United Nations headquarters in New York at dawn on Monday, where preparations were underway for a climate change summit to be attended by the leaders of more than 100 countries. Photo by Eric Francis.

Today is the mighty Libra equinox, the first in which the Sun is exactly square Pluto in Capricorn, with both points precisely aspecting the Aries Point. Apropos of this astrology, leaders of more than 100 countries are convening at the United Nations today for a summit on climate change. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened the summit to focus heads of state and government on the need for urgent action, and to mobilize the highest level of political will needed to reach a fair, effective, and scientifically ambitious global climate deal at the United Nations Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

International Herald Tribune cover from Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007, acknowledging climate change and Earth changes for the first time. The Bush administration issued a statement saying it would refuse to act on the problem. The administration is also seeking a quarter of a trillion dollars to fight the Iraq war for the next 18 months. Photo by Eric Francis.

There, it is hoped that governments around the world will agree to the first major climate treaty since Kyoto, which expires in 2012, and to which the United States under the Bush administration) refused to adhere. The December conference will occur under the influence of Saturn in Libra square Pluto, which is likely to highlight a sense of crisis and urgency for action (please see below for discussion of that aspect).

Time is running out for world leaders to take action on the issue of carbon emissions, which trap heat in the atmosphere. Events including the Asian tsunami of 2004 and hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005 helped tip public opinion in favor of understanding that climate change is real. In early 2007, a major report concluded that the damage we are doing to the environment could last more than a thousand years, which seems fairly short, given what is happening. Many kinds of extreme weather conditions, including a nonstop litany of news about droughts, flooding and unseasonable rains, are reminding us that the environment’s condition is fragile and it is indeed changing.

Currently, the issue faces a serious challenge: global temperatures have been stable for nearly a decade. Yet according to today’s New York Times, “Scientists say the last decade of climate stability — which follows a precipitous rise in average global temperatures in the 1990s — is a result of cyclical variations in ocean conditions and has no bearing on the long-term warming effects of greenhouse gases building up in the atmosphere. But trying to communicate such scientific nuances to the public — and to policy makers — can be frustrating, they say.”

The debate is mired in things like the the carbon emissions  trading market, which turns pollution control into a for-profit enterprise but doesn’t really solve the problem. And of course, developing nations generally find it most convenient to use gas and coal. Coal alone accounts for 40% of all carbon emissions. If you want to know how reckless existing industry is, see a film called Who Killed the Electric Car?

The world leaders meeting at the UN today really do have the power to make a difference. They can, if they are inspired to, set political and business interests aside and consider the fate of the Earth and its inhabitants — though often it seems like the minds of people who rise to power are not capable of that kind of thought. Their awareness can respond to our own. We are again poised at the moment when choice is possible.

Dear Friend and Reader:

As of Sept. 29, Mercury will be direct after its retrograde in Libra and Virgo, but now something more momentous is happening involving those two signs. Saturn comes into the spotlight. This truly significant planet ingresses Libra at the end of the month, aligning precisely with Pluto in Capricorn as it does so, for the first time since the stunning opposition of 2001/2002. This is a get-serious turning point. It would seem we have some growing up to do; some reassessment of our relationship to one another, to society and moreover to ourselves. We are the ones who are ultimately faced with the responsibility of structuring our lives. Yet there is something larger going on, which is our relationship to our community, on any level you want to define that term. It is people who design the society we live in, and while we may feel we have exceedingly little influence over the course of events, it’s also true that most people exert little of the influence we actually do have. As the events of late October and November unfold, we will be faced with a choice: do we respond with fear or with a sense of mission? Do we retreat in the face of a challenge, or do we advance and commit ourselves to progress? How we respond is a test of what we truly believe — something that can authentically be described as a spiritual test.

Yours & truly,

Aries (March 20-April 19)
The challenge of the coming seasons and indeed years of your life could be stated this way: in order to thrive, you must get your most intimate relationships working in harmony with your most ambitious worldly goals. There are a number of elements to this, one of which is tapping into an unusual sense of mission or aspiration that has emerged in your life over the past year or more. One of the things I’ve learned from my clients is that most of us tend to set our goals too low to be satisfying. What we think of as thinking big is typically another form of thinking little. You are now being invited to think bigger than you ever have before. The second part of this challenge involves the way we conceive of our relationships. Too often they are experiences that work against our overall progress; we employ people in our lives who end up with the role of setting limits on our potential. While it’s challenging to change this assignment, you will soon arrive at a point where it feels like you have no choice but to do so. Here is a key. If you view these as separate missions, they will likely seem impossible. If you reach a point within yourself where you experience them as the same thing, you will find a way.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
Your life is a study in expectations and agreements. We often confuse the two; you would benefit from sorting them out, and replacing the first with the second. It’s challenging to notice when we are acting on the basis of an expectation, or presuming that another person will do so, though this is your first assignment. This takes honesty with yourself, and it will raise the issue of where those expectations came from in the first place; usually they are a lot older than the situation you are examining, and by a lot older I mean decades or lifetimes. Replacing expectations with agreements is more challenging, but it’s the action piece in this equation. Agreements imply that both parties to the agreement actually know what they want — very much opposite the situation than when expectations rule. Step one starts with you, and it involves figuring out what you want; give a voice to those wispy notions and concepts that brew in the back of your mind. Remember, you’re not committing for the rest of your life, only as a medium-range goal to give you a sense of direction. Then get a grasp on what the people closest to you want. Look for the places that intersect; these are the actual points of contact in your relationship; the common ground you both stand on.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
Many seasons of your life have been spent figuring out what was bothering you. This has involved a difficult confrontation with the past, during which you’re likely to have discovered how much emotional baggage you’re dragging around, courtesy of your family and your upbringing. This nagging sense that something was wrong has been the source of so much of your perfectionism. What you’re now discovering is that it’s best to exchange this for other methods of growth that actually get you somewhere. At the moment, it’s equally important that you leave behind the baggage as it is that you leave behind your struggle to sort it out. You’re about to embark on a new kind of challenge: something entirely more creative, and that is obviously beautiful. You crave this with all your heart and soul. How many times have you discovered that analysis only gets you so far? At a certain point you have to pick up the world and sculpt it with your hands, proceeding on the basis of feeling. For the next few weeks, you may still need to iron out your concepts. I suggest you boil what you’ve learned down to a few ideas short enough to write on the wall; something easy to remember, akin to a sharp tool you can hang on your belt and use when you need it.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
Your physical location on the planet is about to come under your own scrutiny. Are you where you belong? Have you ever lived more than 100 miles from where you were born? Does your living space reflect the combination of beauty and high functioning practicality that is one of the defining ideas of your birth sign? Oh, one last question: much of your growth at the moment is focused on relationships, and your evolving idea of what a relationship is. You are poised to pass through a series of experiments that reveal the importance of getting your physical space into alignment with your needs and desires in your partnerships. This means making room in your life for the people you want to be there. In order for you to be comfortable in your own world, you need the people you care about to be comfortable in your world as well. This is not really a matter of “take care of yourself first” but rather one of designing your living situation so that it works for everyone who you want to feel welcome in your environment. Yet the big question, the one of where in the world you actually live, is about to ring the bell. That’s a direct invitation to get out a map and dream a little.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
It really is amazing, once you choose to work out old, crippling fears, just how many you find. Yet it’s more amazing to realize once you start to discover them, how easy it is to let go of them. When you do, the benefit is the release of energy that you can access any time you want or need to. This issue is attached, at the moment, to a particular risk and a corresponding reward. More than ever, you are going to attract what exists on your current level of vibration. If you are fearful, then you’ll attract fearful people and events that threaten your stability. If you set your mind in the direction of growth and evolution, that is what will turn up in the people around you. It’s true that you’re in a phase of what might be called ‘enforced growth’. This is putting many of the established structures and ideas of your life under scrutiny. What you might not be reading about this transit elsewhere — revolutionary Uranus moving through your 8th house of shared resources, opposed by Saturn in your house of personal resources — is that you pretty much get to choose the level on which it manifests; and the way you choose is by how you feel and therefore what you attract to you. Change is inevitable; the form and direction of that change is not.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
You are finally poised to develop a long-term financial strategy. Given the number of banks that have failed this year (and associated problems), you may feel that’s a ridiculous notion, but to take that position would be to once again isolate yourself from your own potential with a negative philosophy. What does not change, no matter what happens to the economy, is that human beings are driven and directed by their values system. They are, that is, if they choose to follow what their values are telling them, and if they don’t they are likely to live in considerable conflict. One of your defense mechanisms is to isolate yourself from the values of others; to keep your own finances in a bubble; and to conduct as little commerce as possible. This is unusual, given the influence of the sign Libra on the money angle of your chart. Your life is about cooperation and an exchange of viewpoints that creates a thriving micro-economy. The defining concept within that cooperation is beauty and balance. This becomes the over-arching theme of your life as Saturn makes its ingress to Libra; the test is not one of productivity, but of creativity. The two are related, but in your particular situation, integrating them both becomes the foundation of the new identity you’ve been working so diligently to create.

Libra (Sep. 22 – Oct. 23)
For years, your potential has existed like a mirage. You see what is possible; you feel the strength of your ideas and the need to hold a clear vision for yourself; but often this turns out to be like peering into a different dimension, one that you cannot reach or experience as solid. This is a special kind of torture, but for you, its days are numbered. Here is an astrological secret you’re unlikely to hear elsewhere. Libra is the most potent creative well of the zodiac. Fortunately since everyone has Libra somewhere in his or her natal chart, we can draw on an unlimited battery of innovation and beauty. You have your Sun placed in this sign; you can be one and the same as this creative well, if you allow yourself to go there; and if you allow yourself the permission to take initiative. Saturn is about to enter your sign for the first time in nearly 30 years. This is likely to represent one of the few times in your adult life that you feel like you’re standing on solid ground. Decisions will mean more, and you will finally have a sense of how valuable you are to your relationship partners, business partners and colleagues. Manifesting this will require some elements of letting it happen, and certain elements of making it happen. Trust that you’ll know exactly what to do.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
Your curiosity about people grants you your most dependable interpersonal skills. Now, you are about to turn that curiosity on yourself. The relationship we have with ourselves is the most important one of all, because it grants us the quality that mediates our whole vibrational field. You may soon experience a phase of your life where you pull in and let a number of old associations drop away. I suggest you not fall for the illusion that you are losing anything. Rather, dive into your curiosity about your own inner relationship. This corresponds with a sense of radical independence you may be feeling in the ideas about life that you are developing. You will be able to shift gracefully from the sense that you’re the only person in the world who thinks the way you do, to being someone who knows that first you focus your own mind, then you will meet the likes of others with whom you can share and develop your ideas. The first step in this process is stepping back from any notion of having to fit in, conform, or be accepted by others. I’m sure you would never want to admit that this has been on your agenda, but the moment you let it go you will see how it has dominated your thinking and your choices.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 22)
Here is a brief summary of 2009 for you: the year started and built to an early peak with events that demonstrated both how good and how challenging life could be. There were many times when you felt like it was all too much, and yet the sense that you could create something absolutely new and innovative with your life went off like fireworks. To the extent that there were challenges, those only fuelled your determination to live well in the time and space you are allotted on this Earth. Then somehow many things that had such incredible potential seemed to go into reverse. Certain things hit frustrating delays and others seemed to vanish like smoke, leaving you to wonder whether you had made any progress at all. Somehow your mind is changing about this. You may not be able to document new progress, but the backsliding has stopped, for one thing, and for another, you are starting to feel like you can make some choices that put you back on track. October brings the tipping point; it is the threshold where you regain your confidence in yourself. It is easy to say, “all things in their time,” but it takes wisdom and experience to see and feel this in action. All things in their time — and that time has very nearly arrived.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
If you’re the type of person who is introspective and concerned about your personal growth, you may not count yourself as a Capricorn who is ambitious. I would advise you to reconsider this position, and to embrace the spiritually wholesome nature of true achievement. Here is the defining point, however: it’s not really about you. Yes, you are the spearhead and you will soon emerge as the visionary of an impressive and challenging project. This project has an apparent goal, such as building a skyscraper or creating an art exhibition. Yet there is a secondary goal that’s really the point of the whole endeavor, which is learning how to think in terms of mutual benefit all the time. I am therefore not talking about climbing the corporate ladder or any kind of usual heroism. I am talking about the highly focused path of self-development that you have embarked on since Pluto entered your birth sign. Everything, and I do mean everything, in your life is hooked into this engine of personal growth. Later this month, Saturn is going to cross the achievement angle of your solar chart, which is one of the hallmarks of success. But for a number of reasons, we are not talking about success, but rather about dharma: acting as if to hold the world together.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
It would be an understatement to say that you’ve been living through one of the most outrageous identity crises in the history of psychology. Okay, maybe that’s actually an overstatement, but you know what I’m talking about. There have been so many elements to this, going back so long, you seem to have a) lost track of them and b) grown accustomed to this simply being the way things are. There is something about yourself, essential to this whole process, that keeps coming in and out of focus. It’s like you get it into your vision and manifestation field, then it disappears; then you re-focus, and feel its reality, then it vanishes again. If you study this, you will get a look at how your inner components speak to one another. If you study this over time, you will see how you are gradually integrating aspects of your character that have tended to exist in layers and to act independently of one another, sometimes leading you to make the kinds of strange decisions that can only be accounted for by a lack of self-awareness. You have taken some amazing steps this year to both raise your awareness and integrate many seemingly separate aspects of yourself. As the next few weeks unfold, notice the strange and beautiful feeling emerge that you are one coherent entity, poised to travel a distinct, unique trajectory in life.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
Applying discipline to one’s life is challenging. It’s one thing to hold to a plan; it takes even more tenacity to apply subtle, radical changes in a consistent way, utilizing the quality of structure on the one hand and continuous experimentation on the other; this, in a balanced way. Yet that’s precisely what is necessary when old patterns have taken over: something akin to a conscious, active process of invention. This has been developing on many levels for you, with your charts revealing essentially the same process unfolding in a number of ways. There is the obvious level: the confrontations of Uranus in your sign with Saturn in your opposite sign, which have created some interesting relationship situations for you, wherein you take the role of an agent of change. Yet the real agents of change are working deep within your psyche, in the mysterious angle of your chart represented by Aquarius. That is the origin (in the symbolic language of astrology) of your deepest progress, and the message is: you are involved in reworking and rewriting deep, unconscious patterns of thought and feeling; and that you are reaching a vital conclusion of a long phase of this process. I would repeat, you have not seen the best results of this yet, but as Jupiter begins one final sweep through this territory, you will indeed discover them.