “ad takeovers” the activist-artist collective Brandalism has posted throughout Paris this week to protest COP21; art by Eye Saw.

Then again, you might look at the timing of these two events (the Nov. 13 attacks and the ban on civil protests) as having a far stronger and insidious relationship, one that implicates the French government in taking advantage of tragedy and exploiting it for the purpose of abusing civil liberties — all to ensure that thousands of citizen activists feel (and in fact are) disempowered in their ability to be heard by world leaders.

However you look at it, one thing is clear: the shadow side of the Saturn-Neptune square (which made its first exact contact on Thanksgiving) is being described boldly by these events: fear.

There’s also an element of the use of illusion/delusion (Neptune) by authority (Saturn) at play: a message is being sent that anyone who is not a foreign head of state (specifically of one of the major developed countries) or a member of the police or military has no power. Yet that message is nothing without fear to carry it.

How does one combat fear in such a situation? How do you remember and make contact with your personal power?

Creativity can be one way through; taking action in some small way in your own life to make something or do something constructive — or helping others — can neutralize fear. It shifts your focus, and channels the fear energy in a different direction. Getting creative (and I don’t even necessarily mean ‘artistic'; you might create a new filing system for your office or cook a beautiful meal) also taps into love (or a sense of unity) and eros (life force). That is, the opposite of fear and the sense of disconnection and polarization that comes with it.

Your connection with this idea of creativity/eros/life force is being reflected, and perhaps shifted or emphasized, by the ingress of the asteroid Vesta back into Aries today at 12:45 pm EST. In astrology, Vesta is associated with devotion, such as tending to your inner creative spark or erotic fire as one would tend the hearth, and also with sacrifice.

The first degree of Aries is the famously sensitive Aries Point, which integrates the personal with the political. Timed with the heightened attention to global warming that the COP21 summit and diverted protests are generating, I see a question here:

Do you identify more with the idea of devotion when it comes to slowing global warming and other environmental issues, or with the idea of sacrifice?

“Tackling climate change? Of course not. We’re an airline. We’re sponsoring the UN climate conference so we look like we’re part of the solution and to make sure our profits aren’t affected. Economic growth is far more important than saving the planet. So we’ll keep on bribing politicians and emitting greenhouse gases. Just keep it to yourself.” Art by Revolt Design / Brandalism.

For example, I have a friend who lives almost 3,000 miles from her parents and flies to visit them. An avid tango dancer, she has traveled from Maine to Buenos Aries multiple times. Yet she does not own a car and has one of the smallest everyday carbon footprints of anyone I know. Yesterday she posted to Facebook the link to a New York Times article called Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change.

My friend wrote, “Biggest bang for an environmentally conscious individual’s buck: Take fewer plane trips. This is heartbreaking for those of us who live far away from our dear ones. To choose between my family and the largest effect I can have on the planet (minuscule though I know it is) is an emotional toughie. Me: I’m doing everything I can, could I have a pass on this one? Mother Nature: (*cough hack wheeze*) No. Me: Ack.”

Where is she on the spectrum of feeling compelled by devotion to the planet versus feeling a sense of sacrifice? Only she can determine that for herself. Which is really what I’m trying to get at: whether a necessary act feels like a sacrifice to you or like an act of devotion in service of something greater than yourself is largely a matter of your perspective — and that perspective, that sense of how you identify, can change.

Speaking of change, Venus is also changing sign, moving into Scorpio on Friday at 11:15 pm EST. Scorpio, ruled by Mars, is the sign opposite Taurus, one of the signs Venus rules. So Scorpio is not the most comfortable sign Venus can be in; passionate, yes — but passion can become aggressive if you lose sight of your empathy.

Venus in Scorpio (especially trine the centaur planet Nessus in the first degree of Pisces) suggests a question this weekend: are you aware of the difference between ‘attracting and receiving’ in your sexual relationships, versus ‘getting and keeping’? More than semantics is implied in the language differences; this is a true contrast in how intimate exchanges can work — or not work, as the case may be.

The question applies to how you are with money and material possessions, too, while Venus moves through Scorpio until the end of this month (rather appropriate for this gift-giving season). But this weekend, see if you notice a pattern, perhaps an old one, in how you relate to others sexually. Which approach opens the flow to sharing and expanding passion?

Fewer views like this one could mean a healthier planet. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Finally, I want to call attention to a pair of squares in operation from now through the weekend. The first is Mercury in Sagittarius square Jupiter in Virgo, exact Friday at 7:53 am EST. Speaking briefly, this may help you with long-range planning, though the details are easy to overlook. Expect to revisit the specifics after Mercury moves into Capricorn next week (and yes, I’d say this applies to holiday shopping and your Christmas or New Year’s plans). So, stay flexible.

The other major square is Mars in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, exact Sunday at 3:52 pm EST. Reading this aspect one way, it brings us back to the protesters clashing with police in Paris, the non-violent environmental groups trying to get their voices heard, and the question of whether you have power and how you exercise it.

In its most mundane form, this square warns of power struggles, particularly in relationships (Libra) and between an individual and an institution (Capricorn). There’s also a caution here to avoid dangerous places or people, since Mars-Pluto aspects can describe violence; it’s possible that clashes in Paris will be exacerbated.

At the same time, Mars square Pluto increases energy and ambition in positive ways, according to astrologer Robert Hand. ‘Ambition’ gets tossed around as a dirty word because it’s easy to forget to integrate ambition with empathy, compassion, ethics and some level of spiritual depth or purpose. Without those other components, ambition becomes ruthless — and any underhand actions taken now will likely come back to bite you in the ass.

However, combined with those positive attributes, Mars square Pluto can be used to creatively transform the world around you. That’s what environmental groups around the globe are trying to do for the survival of the planet; in one very literal example, an organization called Brandalism has created more than 600 faux ads around Paris blasting the hypocrisy of the COP21 corporate sponsors.

You could engage in much smaller-scale, local actions that would fit the astrology — whether you’re energized by the need to slow global warming, or by the need to restructure business relationships and workspaces, or a desire to overhaul your home’s aesthetics. Wherever you direct your efforts, stay aware of anything that seems to polarize your consciousness or asks you to sacrifice your ethics and morals. There are many ways to get where you want to go, but not all means are justified by the ends.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

The Heart of the Forest

By Amanda Painter

Melbourne, Australia, assigned its trees ID numbers and a shared email address in 2013 so that citizens could report problems such as downed or dangerous branches. Surely that happens — but not nearly as often as people anthropomorphize the trees and write emails directly to them.

The Atlantic‘s Citylab website reports that Melbourne’s trees “have received thousands of messages — everything from banal greetings and questions about current events to love letters and existential dilemmas.” Not only do Melburnians love the trees, but people all over the world are writing to them.

Now if only the trees could attend the UN COP21 summit (with full voting rights), they might not need us to speak and act on their behalf. Our leaders are not doing so well at it. As the person addressing the Algerian Oak above states, “Hopefully one day our environment will be our priority.” And hopefully that day will be very, very soon.

Facing the Future

Dear Friend and Reader:

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I consider the touchy issue of facing the future in a time of global and individual struggle. I look at climate change, the cover-up of global warming by Exxon, and other factors. I also give a close reading of Saturn square Neptune and the fear factor. In the last segment I continue my review of The Game by Neil Strauss.

My musical guest is Sean Crimmins, a local songwriter.

Lovingly,

PS — I was having a problem with a component and there is an audio quality loss in this edition. Apologies for that. –efc

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscopes for December were published Wednesday, Nov. 25. Your extended monthly horoscopes for November were published Thursday, Oct. 22. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Gemini Full Moon were published Tuesday, Nov. 24. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Most of us have another side we are reluctant to show, a vulnerable side. It would seem that your vulnerable side needs some love right now. At least to begin with, that love will probably have to come from you. Actually, that’s a good thing. After all, nobody understands your needs better than you do. The question is whether you can give yourself the same benefit of the doubt you would readily provide to another for whom you feel affection. The answer lies in going back to the basics. Among other things, love entails acceptance, trust and support. Therefore, do for yourself what you would want a lover to do for you. Give yourself a warm embrace every night. Tell yourself that you are good and worthy every morning. Invite your needs to stay in your heart and be what they are. – By Len Wallick

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Participating in an endeavor with another (or others) has many fringe benefits. Among those benefits is, or should be, the right to negotiate. The next several weeks will be a good time to at least evaluate the extent to which you have pooled your efforts and resources in partnership. Is it proportional to the license you have received to influence the nature and course of these joint enterprises? If your role or position in a venture is uncomfortably subordinate, consider how it got that way. It could be that you have created or tacitly accepted a niche that is implicitly unequal. If that is the case, negotiations must begin with you asking for and taking on greater responsibility rather than simply agitating for change. Show your partner(s) what they have to gain, and they will be more likely to give. – By Len Wallick

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Personal development does not always take place at a constant rate. Sometimes there are spurts of growth. The period just before a moment of abrupt maturation or attainment is often characterized by consistency and persistence, even when there are no discernible results. On the other hand, the stage immediately after a growth spurt of some sort typically requires some adjustment. It is important for you to know where you are in the course of your own evolutionary cycles now because it appears that you are about to move from one state to another. Therefore, if nothing seems to be going anywhere, keep up with your chosen practices. If you are somehow suddenly awkward, slow down. And if the world has suddenly opened like a flower, go with the flow for all you are worth. – By Len Wallick

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — It’s very appropriate for you to make your place of residence both comfortable and safe. Home can be more than just a place of refuge, sanctuary and nourishment, however. Where you abide can be lively and fun. You should not have to leave your abode to have a good time. Indeed, there is no better place to take a thrilling risk or two than in the security of your own space. It does not matter whether you live alone or with others. Nor should it make a difference whether you are hosting a party or in bed by yourself. There should be some way to find both joy and adventure under your own roof. Fortunately, your imagination is capable of being quite active and very creative right now if you put it to work. Think of some ways to have the time of your life where you live. – By Len Wallick

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — There are some who are fond of saying that “it’s later than you think.” Let them think that way. You don’t have to. If anything, your case is that’s it’s earlier than you think. Even if you are in the midst of a long haul of some sort, permit yourself to be refreshed by the distinct possibility that today really is the first day of the rest of your life. Allow yourself to at least imagine that you are only at the beginning of a great adventure, and consider what that would mean if it were true: that you have time on your side, perhaps in a way you never thought possible. It would also mean you have space to maneuver or even change direction altogether. Chances are if you give yourself the gift of positioning yourself at a starting line of some sort, it will allow you to make better decisions than if you see yourself approaching an end. – By Len Wallick

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Almost by definition, you have an earthy nature that should not (and ultimately cannot) be denied. You also have an inherently open mind. The combination gives you a greater proficiency than most for exploring the full range of your potential for sexual satisfaction. Paradoxically, your innate contact with the fecund Earth can often result in an over-emphasis on propriety. Similarly, your supple intellect is entirely capable of over-thinking. You may have also run into some trouble with inhibitions lately. Fortunately, however, the remainder of this year should be prime time to get your groove back. If you already have an established intimate relationship, ask about pushing the envelope a bit to liven things up. If you are without a sexual partner right now, try being a bit more risqué with yourself. – By Len Wallick

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Being misunderstood is not a pleasant thing to go through. After a certain point, however, you have to be philosophical about what other people think so as not to lose yourself. You may be at that point now, especially if you are feeling a need to please others in order to be truly content and fulfilled. Yes, we all have a lot in common. In addition, your ideals and sense of fairness do you credit. Even so, not everybody has the same priorities as you. Therefore, if you cannot please everybody, don’t think yourself a failure. Rather, think of yourself as having delineated where differences between you and others lie and what your own values are. If you can do simply that you will have more clearly defined yourself. With that definition you can finally begin to work and create to your own satisfaction to the same degree you have considered the satisfaction of others. – By Len Wallick

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Let yourself up. As a matter of fact, let the word ‘up’ be your mantra for a while. Take charge of your inner environment, and experiment with excluding the word ‘down’ from your vocabulary for the rest of the year except where absolutely necessary. That should be long enough for your outer environment to turn a corner and allow you to begin tidying up, as if to accept better times as your guest. It’s worth a try. When you awaken, try telling yourself to go beyond getting up. Encourage yourself to be up. When you are trying to resolve even the most intractable and discouraging challenges, envision yourself as cleaning up to make your circumstances better (as opposed to facing an odious and interminable chore). Finally, when your hard work and determination have you feeling most worn and weary, remind yourself to look up and notice the sky is still there. – By Len Wallick

“The past several months I have felt like my ass was strapped to some unnamed comet with no off switch. My exposure to astrology in the past left me wanting…no substance…too generic. I decide to give it another chance and gifted myself with your Sagittarius birthday reading. Well, finally! I now understand that this comet doesn’t HAVE an off switch, but I have at least found the steering wheel. Thanks.” — Tree Ravenwolf

You can still pre-order the 2015-16 Sagittarius Birthday Reading for the discounted price. You’ll receive two full audio segments of astrology, a third segment of astrology afterthoughts and your tarot reading, plus photos of the cards and the charts. While Eric works on it, listen to last year’s reading, on us, for inspiration and to review if you have a Sagittarius Sun, Moon or Rising Sign.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — If the sky is right, you are now settled into a smoother routine than was your situation only three months ago. If that’s not true for you, put on your thinking cap. Next, set aside all doubts about what can and cannot be done as the next order of business. Think as if anything were possible for you, even if it does not seem that way. Then, simply ruminate about the single most simple and easy thing you can do to make your life more simple and easy. What your free-range thinking comes up with may be something you don’t want to do. Let that be okay — because after all, you have a choice. That way, if you do decide to eschew the simple and easy in favor of a more difficult but palatable path, you will at least have come to a greater understanding of what makes you tick — and that alone will come in handy sooner than thinking can reveal. – By Len Wallick

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — For astrologers, your element is earth. What you might want to meditate on right now, however, is what it means to be in your element. You have been around long enough to know when you feel most confident and relaxed. You also have enough experience to know what fields of endeavor allow you to demonstrate impressive competence yet also experience authentic fulfillment. Once you are clear about when and where you are in your element, you can begin making some plans to spend more time there. Don’t put pressure on yourself — you don’t need any more of that. Conceive of moving more fully into your element as a gradual process that should rightfully take years to complete. That way not only can you make adjustments as you go, but also change course altogether should you have a change of heart. – By Len Wallick

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Yes, some might be judging you unfairly right now. If you are fair to them, however, you probably must admit you have given others some small reason to judge you. This does not mean there is anything wrong with you, so don’t compound your situation by judging yourself. Neither, in all probability, do you need fixing. It might do simply to be more transparent about your situation. Admittedly, revealing more of your circumstances and taking responsibility for them could mean swallowing your pride, or even risking embarrassment. Even so, it is almost certainly better to take a chance that depends on the understanding and compassion of others than to maintain the unsustainable, doing damage to yourself or your cause in the bargain. Give the truth a chance to set you free, and it probably will. – By Len Wallick

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Travel beckons, but not in the conventional sense. For sure, traversing greater distances than your usual commutes and opening yourself up to new experiences should be in the cards for you sometime around the middle of next year, maybe earlier. For now, however, it’s time travel that is waiting for you at the curb with an open door. You may argue that time travel is the stuff of science fiction, but all of the work you have done on yourself in recent years makes a trip down memory lane not only safer but also potentially more productive than at any other time in your life. The same labors of loving yourself with diligence and purpose for so long have also made you better able to visit possible futures more clearly than most people can ever do. So when you get the time, take some time to explore time itself — and enjoy a payoff that has been long in coming. – By Len Wallick