Aries (March 20-April 19) — The world cannot run on the basis of anarchy. There must be a guiding principle, and if it does not come from inside of us, it will be imposed (far less pleasantly) from outside. Saturn in Sagittarius conjunct the Galactic Core is reminding you, in ways large and small, that you must have and live by actual ethical principles. Sagittarius is your house of spirituality and what you might think of as ‘higher being’, and what this translates to is how you run your life, how you treat people, and the code you live by. The stakes are high, because what you work out now will lay the foundation for your future success when Saturn enters Capricorn, your house of responsibility and success, later in the year. Now is the time to do your cleanup work; to make amends for any past transgressions; and to practice using the power that you have in a fair-minded way. Your current astrology is exciting and bursting with innovation. It could have you in a freewheeling mood, especially where your use of words or your attitude toward work are concerned. Yet now is the time to be precise, to be clear in your reasoning, and to honor your promises. The next few weeks will challenge your commitment to truth and to impeccability. This is not a test. It’s real life, with consequences. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Venus was retrograde through much of the spring, and the process is still developing. The essence of this process, if we could call it that, is about determining where you begin and where the world ends. Normal human consciousness tends to exclude others. This thing we call the self perceives its being as the center of the universe, and to a point, that is true. Without your consciousness, the world would not exist, to you. Yet that’s a point of beginning, because were that all there is, life would be incredibly lonely — and it is, for many people. Venus retrograde, ending in a conjunction to Chiron in Pisces, brought some lesson about vulnerability and availability. To relate to others, you must be open and you must be vulnerable, or no exchange is possible. Now, Venus is back in Aries, pulling your focus back into yourself. The question is, can you center your awareness on yourself, and still be open to empathy, sharing and receiving what others offer you? You’ve had some practice shifting your point of view. That in itself contains information: your perspective must be mobile in order to serve you. Hang loose and constantly challenge yourself to see the world from the viewpoint of others. Ask, rather than imagine, where people are coming from. If you are the center of the universe, then declare it a friendly and loving one. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Mars in your sign is granting you powers of language, charisma and moxie. There’s nothing like the god of war visiting one’s sign to pluck up one’s courage, and this you have. Yet there’s an important word of caution, and a balancing factor. Mars will be square Neptune for much of the month. This suggests that people will believe anything you say, whether it’s true or not — and that you might believe anything you say, whether it’s true or not. In fact the more you believe what you say, the more others will. So the message of this transit, which peaks on May 11 and then trails off for weeks, is that honesty is the only policy. You may get a thrill when your words are taken on authority. You have excellent ideas, particularly with your ruling planet Mercury so close to the great conjunction of our era, Uranus conjunct Eris. You are, as the expression goes, in tune with the times. However, one bit of the zeitgeist is that there’s no such thing as true; and that deception is as good as honesty. You are being held to a higher standard than that. Measure your words carefully, and check your facts before you speak. If you discover that you’re in error, or have played a little fast and loose with the truth, make the corrections yourself before you’re called out. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Track your fear level carefully this month. That’s to say, before responding or reacting to any anxiety you may feel, notice that you’re feeling it. On our whole planet, the level of fear and aggression seems to be rising toward some nondescript boiling point. In a sense, it’s the essence of the times we’re living in, and an undisputable part of our environment. You have a useful periscope into this now, and what you learn about yourself and the methods that you develop can help you and many others. It would seem that this is part of your professional calling, which might mean that it’s an aspect of your current job, or something you want to do in the near future. In any such event, you seem to be a first-responder and on the front lines of making the world a better place. One thing to notice is that society is losing an important boundary, which is the difference between true and not-true. Even as we race ahead on advanced technology, we’re losing the one distinction that really matters, because implicit in it are all other boundaries. You might say that the whole message of your solar chart right now is about the cultivation of trust. You’re being called upon to live this lesson every day, all the time. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Of the many, many things it’s possible for you to do, you must narrow your possibilities down — so that you can do any of them. Right now your mind is teeming with ideas, which are not just about what you can do, but also who you want to be. You might focus on the relationship between doing and being: what do you do that inspires you to live the way you want to live? If you were exactly who you wanted to be, what would you do? You might want to narrow the possibilities by choosing the one thing that feels most intuitively right, and do that for a while. One clue that you’re conducting a valid experiment is that you may feel like you’re too narrowly focused. It’s a little like new shoes: you need enough room to wiggle your toes, but you don’t want them to be loose. You want them just a little snug, so they have some space to break in. From there, you can stretch and expand. You can branch out and open up. Many of the ‘great possibilities’ are a distraction and are based on image: that is, your concept of how you’re seen. That is The One Thing to forget. This is not about your image; you will build your reputation by the honest work of your heart, hands and mind. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your life may be a maze of financial concerns, joint partnership issues, and you wanting to be free of the whole mess. Be assured that what is happening is indeed designed to liberate you from all that complexity, though this may take a radical solution of some kind. You simply must look at the numbers in an orderly way, such as in a spreadsheet that describes who is paying how much for what, and how often. Use your analytical mind to ascertain the most basic facts, and then you can decide how you feel and what you want to do. Your life is more solid than you may think, and any feeling of being on shaky ground is directly rooted in what information you’re lacking about your own reality. If things keep going a little crazy, who exactly is involved? There may be something in the relationship that you have to examine closely, first on the basis of truth, and second, on the basis of motive. Like a good reporter, you must be willing to question everything you see and hear, crosscheck everything, and get the facts and figures. Where none are forthcoming, then you know you have a suspect. As you do this, you’re likely to make a series of other discoveries that both enlighten you and lay out important tasks for the months ahead. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Society puts enormous pressure on people to be in a certain kind of relationship, without which one does not feel like a person. Think of this as a kind of predatory lending: for example, sending someone a credit card with a high limit, and ensnaring them in debt. Like advertising, this drive to be in a certain kind of relationship plays on people’s insecurities and their deepest needs, which it then purports to fulfill. You don’t need that kind of relationship; you need the real thing. Any disruption or shakeup of your current partnership life is designed to help you distinguish the difference, and guide you closer to what you actually need. When you do all the calculus on what society calls relating, much of it turns out to be projection. That’s to say, we’re largely relating to images and feelings that are shining out of our own mind, showing us something about who we are. It can take considerable growth and discipline to actually see another person for who they are rather than who we want them to be, or dream them to be. Your solar chart describes one very useful way to get there, which is to know yourself, as you are. You need to be real with yourself before you can be real with anyone else. This is neither easy nor convenient, but it’s worth the effort. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — This is good news for many Scorpios: the sex angles of your chart could power a major metropolitan area. The bad news is that in 2017, about half the population thinks that’s just a terrible thing; it’s just that sex is so real and challenging and makes you confront yourself and your feelings. And it’s risky and then things go crazy and nobody knows what to do. Two problems underlie all of this. Number one is, it verges on impossible for most people to speak honestly about desire. Number two is guilt. You have some beautiful potential open, for every kind of relating: emotional, erotic, experimental and whatever else you might call it, though it’ll be impossible to get there unless you can be honest about desire and understand that guilt is merely a social control tool that has nothing whatsoever to do with being wrong. You might know that intellectually, though you need to actually take the risk of hellfire and brimstone and check it out for yourself, if you want to make it real to yourself. This is not a matter of scientific theory. It’s about your happiness and wellbeing. It’s about making contact with your potential, since how you feel about your body and what you do with it is the thing that defines your creativity. You came to this planet to express yourself and for no other reason. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Saturn’s presence in your birth sign (or perhaps your Moon sign) describes this as one of the most important times in your life. This is the transit that’s about fundamentally coming to terms with yourself. It may seem like someone is imposing limits on you, but that’s the Saturn principle: what you don’t structure in your own life gets structured for you (i.e., criminals who cannot control themselves run the risk of prison, which is a rather structured life). Right now your chart is exploding with creativity and, thankfully, at the same time, Saturn is making itself known. These two things are not only happening conveniently at the right time: it’s a miracle of karma that they are; or rather, a perfectly paired combination of factors to cultivate you into a fully functioning artist, musician, writer, healer or whatever form of mature adult you want to be. Make no mistake: this is about maturity, something that’s in exceedingly short supply these days, and is not especially rewarded in our outlaw-loving culture. But this is not about them, it’s about you. ‘They’ can break all the rules they want; ‘they’ can lie, cheat and fake their way to the world record or a big income or stroll down the red carpet. You have another mission. You’re here to do things the real way, which may indeed be the hard way. So be it. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — From the look of your solar chart, family or household matters have recently come to a head — and you’re wondering what to do. The question is, whose business is this? Is it really yours? Or are you haplessly being drawn into someone else’s drama? And if this has happened before, how hapless can it be? I recognize that the notion of false security is alluring, especially if you think it’s the only security there is. Emotional independence may seem frightening. Closer to the point, though, is that craziness and chaos serves a purpose, which is to distract you from your purpose. Why would you want that? Well, to some, success is terrifying. After all, you can fail. But does that make any sense at all? You seem to be a hostage of a situation that’s nothing more than a distraction. Meanwhile, you have work to do. How do you feel when you do that work? Do you feel like you’re abandoning anyone? There’s fun you want to have. How do you feel when you aspire to recreation and pleasure? If the answer is guilty, it’s time to start snipping apron strings, and if they grow back, snip them again. If you need your own bed to sleep in, and your own fridge to eat from, then that’s the thing to do. Life, the real thing, is calling you. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Your mind is on fire these days, and you might want to cool it off by a few degrees. Just a little air conditioning for the high-tech equipment that is your inner creative shop. Here’s the thing to remember: Your productivity and creativity are not actually mental. Or, rather, you would be more productive and creative if you diverted some of your energy into emotional intelligence. This has a distinction: it’s about listening and feeling rather than brainstorming. It’s a holistic and integrated approach to thought. It’s slower, it’s deeper and it works better. The Sun moving through Taurus is summoning you to do this: to get in contact with the inner ground of your own being and approach life from that perspective. It’s difficult to do while you’re plugged into a computer, phone or TV. You will think different thoughts and have different ideas when you’re sitting in the woods or even a park, or when you have a musical instrument or drawing pencils in your hand. If you’re trying to figure something out, put down the screen or the mouse, and try sketching or sculpting. You’re not a superficial person but under the current astrology, you run the risk of losing access to your deepest levels of talent and sensitivity — and you have just as much potential to cultivate a whole new kind of depth and sensitivity. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Planets are once again gathering in Aries, your house of resources, including fast-movers Mercury and Venus, along with mighty slow-movers Uranus and Eris. Then there’s Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom and strategy. This is the time to engineer your financial independence. You have everything you need: the talent, the motivation and the ideas. The astrology is describing you pushed to the point of having momentary flashes of actual genius. You merely need to pluck up some confidence in yourself, and do a bold assessment of your talents and what you can do with them. This will partly be based on a review and evaluation of what you’ve done in the past, mostly to remind yourself what’s possible. And it will mostly be based on an entirely new concept that sparks your imagination, and takes advantage of an opening where your preparation meets an opportunity that few other people are looking at. However, confidence: that’s the thing. If we look closely at the semantic roots of that word, it means, “firmly trusting, bold” or “to have full trust and reliance.” This is about faith in yourself. You’ll have a lot more of that if you discard your habit of talking yourself out of your own goals. And if you’re younger, the habit of believing there’s no future. There is a future, and it includes you, if you include yourself. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.