Tag Archives: 2012 astrology

Opening to Eros

Dear Friend and Reader:

Most people don’t sit around contemplating the beginnings of eras or sweeping changes to society — most of us live from day to day. As we do, we tend to have a tense relationship with change. Many of us cling to what we have and are familiar with, rather than welcoming anything new. We do this with arguably good cause: change isn’t always helpful, it’s not predictable and based on one fairly common way of thinking, it’s not under our control.

The “legendary kiss” of Alfred Eisenstaedt, celebrating the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II. One of the most famous photos in history describes the release of aggressive energy into erotic surrender, taken on a collective level. Now that we have wars that never end, there is no culture-wide release of the tension used to support the war; in the current era of history, we have to create these opportunities for ourselves.

When it comes on the collective level, it’s almost always bad news. There is no positive equivalent to 9/11 or the financial meltdown, no collective breakthroughs that balance the damage done by these large events to which we’re subjected. We’re expected to feel victimized, however, then to pay for and morally support wars that we never even ‘win’. The result is that tension and fear have a way of building without a collective point of release.

If there are equivalents to a 9/11, we don’t generally hear about them, or they get little traction. I am not just talking about the thing itself, I am talking about the publicity campaign that goes with it, the media attention, the emotional push and the way that it’s used to turn the page of history. It’s true that there have been Moon landings and Woodstocks, but if you think back through history nearly all of those are in the evermore distant past. Positive developments these days come on a smaller scale. I would love to see as much publicity given to the Seattle Erotic Art Festival as is given to a random act of war. Truly, though: how many people would find that ‘offensive’?

We could have a Good News Channel — but first item in its business plan would have to be no advertising. It would be a miracle if investors put up the money and if people signed up. Who knows, miracles happen.

Yes, there are positive developments in history — though they are usually squashed in the onslaught of fear and negativity that so many people do pay for and devote their attention to. And if not fear, consider how much attention and indeed obsession goes to Hoarders, The Biggest Loser and Long Island Psychic.
This is a bigger problem than it seems. Attention is diverted from real issues and situations needing creative focus, and many people in their escapism are passionately uninformed.

Your old pal Grover. This is Grover Norquist, who is waging a lifelong campaign for taxes to never go up, and he’s succeeding — for corporations and the ultra rich. Photo by Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons.

Historically, this issue of balance may be outside what we choose pay attention to. Consider how something like the Fukushima nuclear meltdown happens in one day and persists forever, causing sickness, anxiety and a threat to countless future generations. Yet when was the last time you heard about a breakthrough that cleaned up the mess, or a development in energy production that made the world safer?

How many times have you heard or read the words ‘tax cut’? Yet when was the last time you personally saw your own taxes go down? With the exception of your team winning the big game (at the expense of many losers, and basically a meaningless development), it’s fair to say that collective events — as we think of the concept, and have it inflicted on us — are almost always negative or destructive.

There is a huge missing piece here, which is evidence of an imbalance on the planet that we live with every day. Even if this missing piece is only on the level of attention, that is saying a lot, because what we focus on multiplies.

We all know of people who try to make a ‘positive impact’ and the ways in which their efforts can seem futile — to the point where many others are discouraged from contributing (or use that difficulty as an excuse). This contributes to a cynical view of life. Cynicism serves many purposes. It reaffirms the habit of negative thinking and negative expectation. It’s also lazy — the ‘it’s all bad’ viewpoint lacks passion or applied intellect. It’s the sign of a lazy mind, one that orients on problems for their own sake and will not open up to solutions.

Many believe that when someone promises you life is about to get better, they’re either a religious huckster or someone trying to sell you something (same idea), and too often that’s true. When you really look closely at the interlocking political, financial and corporate interests, there seems to be no way out, no way to alter the course toward the future that we’re currently on.

The First Peak of 2012 Astrology

Today I am here with another perspective, as we fully enter the first peak of 2012 astrology over the next few days. All of the aspects I’m about to describe are eclipse-like events, which means they function a bit like the Aries Point, merging the seemingly different personal and group levels of existence. Usually this is the kind of thing that comes at us; on some occasions we can consciously tap the energy and make it work for us.

Chart for the midpoint of the transit of Venus, set for Kingston, NY.

The ‘transit’ is a conjunction of Venus and the Sun that can be seen on the right side of the chart, below the dark line. Venus is blue and has the number 15 next to it; the Sun is the yellow circle. The occultation of Pluto by the Moon is on the left side of the chart, also right below the horizontal line. The two events are nearly simultaneous, with Venus still moving through the second half of its transit when the Moon-Pluto occultation is exact. We are now in the midst of a series of these Moon-Pluto events — the last time they happened was early in the 20th century when Pluto was in Cancer. They only happen when Pluto is crossing one of its own nodes (which are in Cancer and Capricorn), and is thus closer to the ecliptic, where the Moon can contact it.

Astrology offers us the ability to see something happening on the collective level that can influence us personally, and in which we can participate. This participation can, in turn, feed back into the collective and a creative cycle can gather momentum. We think this happens on its own — though advertisers know how to use the process.

Does it take some faith to believe this? Perhaps; though the more you actually work with astrology and study it against the movements of your life, the more clearly you can see it work, though that’s often in hindsight. One interesting way to do this is to track major events against your own diary or key biographical events.

It takes some focus and skill to work with astrological markers in the present, and use them as points of decision. The astrology is telling me that we are now, at this moment, standing at a threshold of personal and collective progress. There have been others; we can only take them one at a time. You may already be feeling this in the form of personal developments, or sensing it as a high-energy potential. Potential is the key word: we’re the ones who get to bring it into experience. This is not so mysterious as it seems. Everything starts with a drawing; you might wonder how a little sketch on a napkin manifests into a skyscraper, but that’s what can actually happen. A turn of phrase becomes a novel; one moment where the light touches the Earth a certain way becomes a film. This is the beauty of human creativity.

The central event is the transit of Venus, which takes place June 5 or 6, depending on your time zone (see related article below about viewing the transit). The momentum associated with this event has been building for a while (eight years, actually), though we crossed the first immediate release point about two weeks ago with the solar eclipse in the first degree of Gemini.

Monday, June 4 at 7:11 am EDT there is the corresponding eclipse of the Moon in Sagittarius (eclipses generally come in pairs, solar and lunar). That’s followed by the transit of Venus the next day (see worldwide viewing details below). This, in turn, is followed by an occultation of Pluto by the Moon (another eclipse-like event) less than two hours after the midpoint of the Venus transit.
There are so many ways to interpret this rare cluster that you could write several books, though it’s the unusual grouping and unique combination of events that speaks to the potential hinted at by these aspects. As all eclipse-like events do, this cluster describes a shift in continuity, most of all — and this applies to every seemingly different level of human experience.

Let’s take the developments individually. The lunar eclipse describes a point of differentiation, where we can see beyond the past and beyond the shadowy levels of our psyche. An eclipse in Sagittarius is a critique of the role of religion and the way that it dominates nearly all of people’s personal cosmology. It’s an opportunity to forget everything you were told was true about God, the universe and everything, and make some observations of your own. What you were told to believe does not matter. What you observe to be true, or aspire to, matters entirely.

The eclipse of Pluto by the Moon is about deep passion working its way through the seemingly dense layers of personality that keep us stuck in patterns, sometimes for decades or even multiple lifetimes. It’s also about acknowledgement of something we don’t usually bring to the surface and perhaps talk about, our psychic scarring and our deepest pain. Without that awareness, healing is much more complicated.

View of Pluto-Charon system from Hubble. Pluto is comprised of at least four points that we know of — including its binary partner (not a moon) Charon, as well as two smaller satellites, Nix and Hydra. They all orbit one common point. Pluto is a Kuiper Belt Object, now considered a dwarf planet, properly called (134340) Pluto.

Between the two is the transit of Venus. As I described in a recent edition, this is Venus passing so precisely between the Earth and the Sun that if you have a clear view of the Sun when it happens (and if you use viewing glasses), you will be able to see Venus orbit past the Sun with your own eyes — something that very few humans have ever seen.

Barring life-extension developments that few people would be able to afford, nobody who sees this transit of Venus will be alive to see the next one, which takes place in 2117. This points to our unique moment in history, or interval between the eras where we now stand. It’s a little like a fulcrum — when you move a telescope a few millimeters, what you see on the other end is a difference of light years. We’re the ones at the fulcrum moving that telescope, as we make decisions to do the right thing in our lives.

When you’re an astrologer you hear a lot of stories about why people cannot do the right thing, for themselves or for society as they see it. You work with who you can — with the people ready to make real choices not only to improve their situations but to get into harmony with something larger. The ones who want to often do.

Others it’s possible to help get free from various levels of being stuck, and that can go well if everyone is willing to participate. I suggest you be aware of your stories about why you ‘cannot be who you are’, and remember — they are stories, not the truth. Always remember Helen Keller.

However, it’s time to take a step forward. I am going to pass the microphone to a new friend — a psychologist and astrologer named David Tresemer. He’s the author of a book on the transit of Venus, and I interviewed him at the United Astrology Conference earlier in the week. If you listen to just one interview from the many that I did at the conference, this is the one.

So far, this is my favorite take on the transit of Venus, which I’ve been covering since 2004. After our interview, he sent me this summary of his ideas. I am going to publish it in full, then end with a brief commentary.

Here is what he’s proposing, in his own words. It is a form of creative visualization that I don’t usually write about, because it’s too easily confused with wishful or magical thinking. What David is writing about is not wishful thinking, no more than an architect sketching a bridge. Rather, this is about consciously designing our lives, something that I know many, many people want to do.

1. All of our pictures of the world are powered by energy. Giordano Bruno [1548-1600, executed as a heretic by the Vatican — ef] termed these “erotic phantasms.” Eros — passion, desire, love/hate, Venus! — motivates and energizes phantasms — pictures of this-is-just-the-way-it-is, dreams, visualizations, ideas, world-view. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Anthroposophic movement, described the same dynamic, though with less colorful terms. “Erotic phantasms” are not to be banished — as in “do away with all desire” — but rather exist to be recognized and worked with actively.

2. Eros/Venus will be stimulated and made turbulent by the transit of Venus on June 5/6 (the exact time is less important as we are in this rare celestial event — by anticipation — right now, and will be for some months). That restless eros will seek images to empower.

Transit of Venus, at maximum intensity, on June 8, 2004 — the first of our current pair. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

3. Marketers, especially of technological gadgets, have used and will use this undirected eros. Going-with-the-flow on your part accepts that the world will be imagined by corporate marketers.

4. You too can direct that energy of eros — can meet it — by creating pictures of the ideal for yourself and for the world — not vague woo-woo pictures but rather very specific and detailed pictures of anything that arouses your interest.

5. For example, with the situation at Fukushima still teetering on the edge of its largest explosion, you could imagine that the explosion does not happen, that heroic scientists work out how to remove the fuels to a safe place, and that all species develop a capacity to learn from and transform radioactivity. In terms of the mythic images in the Venus transit book, this means envisioning the taming of the magical fire-bird to subdue its expressions on the Earth. Be as specific as possible.

6. If you cannot formulate new pictures — if the world as you perceive it holds you in its thrall, then you can focus on the picture of how-things-are-right-now-as-you-perceive-them each night before sleeping. Look closely at the details, best without judgment, and hold the picture in your mind, for just a minute. Spiritual beings will take it up through the night and in the morning (or in a few days) they will bring you an insight about how to penetrate even the most difficult problems.

7. In any case, take this opportunity to cultivate your relationship to ideals that engage eros behind them. Those imaginations will focus your desire — the restless eros of this time — in ways that will be healthy for you and for everyone else.

Okay.

That is some practical advice. I would add: leave yourself as much free time as you can for the next five days or so. Keep your schedule simple, and do some of the things you love. Most of all, keep an open mind. You may not be able to plan all that much, but if you can hold your vision and be flexible, you will be able to catch some of that Venus solar wind.

Lovingly,

Transit of Venus Viewing Information

As reported in Planet Waves many times, the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun June 5 (or June 6, depending on location) is one of the rarest of predictable astronomical events. It’s happening the day after a lunar eclipse (which is at 7:11 am EDT June 4) and begins mere hours before the Moon eclipses Pluto. We won’t get another Venus Transit for over 100 years — so if you have even the tiniest interest in watching, it should be worth making the effort.

This is one kind of viewing aid safe for looking at the Sun. You can wear a bear hat if you want, but it is not required for safety. Image: BBC Two.

As luck would have it — and perhaps speaking to the theme of ‘exponentially increasing awareness’ we’ve delineated for these events — this particular transit will be at least partially visible from most of the Northern Hemisphere and some Southern Hemisphere land masses. First we’ll cover the details for how to watch safely, and then where and when to watch.

This cannot be overstated: do not look directly at the Sun at any time without the appropriate eye protection for viewing solar events. Regular sunglasses will not protect your eyes from damage, which you will not feel because the eyes lack pain receptors. You can get inexpensive ‘eclipse shades’ from astronomy equipment dealers, and even Amazon.com is selling them, though certain styles may be out of stock at this point.

Spring 2012: The Deep Background

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Dear Friend and Reader:

By now you may be familiar with some elements of the astrology of the (Northern Hemisphere) spring of 2012 — a pair of eclipses in Gemini and Sagittarius, Venus stationing retrograde, and the Venus transit of the Sun on June 5. These events lead us into the first exact meeting of Uranus and Pluto in a square aspect — the Uranus-Pluto square, just past the solstice on June 24.

Galaxies Colliding. Photo by Charlie Lemay.

These all arrive in a close sequence, and when that happens, the pace of existence picks up. Most of these are eclipse-like events, which emphasizes that sense of acceleration.

Here is a basic rundown of things you’re most likely to read about on the Internet or, who knows, maybe even in a magazine. Venus stations retrograde in Gemini on May 15. Venus is retrograde least of all the planets; this is pretty special. Five days later, the Sun enters Gemini and there’s an annular eclipse of the Sun on May 20. Two weeks later, we experience a partial eclipse of the Moon; that’s on June 4. Then within hours, the Moon makes an eclipse to Pluto (one of many this year).

Very little has been written about this series of Moon-Pluto events — called occultations. Few astrologers are even aware of the data. You have to go looking for it (and thanks to a close friend of mine in Wales, Tracy Delaney, there is a research tool for that at Serennu.com). I will come back to the Moon’s eclipses of Pluto in a few moments in the discussion of Pluto.

As mentioned, on the heels of a lunar eclipse and Pluto eclipse, on June 5 Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun. This is called a transit of Venus, which is visible with some basic equipment anywhere you can see the Sun when it’s happening (unfortunately, not most of the continental U.S.). It’s a rare event; they come in pairs. This will be the second of the current pair, and then there won’t be another one until 2117.

Eclipse-like events typically arrive with a sense of acceleration of time and our movement in time. There’s an increase in this thing described as ‘intensity’. Events can have a karmic feeling: everything seems more meaningful, but we don’t necessarily know what that meaning is, or where it comes from.

By a Thread. Photo by Charlie Lemay.

This, in turn, can come with the sensation that you are at a crux point in your life. ‘Crux’ is an interesting word. It has its origins in the idea of “a point in a text that is impossible to interpret,” which you can take as something like a “crossroads of interpretations” — or something that has many meanings, with an accompanying sensation of importance. The modern meaning is “central point,” and we are indeed at the central point of 2012, when we will start to see why this year has received so much emphasis and prediction.

Once we get past the eclipses and the transit of Venus, we go right into the Uranus-Pluto square. This has been developing for years. It’s part of the ‘cycles of revolution’ series of aspects. This particular cycle has its roots in an event in 1965-1966, which sparked what we call ‘The Sixties’. That was a conjunction between Uranus and Pluto. Now, 47 years later, the planets are at 90 degrees to one another, which is called a square. Aspects between influential, slow-moving planets take many years to develop, and influence everyone in some way.

We’ve been feeling the effects since late 2008, and they have been undeniable beginning with Arab Spring, the Wisconsin protests and the Occupy movement. Activism is often one manifestation of Uranus-Pluto events, and astro-historians have documented that it can go as far as revolution. When we talk about a ‘power to the people’ kind of event, that has a liberal/liberationist flavor (a la Stephen Colbert’s definition, that reality has an inherently liberal bias — which is why there are so many conservatives).

What we’re seeing under this square, though, is a heck of a lot of conservative activism, meaning anti-woman, anti-sex and every new policy designed to cut taxes for the rich even more. Laws are being passed routinely that curtail civil rights; both ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ should be equally concerned. This activism has a ghoulish, militant quality, and there is no way to reckon it with the increasingly elusive concept of ‘ethics’. Much of it is being done as a show of force, and also an unchecked indulgence in narcissism. Currently much of politics is ‘all about me’, and this kind of self-obsession feeds right into the hands of the darker forces that are once again trying to consolidate their grip on what they think of as reality.

Hopper. Photo by Charlie Lemay.

The militant quality of the equation comes from the Uranus in Aries side of the square. Aries is the ancient Roman god of war, associated with Mars (whose Greek name is Ares). Uranus in this sign is flashy, impressive and extremely distracting. It’s the big show aspect of the news right now, and there are indeed some people who are quite adept at screaming into the echo chamber. Watch them as they start to get cranked up on the astrology of the next eight weeks; you’ll recognize them by the slightly electrified look in their eyes, their hair standing up and this odd feeling that they want to serve you as the main course at a pro-life banquet.

All of this flashy stuff is a kind of cover-up for something else — and that something can be described as Pluto in Capricorn. This is the other side of the Uranus-Pluto square. Pluto in Capricorn is a long transit — spanning from 2008 through 2024. We’re less than four years into this event, though it’s been long enough that we should be seeing some patterns.

Pluto is a potent, nearly invisible force. We feel it as obsession, inevitability, enforced growth, and the deep, urgent need to grow and become. Pluto is associated with Scorpio, and is a prime mover of sexual energy, which spans from the most instinctual level to the most spiritually evolved. It all depends on where you tune in (it’s a good idea to scan the full frequency range that Pluto represents, so you’re familiar with all of the different expressions; themes include sex, death, power and fear). Nothing can stop the movement of Pluto, or its influences in the world. Anyone who has consciously gone through a Pluto transit can tell you this. It’s the kind of thing you have to work with, like a natural force. It’s not possible to stop an earthquake, though it is possible to plan for them.

Speaking of earth, Pluto is in Capricorn. Capricorn contains the patterns of the past. It represents the structure of society, describing business and government, and the relationship between the two. It represents all things old. It’s a fiery earth sign, since it is cardinal — a tense dynamic which helps explain the energy of many people with strong chart elements in this sign.

In consciousness, Capricorn represents what we carry from the past — including with our ancestors (beginning with our parents) and going back for many generations. We rarely notice much of this material; however, it’s often what we feel trapped by. If you have strong Capricorn in your chart, you may be able to notice and work with it a little better, however, much of humanity is trapped in some version of the past.

Sway. Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Now, Pluto is in Capricorn, which is like a herd of goats getting into a museum. They’re going to take the place apart, munch on the exhibits, and lick the dinosaur bones. Well, it really goes deeper than that. This sense of the Earth shaking that we live with every day — that is Pluto in Capricorn. The feeling that civilization is being crushed under its own weight: Pluto in Capricorn. And the burning sense of urgency, coming from inside and not from any external excitement: also Pluto in Capricorn.

We can look at this transit a few ways. One way is as a subversive movement inside the halls of power. Since not much productive happens there, we can trust that Pluto is helping to free energy. Pluto is a kind of core vital force, working to rejuvenate all that has become too old, brittle and useless. The movement to ban contraception and even outlaw premarital sex can be seen as reactions to the liberating nature of Pluto in Capricorn — these things are inherently reactions against vitality, as are all anti-sex movements. Yet deep beneath everything, something primal and natural is trying to set itself free in the human experience.

Now, I mentioned the occultation of Pluto by the Moon that happens just before the transit of Venus. This is the third of 19 events that started in April. The Moon passes directly over the disk of Pluto, blocking it out. Pluto is invisible unless you have a very good telescope, but we still feel the effects. The last time anything like this happened was between 1919 and 1934, when Pluto was in Cancer. So this series of events gets props for being both weird and rare.

Pluto is strong in Capricorn for many reasons. He is feeling good. But the Moon — the more she tries to resist, the more she finds herself giving in. She tries to deny (occult) him but in that moment they fuse; literally come together. When denying sexual feelings, the more you try the more you are overcome, and inevitably must let go into the beautiful surrender.

The Moon occulting Pluto feels like she’s trying to hide Pluto, which is fine with him. He wears the helmet of invisibility and functions quite well in the underworld — the unconscious, which is the source of all dreams and desires.

Noise. Photo by Charlie Lemay.

But hide with what? The Capricorn Moon is trying to put a veil of propriety over what is coming from the most instinctual, hormonal level. She thinks it’s better not to admit any of that stuff, and maintain her image as a good girl. At the same time, the relentless quality of the exact conjunction, repeating so many times, feels like something deep is trying to work out and work through one’s emotional body.

Perhaps that includes your mother’s emotional body that was imparted into you — as if some ancient emotional and sexual blockage is finally being softened and released. The Moon has to be ‘out of her element’ (in the sign opposite her native Cancer) in order to experience this. It’s similar to a Chiron effect, where discomfort or inconvenience is used to foster something healing and positive.

In letting go, the pleasure of resistance (which we’re trained to love and worship) is released to another, deeper pleasure. The pleasure of resistance is (if you believe Freud) a product of pleasing other people with our self-control. Now, that whole thought form is being dissolved, or burned through, again and again.

Finally there is penetration, and that is another way of saying transformation — the thing that Pluto is most famous for. This is acting on emotional resistance, or the burden of over-structure, something that humans are most famous for. This can be terrifying to those whose whole notion of existence is about rigid personality armor, but the time is arriving to let it go. This may even seem to happen overnight, but if it does, you can be sure you were working at it for a long time.

Lovingly,

PS — Next week I’ll be distributing the May monthly horoscope on Wednesday evening. There won’t be a Tuesday mailing, and on Friday there will be a short issue consisting of just Genevieve Hathaway’s weekly horoscope.

PPS — My podcast this week goes back over everything I missed in the Titanic charts, and looks at the alternative theories as to what happened. See the item below.

PPPS — If you’re in the Kingston area, I’ll be reading tarot cards Friday evening at the Everette Hodge Community Center at 5:00 pm, 21 Franklin Street. Here is the announcement.

PPPPS — Happy 100th Birthday Fenway Park

Toro! New Moon in Taurus

The Sun entered Taurus yesterday, and the Moon will be close on its heels — and that means that Saturday we’ll have the Taurus New Moon. This is a New Moon early in its sign, with many other planets early in their signs. That’s another way of saying that this lunation makes a lot of aspects fast, as if it comes charting through the solar system like a bull.

Remember — you have your choices open. You don’t need to stay on a path someone else put there. Photo by Eric Francis.

Let’s take the planets in order. The New Moon is sextile Neptune in Pisces. That feels like it’s caught a good wave and is surfing with momentum. You could also describe that as a balance of earth and water.

The New Moon is also trine Mars, which is in early Virgo — just recently having been retrograde. That adds more earth energy to the equation; as does Ceres in Taurus, which the New Moon is conjunct as well. So far we’re looking at a lot of earth and water in this chart.

Fortunately, next comes some fire, and plenty of it. As mentioned yesterday, Mercury is in early Aries, approaching a conjunction to Uranus in early Aries — the New Moon makes a close semi-sextile (30-degree aspect) to those planets, which adds not just the feeling of fire but of rapidly accelerating fiery energy. At the same time, the Sun makes a quincunx (150-degree aspect similar to a semi-sextile) to two points in fiery Sagittarius: Juno and the North Node. These aspects happen very early next week.

Then the Sun makes aspects to both Chiron and Pluto; true, that’s a week from now, but the Sun is still going strong, and that definitely counts as powerful — making contact with two extraordinarily potent elements. As the Sun is working its way into the aspect, think of it as picking up a signal that gets stronger and stronger until it’s standing there in the room with you.

So, when this New Moon happens on Saturday, it’s really picking up all of these other planets all at once, and that’s another way of saying we’re standing amidst many choices, some interesting and beautiful potential, and being moved by a lot of water, earth and fire energy.

But what about air? Well, Venus, the ruler of Taurus, is currently in mid-Gemini. The New Moon and Venus are actually in a close aspect: a semi-square. Think of that as a ‘hidden square’, which in turn is a building block, or a keystone in integrity. Venus in Gemini has options and choices, and the Sun and Moon semi-square Venus may feel like pressure to choose. But it’s hidden pressure, something not obvious.

Bide your time and explore your options. You have them, and if you want the benefits of that you will need to choose consciously and carefully.

I’ve written a short article on how to deal with paralyzing fear in the time of the Uranus-Pluto square. You can read that here. — efc

Moral of the Story: Pay Full Price, and Tip Well

Three Secret Service agents who were part of Pres. Obama’s advance team in Colombia are being forced out of the agency in the wake of a sex scandal this week. Word out is that more resignations will be forthcoming.

Obama was not there, but his advance team was having lots of fun with the pretty ladies in Colombia. Boys will be boys, but we recommend paying full price and tipping well.

A single mother in Cartagena, Colombia, who says she works as an escort, got into a payment dispute the morning after her services were enjoyed by an allegedly drunk member of the Secret Service, considered one of the most elite law enforcement organizations in the world. She says he agreed to pay $800 the night before (for an overnight visit — that would get you about two hours in New York City); he offered her $30 the morning after.

The disagreement got attention when a friend of hers, a sex worker leaving the room of another member of the Secret Service in the same hotel, tried to intervene on her behalf. As they left the hotel, two Colombian police officers (one English-speaking), returned with the women to help them argue their case.

The women’s stories as told to reporters and reports coming from within the Obama administration indicate the women did not know the men were part of the U.S. government; other reports suggest some men may have boasted they were with Obama. An investigation is underway to determine if the president’s security was undermined, beyond the chaos that you don’t want in such matters. Meanwhile, the woman involved in the dispute says she does not want the man she had sex with to get in trouble — but that she fears retaliation.

This Just In: Portland Man Strips Naked to Protest Airport Screening

A man who stripped naked at an airport security checkpoint in Portland, Oregon, earlier this week said his act was a form of protest against airport screening measures. John Brennan told the Associated Press he was being “nude, but not lewd” and cast his actions as political speech. Brennan was arrested and initially charged with disorderly conduct and indecent exposure after stripping naked at Portland International Airport. Brennan says he decided to strip when he was pulled aside after he had gone through a metal detector and a pat-down. His actions come amid mounting criticism over airport security measures, including concerns over the health impacts of full-body scanners used in many airports.

EPA Issues First-Ever Curbs on Fracking Air Pollution

For the first time ever, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued regulations to curb rampant air pollution from the gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Fracking is a disgusting mess. This is the tidy side of things — above the ground. Below the ground, this shit is injected into freshwater wells, and can destroy the water supply for a whole community. This photo is from a recent article in New York Law Journal, which describes the legal nightmare of fracking for mortgage holders. Do not miss this article.

This is a method of extracting natural gas from fresh water wells by injecting them with high-pressure hydraulic fluid. Highly controversial, fracking releases a number of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals into the air and ground water.

These include benzene (a colorless, flammable solvent known to cause leukemia and anemia), hexane (a solvent, also colorless and flammable, causing nerve damage and paralysis if inhaled) and methane — a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. Widespread complaints of health problems and air pollution from those who live near gas drilling sites have gotten media attention in recent years.

Halliburton is involved in the process, which is so dangerous it can void the mortgages of whole communities under the “no hazardous activity” clause in the contract. Objections from the oil and gas industry over the potential cost of the regulations, have influenced the EPA to give the industry nearly three years to install technology that will allow it to capture some of the worst pollutants. Until then, polluters will be allowed to continue burning or ‘flaring’ methane into the air. Earlier this year, a New York judge ruled that individual towns have the right to ban fracking.

Yet Another Great Idea From Dr. Strangelove

The recent crash of an unmanned drone aircraft in the Seychelles (an Indian Ocean archipelago) underscores the dangers of one of the latest proposed follies involving nuclear power and the U.S. military: nuclear-powered drone aircraft. The allure of nuclear-powered drones is their ability to fly over remote regions of the world for months at a time without refueling. But what happens when one of these things crashes, spewing radiation that will be carried by wind and water currents? According to an article in The (U.K.) Guardian, the plans have not gotten past a feasibility study and nuclear drones will not be manufactured any time in the near- or mid-term future. But according to professor of journalism Karl Grossman in an article for Common Dreams, “other schemes to use nuclear power overhead which also threaten nuclear disaster are on the planning table and some are moving ahead.” He outlines several and is under no illusions that we are courting disaster with each one. Eric interviewed Prof. Grossman for Planet Waves FM; you can listen to part one here. A second part to the interview will be forthcoming.

SUNY Binghamton Bans Fraternity and Sorority Pledging

SUNY Binghamton has blocked all fraternity and sorority pledging this spring. The school cites an “alarmingly high number of serious hazing complaints,” though students and administrators claim it is not out of proportion to what other schools experience. According to an article in The New York Times, “Many fraternity and sorority members say there is no indication that any activity occurred that came close to putting students in danger, like forced drinking, which killed a Cornell student, or beatings, which caused the death of a drum major in the Florida A&M band.”

Terrorist training camp? No, this is SUNY Binghamton, and hazing — physical indoctrination into social organizations — is considered normal social behavior for college students. Or it was till the administration banned all pledge activities, before a tragedy happened. Photo: New York Times.

The article, by Peter Applebome (who seems to be covering upstate a lot these days), quotes one sorority member: “What you end up with is like brainwashing. It’s a long process where you eventually think the sorority is everything, pledge class is everything, you’ll do anything to please them. You eat, sleep and breathe our sorority, and I think it does become extreme to a certain point.”

“This has all been blown out of proportion based on anonymous reports,” said Samantha Vulpis, a junior from Commack, N.Y., on Long Island, and president of Binghamton’s Panhellenic Council. “It’s like hazing now is considered anything that isn’t optional. The way it’s being enforced is that anything you could ever think of is now considered hazing.”

Kevin Kruger, president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, commented: “The climate on campuses is such that there’s just much less tolerance for aberrant behavior, particularly anything that can result in violence or injuries to others. Stopping pledging altogether is not so common, but there’s a huge focus on managing liability and sending a very clear message to students and alumni that this kind of behavior will result in removal of the chapter.”

Julian Assange Starts Program on Russian TV; Announces Senate Run

Julian Assange, founder of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, has just launched an interview show on Russia Today. Available online, the 12-episode weekly series is titled “The World Tomorrow,” the premier episode of which featured a 30-minute conversation with Hassan Nasrallah, the reclusive leader of Hezbollah who hasn’t given an interview to the Western media in almost six years. According to RTE (Irish national public television), the show is being produced by Quick Roll Productions, a company established by Assange, and the main production partner is Dartmouth Films, a British producer of independent films.

Said the 40-year-old Australian former hacker, who in March announced he would run for a seat in the Australian Senate, “My own work with WikiLeaks hasn’t exactly made my life easier, but it has given us a platform to broadcast world-shifting ideas.” Assange has been under house arrest in the U.K. for almost 500 days, awaiting possible extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges, which he denies. Many of Assange’s supporters fear his extradition to Sweden could open the door to a second extradition to the U.S. to face charges related to his releasing tens of thousands of diplomatic cables about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Planet Waves Readers Attending UAC — Phone Home

Would Planet Waves readers who plan to attend the United Astrology Conference next month in New Orleans please get in touch? You’re invited to email me at dreams@planetwaves.net.

Planet Waves has a number of plans for the conference. We will be running an Internet radio station and hosting panels and interviews with both faculty and participants. I will be doing two presentations: a half-day pre-conference workshop on astrology writing, and I will be on the media panel alongside other astrologers who have a public angle on their work.

Levon Helm, Singer for The Band, Returns to the Earth

One of the most memorable voices in rock music is gone — Levon Helm, the Arkansas-born drummer and mandolin player for The Band. He died of throat cancer, which he’d been battling since the late 1990s.

Levon Helm performing in 2004 on the Village Green in Woodstock, New York. Photo by Jaime Martorano.

Helm was the lead vocalist on some of The Band’s most memorable songs: “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up On Cripple Creek.” Helm was the one American in an otherwise Canadian emsemble.

His wife and daughter said in a statement Tuesday that Helm was “in the final stages of his battle with cancer,” and requested the prayers of his fans. He died early Thursday afternoon in New York City, after a hospital stay in Kingston, NY. He died about two hours after the Sun entered Taurus.

Helm was a Gemini, with a lot of Taurus to back it up. That takes the clear, flexible quality of Gemini and puts substance behind it. He had a chart similar to his former bandmate Bob Dylan. I’ve noticed something about Gemini musicians — they are gifted musical shapeshifters, whether that means playing many instruments, or being able to blend into any style they want. Helm played drums, percussion, mandolin, banjo and harmonica.

When I cast his noon chart — his birth time is not available — it came out with Virgo rising, and Ceres, an agriculture goddess, is rising immediately in the east. He grew up on a farm, and his last two albums were Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt. He sang the famous line, “I swear by the mud below my feet.” Ceres was indeed his goddess. He passed that forward many ways, including by supporting farmers themselves and the 4-H Club.

Helm had an Aquarius Moon, and in many ways his life was about groups. He was in many bands, then for the past 15 years, he held gatherings called Midnight Rambles at his barn in Woodstock, NY. The events were fundraisers to help pay his medical bills. That to me is the best argument for universal health care that I’ve heard all day.

Noon chart for Levon Helm has Virgo rising with Ceres, a goddess of agriculture, in the ascendant. This describes Helm’s passion for farmers and his love of the Earth.

Helm had Venus, Mars and Chiron in Cancer, giving his voice a warm sensation that went beyond ‘folksy’ into an emotional poignancy that felt like he was singing across the ages. In “The Weight,” he delivers the mysterious lyrics in such a sensitive, straightforward way that you don’t notice anything strange is going on — until you listen carefully. You can hear two renditions of “The Weight” here, and read an article about the song that Planet Waves published in 2009.

One New York Times reader commenting on Helm’s obituary wrote, “The way he sang made me feel he was reporting stories he had witnessed or experienced in some other time and place, but in a way that made them seem to come alive again — he could really transmit an immediacy and vibrancy.”

Singer and friend of Planet Waves Rosanne Cash said she recalls singing “The Weight” with Helm at an American Musical Association event a year or so ago [see video]: “My whole body was tingling throughout the song. I didn’t want it to end. It was like going back in time to revisit some of the searing musical moments that made me want to become a musician. Levon was so sweet, so full of light. … I’m heartbroken he has moved on to ‘find a place where he can lay his head.’ But I hope he found it.”

Rob Fraboni, who worked for 10 years as The Band’s sound engineer, recently gave an interview on Planet Waves, telling many stories from their career. You can listen to that here. Here is a New York Times picture gallery honoring Levon.

May Monthly Edition Coming Evening of Weds., April 25This section also includes the upcoming publishing schedule! The April monthly horoscope (long edition) was published Wednesday evening, March 21. Inner Space Monthly was published Tuesday evening, March 27. We published Genevieve Hathaway’s Moonshine Horoscope on Tuesday, April 3. The next monthly horoscope by Eric will be the May edition, to be published the evening of Wednesday, April 25. There will not be a regular edition that week. On Friday, April 27 we will have a short edition with the weekly horoscope written by Genevieve Hathaway.

Return to Titanic; Meet the Thresholders

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I begin with an overview of the astrology for the rest of the week, particularly Mercury in Aries, jumping into the Uranus-Pluto square.

Then I return to the scene of (my coverage of) the Titanic and explain how I missed the most obvious thing in the charts. I look at two different alternative narratives of what happened, a discussion that began on these pages over the weekend.

During the program I mention that I’ll be sharing the subscriber edition from last week — Titanic: The Atlantis Connection — so you can see what I’m talking about.

In part two, I cover one of the recently discovered small worlds, 1992 QB1. I associate this planet with people who help others cross thresholds — birth, death and orgasm. I describe the concept of what I call a Thresholder, which I am describing in my fiction, though I’m sharing the idea here since the Sun was conjunct 1992 QB1 this week. For those additionally curious about 1992 QB1, you may read this article about Radharani, this April Fool’s article called Her Name is Radha (with the infamous vegetarian horoscope satire on Jonathan Cainer), and this article about my presentation at the American Psychological Association talking about Book of Blue.

Here is your link to the lyrics to Crazy Fingers.

Please let me know how you like this week’s program. Here is your program in the old player, where you’ll find the full archives and a downloadable zip file.

Friday, April 20, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #900 | Link to chart used for this edition

Taurus Birthdays This Week

The Sun entered your sign Thursday in grand style, as part of a grand trine in the earth signs. That’s to say, all of the earth signs have significant activity, which influences you — Jupiter is still in your sign; Mars is in Virgo; Pluto is a long-term visitor in Capricorn. Here is how I interpret that. Watch the trends of your life carefully. When you see a trend forming that you don’t like, consciously shift the energy as soon as you can. If you notice a pattern that you appreciate, feed the energy, gently build up the momentum and explore the territory. If you find yourself in a pattern that you cannot shift, you have two options: creative or spiritual. That’s to say, use what you’ve learned from your spiritual path, or dive into art (any form of creative process), or do both. Early Taurus birthdays (and to some extent all Taurus birthdays) this year have a theme of ensuring that your mother’s problems don’t become your problems, and if they have, work out this issue. Note, I will have your audio birthday reading early next week. This will be fun and helpful for Taurus Sun, Moon and rising.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You’re the one who must address your own insecurities. Nobody else can do it for you, and you don’t want them to. This would be a great time to investigate and see just what is stirring up your fears. If we’re using astrology, it looks like you might be having panic attacks or at least experiencing a lot of nervous energy as you feel your own creative potential surge. I trust that you’ve already figured out that you have an alternative, but if not, here is what I suggest. This thing commonly called ‘creativity’ means existing on the edge of your own thoughts. Most people don’t stay there; they cannot, because it’s too nerve-wracking. However, your astrology over the next week is going to have you surfing the wave of time with your mind poking into the future, and to work that edge you must pay attention without getting panicky. Confidence doesn’t feel like a king on his throne. It feels more like riding a bicycle.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — If you’re feeling some unusual tension within yourself, I suggest you consider what will be the central theme of this birthday season for you: making sure you understand your motives. That’s to say, I suggest you constantly refer back to why you want whatever it is you want. What is driving you to make choices, to favor certain people, or to desire certain experiences? Why do you feel about yourself the way that you do? These questions have answers — in fact, they may have two answers each. So the decisions you make are less about the outer expressions of things and more about connecting with what is driving you. Pay special attention to when those motives conflict, and note this as a potential source of any paralysis. A related theme of this spring is taking a trip back to the past, and while you’re there, disconnecting from the values you once acquired that no longer serve you. You’ll find plenty — and you’ll be happier without them.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Over the next few days, you may get the feeling that you understand your fears better than you ever did. These may arrive in waves of psychological insights that shed light on certain factors from the past. When this process is flowing, you’ll be able to make connections to certain elements of your experience and your behavior patterns in this era of your life. Looking at your solar chart, I would propose a few questions. To what extent are you carrying around someone else’s sense of loss, disappointment or grief? Can you see how this has shaped your life? Your life is about what you have to offer. The more you offer what you have, the more you will discover what you possess. One of the few ways to feel safe is to experiment with the feeling and see what happens. I know this may seem like doing things backwards; you might think that one acts safe when one feels safe. Feeling secure is a matter of experience.

Hello Gemini — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — This weekend’s Taurus New Moon describes how your financial opportunities are expanding. Taurus is situated in one of the houses in your chart most closely associated with sources of income, and this is an area of your life that has been flowering during the past year — or at least the potential is there. I am aware that money is a huge sticking point for many people, and it’s not any easier when every time you look at a news website there is more economic bad news. If you’re the exception to the rule, it won’t be because you’re lucky — rather, it will be because you know what you want, and you know an opportunity when you see one. When you do, I suggest you act promptly, make a commitment and take action. You have already thought this one through five ways from Friday. You have sorted out the details; you understand the risks; you know what’s required of you.

Hello Cancer — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — If you’ve been feeling unusual potential but don’t feel like you’ve had the ability to manifest it into something real, that is about to open up. In a word, the way to get from here to there is leadership. I can break this down to three ideas as they express themselves in your current solar chart: one is perspective. It’s essential that you have an overview of your environment, including what your colleagues and those ‘above’ and ‘below’ you are doing. Two is values. Make sure that what you’re doing is consistent with what you believe, and what you are willing to stand for. If you do this, you won’t have to worry about your reputation. Third is nourishment. In your current incarnation of leadership, you need to feed the tree without depleting yourself. Fortunately you have a lot to offer, particularly in the way of ideas and inspiration. If you find yourself blocked, pause and invent a solution. There is no limit to the information available, and you will be told everything you need to know.

Hello Leo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

If you have more questions than answers, consider this.

I suggest you get this report in its current form, where you have access to all 12 signs. This way, you will be able to listen to your Sun, Moon and ascendant, and gain added depth. You can listen to your opposite sign and learn something about how this astrology will influence your relationships. Each sign gets a half-hour discussion. These came through loud and clear, with strength and meaning. I spent a week designing and recording them, and I am grateful to be able to offer them to you as a tool to help you guide your decisions, as you seek deeper meaning along your journey.

All 12 signs are now available for $19.95. Next week they will go on sale for $9.95 each with no discount for multiple signs. The report is getting rave reviews from people who are currently working with it, including these words from a customer named Donna: “OMG — thank you thank you thank you — just spent this morning listening to my [Spring Report] info, and am so blown away by the accuracy (and relief!) in this experience. Thanks so very much for your part in supporting this work and for showing up in the way that you do!”. Here is the link to order.

Individual signs will be available soon — please drop us a note if you want to be notified of when, or if you have any other questions.

Lovingly,

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mars has stationed direct in your sign, and the Sun has just entered your fellow earth sign Taurus.
Mercury, your ruling planet, is positioned so that you may be able to clarify some issues that have been putting a relationship under some stress. In short, your astrology is a lot happier now than it was a week ago, and I wonder how you’re doing in light of this. If issues that you thought you resolved show up again, I suggest you resolve them using a squeegee and not a shovel. You’re most likely dealing with the residual cleanup, not a recurrence of the central issue. The past few months have been an extremely productive time for some, but have come with more complications than seems necessary. The way to put that behind you is to pause before you assume the worst about anyone or anything. Remember that you have the capacity to solve any problem you can identify, and the talent to develop the many ideas that have come to you this year.

Hello Virgo — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — What seems to be a block is really a question of seeing your options and alternatives for what they are. If you project into the long-term future, there seem to be two paths you can take, and at times you feel the pressure to commit to one of them even before you’re sure where it leads, or what you might be giving up. I don’t think you need to rush any decision that involves finding your true life path. The options you see today are not your real choices. The contradictions and paradoxes that are influencing you now, no matter how subtly, will be replaced by more satisfying questions as the season unfolds. Polarities that today seem to contradict one another will have a way of resolving into something entirely new, and this will shift the way you see yourself and the world. So if things don’t make perfect sense right now, don’t waste your energy stressing, or trying to put together pieces that don’t fit. You will soon see that the edges of reality are more flexible than they seem.

Hello Libra — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Do you want your relationships to be easy, or do you want them to be real? I suggest that you see things in terms of these two options, at least initially. By real I don’t mean difficult; challenges usually show up in the context of denial or resistance rather than by a conscious embrace of what is so. However, I suggest you notice the way that you tend to make other peoples’ issues into your own problems. Being real also means being real about knowing where the edge is between you and somewhere else, and knowing when it’s appropriate to cross over that line. Clearly you are being drawn into a deep situation of some kind, if only by your curiosity. The place where a warning should go off is when you find yourself adopting problems that simply are not your own, on the excuse that you love someone. The thing to focus on is creative purpose and a kind of calm, centered passion about life itself — not the relationship.

Hello Scorpio — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — There is a difference between starry-eyed romance and friendly, creative passion. It’s a distinction I suggest you take note of, because it’s one of the central themes of your life. From one angle of your chart you’ve got this strong pull into the identity as the perfect partner. Yet to do this, you have to ignore or put a veil over some of the more conflicted feelings you have about that role, one of the most significant of which is the way it tends to compromise your independence. You have another option, which is a vibrant kind of creative collaboration, which leaves the portals open to wider possibilities than you can have in a conventional format of relationship. Keep in mind that the pull between what is considered normal and acceptable and what is considered unusual can create plenty of conflict, especially if you involve yourself worrying about the ways that others might judge you. Borrowing from Erica Jong, I’m talking about the difference between being half of a relationship and a whole person.

Hello Sagittarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If you quiet down what your whirling, rapidly moving mind is saying, you’ll discover that you know something in your gut, and knew it all along. Given that this something is about you, you might wonder how it is that you somehow missed the obvious. That’s always a good question, though the obvious is so bold and has such deep implications that I could see it making you a little restless. You might say that the truth is so large that it’s difficult to see, something that’s often the case. The central theme here is who you are becoming. You’ve been in a transformational process that has been working under the surface layers of awareness. Yet now it’s starting to bubble up to the top. You are seeing the extent of the changes you’re going through, and this in turn is giving you a sense of your trajectory. What you’re getting now is just a little sample of the incoming energy; this will gradually ramp up over the next six weeks until you discover, somehow much to your surprise, that you really are this entirely different person you suspect you’re becoming.

Hello Capricorn — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You know something, though I don’t think you know how true it really is. In other words, don’t be surprised when you discover that you were right. Now, being right isn’t everything, and some have gone so far as to say it’s the opposite of being happy. But I’m not talking about righteous — I mean that you have a hunch, a flash of insight or an idea that is actually valid. I suggest that rather than just letting it go, you keep working with it, and take the whole matter deeper. The reason you might not do that is that somehow the truth makes you nervous. You can be sure, in any event, that it will have impact. What good would it be otherwise? We don’t need any more trivial ‘information’ in the world right now. Here is the influence I see this revelation having: you just might feel less isolated. Would it feel good to learn that you’re not alone, that others are going through a similar experience, and that you can learn from one another? That’s what I see in your charts for the next few days.

Hello Aquarius — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — What’s developing in your solar chart is about a lot more than money, but let’s at least start with the financial aspect of the discussion. This involves an idea that you’ve been developing, something you probably thought was not worth a lot in economic terms but might be valuable otherwise. Yet there is a substantial economic value, which is rooted in how you’re working with an idea that’s ahead of its time, but right when ‘the time’ is about to catch up. There’s a message about you catching up as well, and by that I mean that there’s finally room in the world for what you’ve got going. Just a few years ago you might have decided it was impossible for that to be true. Then you started to see where you could maybe slip in edgewise. Suddenly there’s a huge opening — but it doesn’t look like people are having one of those Nike sneaker stampedes. Don’t let that fool you. I don’t know what it is, but you’re in possession of something that people not only need — better still, it’s something that they want. Even though you’re not motivated by money, keep your financial strategy in the front of your mind and you’ll do well with this, whatever it might be.

Hello Pisces — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed).

What I’ve Learned About 2012 Astrology (So Far)

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Dear Friend and Reader:

We finished the 14th annual edition of Planet Waves last night and — lo and behold — we have a weekly issue for you today as well. As you may know, I woke up Saturday morning with one sign left to write (Pisces) and discovered that four signs I had written, and their backups, were not turning up on my laptop. My MS Office database was crashing and Word could not remember where it was putting anything. So that was a job for the data recovery guys at Tech-Smiths in New Paltz, who recovered every deleted or ‘deleted’ file on my drive, including the lost ones. A few doses of arnica, a bit of panic and a couple of days’ delay — and we have your readings for you. This link tells you more about them.

The Whirlpool Galaxy NGC 5194 in Canes Venatici is one of the most stunning showpieces of the evening sky and perhaps the best example of interacting galaxies. As indicated by the image above, aside from being a very impressive face-on spiral galaxy with distinct and highly resolved arms, it is cannibalizing a smaller galaxy (NGC 5195, M51B) in the immediate vicinity with a very clear and distinct ‘bridge’ between them. Read more here. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

In sum, what I’ve learned about 2012 astrology after studying it from numerous viewpoints, over and over, is that it is real. Whatever you may make of the turnover of the Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, the Western astrology suggests a time of progress, growth, healing and some cultural turmoil. These forces combine to make a perfect storm of progress — and as these conditions gather, there will be no denying what’s up. The astrology is active from so many angles I doubt there will be anyone who does not feel in some way drawn in, called to participate, or called to do something more with their lives.

I have been looking at 2012 charts my whole astrology career, and preparing my clients for these changes for many years. Over the past six months, what started as a few charts has grown into an organized little heap of them, including studying many, many of the minor planets and what they are doing.

What this astrology is about — that is, the story that it tells — has arisen like a vision in the mist, but gradually. We have been living through it, in phases, for a long time. Planets started taking their positions in 2008 and then in about six different stages between then and now, the energy has gradually taken shape — but we have not yet experienced the first peak, which comes on with a wave of changes that will span from mid-May through late June 2012, getting things rolling at full strength.

Two things are going to happen, before then. First, Mars goes retrograde in Virgo on Monday, Jan. 23. I have interpreted this through the signs as a preparation phase; a kind of mental and psychological systems check that lasts about 10 weeks, so that we’re ready for the fast changes of the late spring and early summer (said in Northern Hemisphere seasons). Virgo is where we ‘store’ many of our mental scripts, our concepts, our psychological patterns, and our ideas about being on the Earth and part of the Earth. Mars retrograde presents us with a phase of inquiry, investigation and working out (such as issues, and maybe at the gym; if you make time that will have extra benefits). This lasts through April 13 (though Mars remains in Virgo through July 3). It will influence each of the signs and rising signs differently, as it appears in a different house (that is, department of life) for each of them.

Then on Feb. 3, Neptune is going to ingress Pisces. Not counting a brief visit last year, the last time Neptune was in Pisces was between Feb. 17, 1848 and Feb. 13, 1862. Just as Neptune was leaving Pisces the last time, the Civil War was getting going, which is a reminder not to be caught in a fantasy bubble as this transit develops. Note also that just as Pluto was leaving Capricorn the last time it was there, the American Revolution was getting going (both of these sign changes will repeat, nearly simultaneously, in the mid 2020s).

Bands of high-altitude clouds cast shadows on Neptune’s lower cloud deck. Photo: NASA.

We could surmise that Pluto in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces predate eras of massive structural change, yet changes are evident in the moment we occupy right now. While many things about human nature have remained the same, some have evolved, and Neptune in Pisces is part of accelerating that process, granting us the potential for a deeper connection to faith, beauty and inner truth than we usually opt for. Neptune joins Chiron in Pisces, so we will have a strong focus on the most elusive of the signs — the one that represents the oceans that cover three-quarters of our planet’s surface.

These placements are encouraging us to go to greater spiritual depths, and to clear our emotional bodies as we can. If there are incoming energies, we need to make space and free up bandwidth for them. These transits, as well, influence all of the signs and rising signs differently. That enhanced sense of spiritual contact — which you might experience as love, as affirmation or as a healing crisis — will be useful when we reach the first of seven exact squares of Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn in late June. I have interpreted this from three angles — the Aries angle of self-actualization; the Capricorn angle of participation in the world; and the midpoint, which is in Aquarius — the cooperation factor. This Aquarius factor is significant because it provides a release point on some of the darkest aspects of human nature, which tend to show up when people form groups.

One last. Perhaps the most interesting (and visually spectacular) astrology of 2012 happens when Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun on June 5 or 6, 2012 (depending on your time zone). This happens in Gemini, and it seems to be a kind of emergence — the two ‘halves’ of the psyche indicated by Gemini emerge as a sum greater than the parts. We all struggle with dualism to some degree, with multiple facets of our nature, with aspects of ourselves that conflict. This astrology seems to offer a way through that, helping us make contact with something much more tangible than ‘the split’ that we often feel.

Venus transit of the Sun on June 8, 2004. This image shows Venus crossing the disk of the Sun, and the smaller images give details of the egress. This will be visible from some parts of the world on June 5 or 6, 2012, and will not be seen again by human eyes until the 22nd century. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

The Venus Transit of the Sun is about the emergence of the solar feminine (I’ll be adding a special audio about this to the annual site in the next few days). That is, the feminine that is under her own power and providing her own light, not the reflected light of the Sun (for example, as is the Moon). As I’ve noted before, the Venus transit of the Sun is extremely rare; the one in June had a counterpart back in 2004, and there were none in the 20th century. The next pair after this year’s begins in 2117. The annual edition has an article explaining what to do if you want to see this event with your own eyes.

There is one point from the Dec. 21 2012 chart that I want to mention. When the Sun makes its storied, much-mythologized alignment with the Tropic of Capricorn at the solstice, it’s in an exact conjunction with Juno, one of the first asteroids, discovered early in the 19th century. If you consider that the Mayans oriented their 5,125-year cycle on the Capricorn solstice of 2012, consider that on that very day the Sun is conjunct the Queen of Heaven. This by the way will be the second time, on a key day of 2012, that there is a solar conjunction with a major feminine archetype.

In psychological astrology, Juno represents the concept of marriage, certain attributes of one’s spouse, and on the shadow side, the bone of contention in a relationship. She’s strongly associated with jealousy, after the infamous tyrannical controlling fits of her Greek predecessor Hera.

We arrive at 12/21/12 — day 13.0.0.0.0, at the end of a 1.89 million-day cycle — with a message about relationships. In particular, there is a message about jealousy. We don’t need it. It’s not good for us. It may well be the root of all evil. And the beautiful thing is we can do something about it.

Lovingly,

The Sun remains in Capricorn, though the sky has a Pisces theme at the moment. Friday there are two inner planet to outer planet conjunctions: Mercury conjunct Pluto in early Capricorn and Venus conjunct Neptune in the last degree of Aquarius. Venus also makes a trine to Saturn just before it conjoins Neptune, though it is essentially all one event. Saturday, Venus ingresses Pisces, running vanguard for Neptune (which follows suit Feb. 3). Once there, Venus sextiles Jupiter in Taurus and then on Monday makes a conjunction to Chiron in Pisces. Mercury sextiles Vesta in Pisces on Sunday. The Moon is in Virgo all day Friday and into Saturday, when it enters Libra at 8:28 am EST. Monday at 11:33 am EST the Moon enters Scorpio. Also on Monday, the Capricorn Sun squares minor planet 1992 QB1 in Aries.

Tomorrow Venus enters Pisces and on Monday makes a conjunction to Chiron. Barbara Hand Clow described this conjunction as the orgasmic fusion with the cosmos. That is no small thing. And neither is surrendering to love — or erotic energy. But what is the key to surrendering to love in creative, holistic fusion rather than getting caught in a tsunami of delusion (which is quite possible, with Pisces and Neptune involved)? Self-knowledge. Anais Nin put it this way: “Eroticism is one of the basic means of self knowledge, as indispensable as poetry.” And she should know: her Venus was in Pisces, sextile Chiron. This weekend Chiron is going to focus this sense of love and surrender and show you where and how you can use it to heal your relationships — beginning with your relationship to yourself. Specifically, with Venus involved, expect the focus of healing to be your feminine, receptive side. Find your inner Nin. Catalyze the fusion of the cosmos this weekend. Know yourself — and know you can heal.

The Republican party seems to have a bad case of Eris — total personality fragmentation and identity crisis (on the light side) and vicious infighting (on the dark side). Yes, the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt has been reduced to a bunch of fundamentalist, self-contradictory millionaires who are creating so much bad press for one another that it’s amazing that any of them will withstand a general election. Mitt Romney won Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, with Ron Paul coming in a strong second place. Romney is the corporate raider who thinks that forcing companies into bankruptcy and laying off workers makes him a ‘job creator’. Ron Paul is the supposed libertarian who thinks we need to arm ourselves against African-American carjackers. In last week’s Iowa Caucus, Romney and Rick Santorum tied for first place, though Romney spent 18 times more on his campaign than did Santorum — whose entire platform consists of an anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-polyamorous sexual morality trip.

Throw in wingnuts Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann (now withdrawn from the race), and erstwhile pseudo candidate Herman Cain, and we can see that the Republican party has become a collection of fragments, each representing a slightly different but equally nutty concept of conservatism. Looked at another way, the ‘Pubs are trying to exist as a coalition, which is the usual style of the more diversified Dems. Perhaps it’s time to consult with the Rev. Al Sharpton for advice about how to better manage themselves. Next week’s South Carolina primary will probably decide who the Republican candidate will be. Reminder that on Election Day 2012, Mercury stations retrograde right in the middle of the proceedings. The last and only time anything like this happened for a presidential election was in 2000, when Gore won and Bush got to take office.

There may be a lot of places like home. In a new paper appearing in the Jan. 12 edition of the journal Nature, astrophysicist Kem Cook, as part of an international collaboration, says that planets around other stars are the rule rather than the exception. The results of his study point to more planetary systems resembling our solar system rather than being significantly different. An exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system. Over the past 16 years, astronomers have detected more than 700 confirmed exoplanets and have started to probe the spectra and atmospheres of these worlds. While studying the properties of individual exoplanets is undeniably valuable, a much more basic question remains: How commonplace are planets in the Milky Way? The team found that approximately 17% of stars host Jupiter-mass planets. However, cool-Neptunes and super-Earths are more common, occurring 52% and 62% of the time, respectively. “This is what I have felt all along, wrote one commenter to the article. “It was only a protestant fantasy that assumed earth centricism and uniqueness of life only here on this world. We will probably find out that life is also prevalent on many of these worlds. Bearing in mind the tiny fraction of time that we have been able to be self-aware nothwithstanding communications abilities with regard to geological time not to mention universal time scales, the fraction of these worlds inhabited by people we can communicate with electronically or gravitationally or thru superspace could be quite small.”

Tend to feel behind the curve in getting the hang of technology? Check this out: apes might be on the verge of Skyping with each other. Six months ago, the Milwaukee Zoo introduced iPads to its orangutans. The gadgets are used as part of the daily intellectual and creative stimulation the zoo is careful to provide captive great apes. While iPads are too fragile to be handed over to the orangutans — who are up to seven times stronger than humans — handlers are able to show the apes videos through glass and let them play with finger-painting and drumming apps through a mesh barrier. As you might expect from one of our most closely-related species, they’re a bit vain, and like to watch videos of themselves (in the case of a four-year-old) and each other (a 34-year-old female displays particular interest in videos of males). From this, Richard Zimmerman of Orangutan Outreach said the idea sprang up to eventually incorporate cameras so they can watch each other — and eventually try video chat, perhaps between faraway zoos. Orangutan Outreach is careful to note that donation of the iPads did not involve public funds; their hope is that if people identify more with these endangered animals, they’ll support conservation efforts. No word yet how quickly the apes’ communication may devolve into abbreviations and emoticons.

Planet Waves will be providing pre-coverage and on-scene coverage of the United Astrology Conference, which takes place in New Orleans from May 24-29, 2012. Before I get into what that conference is, if you already know about it, be aware of the registration fee increase on Jan. 15. Here is a link to the conference’s website.

Rob Hand and his left hand at UAC 2008. Photo by Eric Francis.

So, what is UAC? Well, it’s the Burning Man of astrology, only it happens every four years or so. Looks like there will be about 2,000 people at this event, which its organizers describe as follows: “This global conference will be the largest gathering of astrologers, and astrology-lovers, in the world. From China, Nepal, Russia, India, Serbia, Argentina, Brazil, Bali, Germany, Australia, France, Great Britain, Mexico — from everywhere — we will gather to commune and share.”

Conferences are one useful way to learn astrology; many of your favorite astrology writers will be there. It’s a great opportunity to meet the people you’ve been reading or studying for years, and even participate in a class with them. I am appearing as faculty in two presentations — collaborating on a daylong marketing your astrology business seminar for professional astrologers (which will be good for holistic practitioners in any field). I will also be on the media panel, helping astrologers handle public and press relations. To see these presentations you will need to arrive a day or two early — please check the schedule!

Planet Waves is serving as ‘official conference press’, a function which I will be handling mostly by creating a channel on Planet Waves FM that will feature interviews, reports and panel discussions from the conference. (Lots of coverage of prior conferences is on our FM site.) During the few months between now and UAC, I will be providing pre-coverage in this space, including short items and interviews with conference faculty and organizers. If you are on the faculty and would like to be one of the people we interview, please write to me at dreams@planetwaves.net.

Hugo Farrant as 2012 expert Terrence Moonseed, on Rap News.

Talent is abundant these days, but some projects manage to stand tall. One of my favorite discoveries of recent seasons has been Rap News, created by The Juice Media. Their newest edition is the best summary of 2012 I have ever seen, heard or otherwise encountered. The video takes on the political, environmental and spiritual angles, all at once — brilliantly. The only thing they don’t mention is Uranus square Pluto, evidence that they did not work with an astrologer to create the piece.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if 2011 was a prelude, a portent of things to come, then it’s dramatically clear we’re in for a massive year,” says Rap News host Robert Foster (played by Hugo Farrant). “This year’s headline: will we avoid the precipice, or dive off the edge of it? Whatever your preference, creed, conspiracy or party membership, our fate could depend on what we want 2012 to represent. This date that we’ve subconsciously identified as our collective, self-imposed deadline for correcting our way of life, with so much energy aligned on this point in time, with all that we are, and could be, potentially on the line — could this be our final meeting point, prior to the rising or turning of the tide?”

Speaking of turning the tide, this episode actually has Noam Chomsky making an excellent cameo appearance. The scripts are written by Giordano Nanni and the whole thing is produced in a home-studio/suburban backyard in Melbourne, Australia. Zoe Tame is Rap News’s in-house Photoshop blackbelt and graphic designer. Check out their archive of episodes, one more brilliant than the next. I am working on getting Hugo Farrant’s birth data. Any guesses?

Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for January 2012 included the written version of the Top Five Events of 2012 (available as audio here). This was the long written horoscope, with extended interpretations for each of the 12 signs. We also published the Inner Space for January 2012, a shorter horoscope that came out one week later. The February extended monthly horoscope will be published to subscribers on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 25. There will be just one issue that week — the long extended monthly and its introductory materials. There will be no Friday edition. If you are not a subscriber and want to receive all of the Planet Waves horoscopes, you can get a free trial subscription, or you may sign up for up to one year. If you regularly forward Planet Waves materials to friends or relatives, please purchase them a gift subscription. We offer special discounts if you want to sign up several of your friends — if you would like to take advantage of that please call Chelsea at (877) 453-8265 or email chelsea@planetwaves.net.

This week’s horoscope is written by Priya Kale. Eric Francis will return next week.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You’ve been working hard and it won’t be long before you receive solid recognition for your efforts. But what do you most hunger for? And what is your definition of success and where did this come from? If you are conscious of your own motives in a professional situation, you can let go of ambitions that no onger serve you. This will allow you to reclaim authority and redirect your energy constructively into what feeds your passion and deepest purpose. Let go of some ‘idea’ of success, and you can achieve the kind of success that not only looks good to the world, but also feels good right down to your bones. In a close personal relationship and your friendships, the same idea holds: seek truth and depth rather than appearances. Offering freedom and acceptance to another can strengthen a bond, offering tangible results.

Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. has been published and is available. It is still available at the special subscriber discount price for all 12 signs, or the pre-order price per sign. This year’s annual offers an extended written report plus 90 minutes of audio for each sign and rising sign. You will love it.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — We each have a special role to play in this cosmic drama called life. Yet until you embrace and accept your individual talents, you’re likely to feel like a fish out of water, or worse, one swimming in a sea of endless comparison. Something you’ve been working towards is stabilizing this week, bringing you the recognition you’ve long deserved professionally. Along the way, events are asking you to move past subconscious limitations you carry regarding your success (baggage that may be related to your religious or moral beliefs) as you recognize your authority and power. You don’t need to impress anyone, nor do you need to worry about what others think. Even if others are impressed, I suggest you remain grounded in your self-awareness and a soul-truth of what you are working for and you won’t get carried away or lost in a crowd. You were born for greater things. Accept it.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Powerful changes are taking place beyond your control, particularly in a financial situation or sexual relationship you fear you cannot live without. Confront any fears you may have honestly and investigate your values surrounding sex, marriage, money and commitment. You can then consciously uproot those that prevent you from going deeper within a commitment and exploring the beautiful opportunities beckoning on the horizon. Our world can be harsh, but as long as you play fair and are conscious of your own motivations, you don’t need to fear being taken advantage of or losing anything or anyone precious to you. If you are feeling a sense of loss right now, trust this is creating space for something rather heavenly to enter that can enrich your life, lifting your spirits and heart. Financially as well as emotionally you’re on solid ground. Loosen your grip and you can be liberated to discover just how blessed, loved and safe you truly are.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — A conversation this week is deepening your understanding of a relationship, revealing a sweeter reality than the one you’ve been clinging to. We tend to subconsciously base our expectations of relationships on the roles enacted in our childhood by caregivers, that is, until we get tired of running the same old dramas. What is the subconscious imprinting you need to let go of? You cannot control others, nor can you erase the past. But you can consciously let go of expectations, past resentments, anger, and fear and acknowledge your desires and needs to yourself first. Then you can be warm rather than scalding, and ask for what you need rather than demanding it and creating tension. You are in a process of building trust. Be less critical, keep an open dialogue and you can have the financial support, as well as the deep intimacy, trust and acceptance you need from a sexual partner and those to whom you are connected in flesh and spirit.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You may be obsessing about work, or a situation you care deeply about that you think is out of your hands. Rather than fret about what you can’t control — since worry never solved anything, or hardly anything — recognize how much you have to give and what you have the power to do. It really doesn’t matter what you do, rather how alive you feel each morning when you greet the day. Be conscious of what motivates and drives you, and let go of what is no longer working. The love and financial support you need is indeed present, but it will require you to move past pride or mental resistance and have honest conversations that deepen your trust. As long as you are not being blinded by shallow beauty, or being too rigid or picky, you can open yourself wider and heal something that has been irritating you for a long time.

Introducing the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012

Last year we offered an All Access Pass for subscribers who wanted access to everything we offer in a calendar year. The response from our All Access subscribers was overwhelmingly positive, and we are happy to once again offer one of our most popular products: the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012. One price gets you a subscription to the weeklies and all other products on Planetwaves.net through December of 2012.

Using one password for everything, which you choose yourself, you’ll have easy access to every product, including birthday reports and special audio recordings, weekly email service, the annual edition, and whatever additional projects we create. It’s a great discount on a year of our work.

We trust that this idea is a fun way to meet your needs, whether you use astrology for daily spiritual inspiration, therapeutic purposes or pragmatic decision-making. And it’s truly a valuable resource for students of Astrology.

With the All Access Pass you’ll receive:

– Tuesday/Friday Email editions of Planet Waves weekly content and horoscopes. Follow Eric’s weekly and monthly interpretations for all of 2012.

– All sign birthday/ascendant audio for 2012. This is almost like getting a personal consultation with Eric for yourself and any loved ones whose astrology you track. Each audio report includes a fresh perspective on current transits and how they extend into the future, along with a special tarot reading for that sign.

– Your choice of the 2012 or 2013 annual edition, all 12 signs. This book-length online publication includes written and audio segments, is accessible by password at any time, and always meets rave reviews by readers who refer to it throughout the year for its long-range, big-picture guidance.

For More Benefits of the All Access Pass, Visit This Page.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — If you’re feeling like a part of you is dying, it’s natural to want to cling to all you once loved. We do indeed create our reality, or most of it, even though it’s not always clear how. If that reality currently seems a little too much to bear, look for the blessing. You can deny a truth to the world till you’re blue in the face, but you can’t deny it to yourself. There is no shame in admitting that your childhood desires for yourself, what you want out of love, life, and even your creative goals are changing. It may feel risky, but you don’t need to compromise your values. Just dig past superficial desires and be honest about what truly matters to you in your heart of hearts. Then you can unearth the golden nugget: your authentic potential. Let go of an old desire, and you will see how beautiful life can really be right here, right now, if only you surrender to it. You are unearthing and reclaiming your Self now — the real dream you can live.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Events this week are asking you to confront the past and let go of your attachment to it. What this really means is letting go of an idea you have about someone. This may not be easy, but relax long enough to stay in the present and you will see your strength in the light of all you’ve been through. As you more consciously confront the shadows cast on your early life, you can reclaim it and your authority to live your life by your rules. Use this opportunity — and the space you’re clearing — to create a more colorful reality with this newfound power. You may be making up your mind to trust a situation even though you have no real proof of why you feel this way. As long as you are being honest with yourself and are in no denial of the lessons you’ve learned, you can trust your judgment and be guided by the love you feel. Give your shadows their place, and then freely dive into the soulful pleasures stirring in your heart.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — What do you believe? And why do you believe this? And what are the ideas surrounding success and failure you need to let go of? You’ve been obsessing about something, and the time has come for you to pull your head out of the sand and face the truth. This may scare you, but in truth reality is a lot sweeter than you think or fear. Financially as well as within a domestic relationship or situation, you have more support than you realize. Consciously let go of expectations and assumptions, especially the negative ones. If you speak for what you know to be true, you can reclaim your power in a situation, freeing you from a worry, bringing you the security you’ve yearned for. Hint: that sense of security originates with you. As you feel safer, you will experience the world as a safer place, where love feels more natural. You will be more likely to notice what you want rather than what you don’t want.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — What defines your sense of self-worth? Is it success? Respect from your peers? Wealth? Your relationships? You’re in the process of discovering that it’s really none of the above, which will arrive with the sensation of setting you free from something that has long felt like a trap. Don’t forget what you learn today and this weekend. Only you have the power to define your worth, though sometimes you will discover this through a process of reduction. In other words, as you let go of every influence that did not work, or that was incorrect, you will eventually figure out that you had the right idea all along. The key to your longterm happiness is reaching a balance between radical self-sufficiency and healthy dependency. If you learn toward independence, you will make room for a more natural exchange of support. Yet if you lean too far in that direction, you will push others out of your life.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You’ve been questioning your role in the bigger picture and here comes a moment of deep clarity. Remember though, clarity also means confronting important truths and getting to the core of the only question that matters: “Who am I?” You are evolving and letting go of a carefully carved identity you’ve long ago outgrown. In letting go of false ideas about yourself, you can be free to reach for your noblest ambitions fearlessly, with the curiosity of a child in a new world. Choose your mountains wisely and you can reclaim your power to make choices that feel right for you as you pursue goals that are truly worthy of your efforts. Trust the rewards of this process; this will go way beyond just the tangible. And if you haven’t looked in the mirror lately, you are beautiful — body, heart and soul — and worthy love, not just the hope of love.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Have you been feeling like a small cog in a big machine, rather in the dark about a situation that is drawing you deeper into the unknown than you may care to venture? Sooner or later you will figure out that fear is the scariest thing in the world. Although a financial commitment or sexual relationship is heating up, you can trust it is evolving just as it needs to even if you can’t see it yet. Trust your intuition about what you might sometimes feel is out of your control. That will help you be more aware of the subconscious fears that haunt you. These fears prevent you from making the progress you’re so devoted to these days. Recognizing this will help you summon the support you need. Yes, most people walk around the planet feeling little to no support for who they are and what they want. Yet that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Be your own friend and you will make some fun discoveries about who else wants to be your friend.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Are you wondering if you can trust another’s motives? You’ve been burned before, but it is also true that a lot of your disappointments have come from your own illusions, expectations and fantasies. You have an incredible psychic gift that allows you to peer into people’s hearts. First you must admit your own secret longings and desires; then you can see through others’ without fear of projection. Doing so lets you choose friendships in which you feel safe enough to bare your heart, body and soul, as they evolve and strengthen. You may think you know the way the world works, but being less critical can liberate you from darker doubts that prevent progress. You are deeply loved by this Universe and more people than you realize. Inspire the support you need and there is no Earthly reason you can’t bring a collective dream to life.

Astrology: Describing The Elements of Progress

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Well — not including looking at these charts years in advance, I have been over the astrology for 2012 five times — forward, backward in three layers, and then forward again. I’ve studied the major planets, the asteroids and many of the new discoveries. I’ve gone over the charts for each of the Sun’s ingresses into the signs, as well as key major events such as Uranus square Pluto, the Venus transit of the Sun and the pattern of 29 eclipse-like events we have this year. The main results of this work are the astrology readings contained in the 2012 annual edition.

My kitchen table desk, where I have written and recorded nearly all of Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. Those are the Voyager tarot cards to the right, and to the top left is Raphael’s Ephemeris, the one used (and published) by the Brits. Photo by Eric.

The audio presentations are done and ready, and I’m close to finishing the written interpretations. With any luck at all, I plan to have the readings available to those who have opted in by Monday night. I am on schedule to finish the written version of Pisces on Saturday, then I’ve given myself two days to go over the signs and tune up the language; plus the proofreading and production team will be putting the finishing touches on the website. Included are numerous articles, useful resources and the key charts for 2012. There’s also a blog that will track the events, astrological and worldly, as they develop.

Yes, 2012 is the year that the Mayan long count reaches the date 13.0.0.0.0. Nobody is really sure what this ‘means’. Yet I can tell you as a Western-styled astrologer that we are slipping into some extremely rare and exciting aspects, which really heat up in late May. The phase from now until late April is a time of preparation, evaluation and adjustment. Then the real excitement begins. What we saw in 2011 was just the warmup for much more interesting things to come.

Stepping outside of marketing presentations for this project, what I have done with the 2012 astrology is to personalize it for each of the Sun signs and the rising signs. I have meticulously gone through the aspects, and using my gift for developing detailed readings for the Sun signs and rising signs, presented the astrology to you in clear terms, covering the most important areas of your life.

Zoom H4n digital recording setup with popper stopper. In the background is the full archive (cassette and DAT) of Radio Navigator on WDST Radio Woodstock, 1996-1998.

I’ve prepared these readings recognizing the difficulties that many people are facing, as the pressures of life impact them, and as the world changes. I speak to what is a nearly universal desire to participate in the changes that are happening. And I speak to the fear of the unknown that so many people are facing — which relates to both a sense of something ominous, and some unusual potential.

The audio presentations are as motivational as they are informative. They are intended to get you going. Many people are fed up with the persistent negativity that surrounds us, and the sense that it’s impossible to make real progress as politicians fixate on the uterus and ignore the economy; as companies focus on profits and lay off workers; as banks hog cash and pay bonuses, but don’t lend money to small businesses.

I know — it’s chilly out there, in many more ways than these. However, I blow through all of that and get to the heart of how and why we can take advantage of the raw power and precise leverage offered by the aspects of 2012 and beyond. What we’re calling 2012 is a gateway to an extended era.

I have crafted this work to provide as much information, strategy and clear perspective as I can. I do my best not only to translate, but to put you in contact with your astrology, and your astrology in contact with you. Presented in both written and spoken format, these readings are designed to be accessible and to present the information in a way that will help you work with the incoming energies and, borrowing a phrase, to be in tune with the times.

I am looking forward to wrapping up this project over the weekend and putting it into your hands; you are welcome to avail yourself of my efforts with the subscriber discount. To all those who have signed up already — thank you for your business, and mostly for your trust in my work.

We will send a note out to those who have opted into the 2012 annual when the readings go live on Monday evening.

Lovingly,

Today Mercury conjoins the Galactic Center in late Sagittarius. On Saturday, Mercury simultaneously sextiles Saturn in late Libra and Neptune in late Aquarius, just before it ingresses Capricorn Sunday at 1:34 am EST. This will be the first time Mercury is in a sign other than Sagittarius since Nov. 2. Also this weekend, Venus is conjunct Nessus in Aquarius and square Sedna in Taurus. Pluto in Capricorn makes a sextile to Vesta in Pisces. Once Mercury enters Capricorn, it trines Jupiter in the first degree of Taurus and squares Uranus in the second degree of Aries. On Monday, Mercury sextiles Chiron in Pisces; Ceres squares the GC. The waxing Moon enters Cancer Sunday; Full Moon (Moon in Cancer opposite Sun in Capricorn) is Monday at 2:30 am EST. For a closer look at this weekend’s astrology, you may check out this article in the Daily Astrology series.

Monday the Moon is full in the sign Cancer, its home sign. This feels a little like a rising tide of emotions, in effect for days before it happens. At the same time, Mercury is now conjunct the Galactic Center in Sagittarius, which is not exactly given to clear thinking or an accurate sense of perspective. On this theme, Venus is approaching a conjunction to Neptune — one of those things that make it challenging to ground one’s emotions. Therefore, remaining thoughtful and cool is strictly in manual mode at the moment. The first thing to do is slow down, and be mindful of your thought process — in the face of impulses telling you to do the opposite. Simply put, you need to become aware of when you’re not actually thinking, but rather reacting or going into automatic mode. Doing this can mean the difference between getting it (whatever you’ve got going on) right or making significant mistakes; so thought and reflection count for time well spent.

You may find yourself in a state of constantly trying to adjust to relationship partners of the opposite sex, without ever quite finding a balance that feels right. This setup asks for negotiation — which means making sure both parties get their bases covered, rather than going for ‘all or nothing’. Venus is conjunct Nessus in Aquarius, forming a quincunx to Mars in Virgo. The nature of the quincunx, which is one sign off from an opposition, is that resolution of the tension is never quite attained. So instead of focusing on the end goal with an intimate partner, keep your eyes on the quality of the negotiations. That’s what matters. Mars in Virgo provides an energetic drive to serve, but could get demanding over details; step back and take a breath if so. Venus conjunct Nessus in Aquarius can be the use of sexual attraction as a weapon (often by women) perpetuating social patterns of abuse. That needs to stop, if we’re ever to have healthy relationships. Watch for this potential in your relationship negotiations, particularly in less formal environments. We have the opportunity to use Venus-Nessus to bring light to, and heal, cycles of abuse — no matter how subtle they are.

Rick Santorum ‘came from behind’ to ‘tie Mitt Romney’ in the Iowa Caucus held Tuesday night. Well, it wasn’t a tie, Romney won by eight votes after spending 18 times more money on his campaign than did Santorum. A former Pennsylvania governor, congressman and U.S. senator, Santorum sets the benchmark for social conservatism, being against birth control, abortion, gay sex, straight sex, pornography, ice cream sundaes and flying kites. Who the heck is this guy and why is he so confused? We have taken a look at his astrology in this article on Planet Waves.

Keith Little, one of the last remaining Navajo code talkers, died in Arizona Tuesday. He was one of about 400 Native Americans who was used during World War II to transmit secret tactical messages in a code based on the Navajo language. He was 87. The program was begun during WWI using the Choctaw language. Little’s family now hopes to carry out his dream of a museum near the Arizona-New Mexico border that also will hold wartime memorabilia and serve as a haven for veterans. Little was 17 when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, having no idea about the program. Their code helped confound the Japanese and win the war. “My motivation was to fight the enemy with a gun or whatever,” Little told The Associated Press in a July 2009 interview. “When I went into the Marine Corps… I knew nothing about the Navajo code. It was really astonishing to me to get to Camp Pendleton and there were a bunch of Navajos there, and they were working with a Navajo code.” No birth data was available for Little.

The mysterious blackbird deaths we reported at this time last year resumed in recent weeks — and then the U.S. Department of Agriculture admitted it is responsible for the mass poisoning of tens of millions of birds over the last several years. Natural News reported this week that it’s part of the USDA’s program called “Bye Bye Blackbird,” responsible for the deaths of birds (and many other animals) by intentional poisoning. Natural News published a spreadsheet that documented how many birds and other animals that the USDA killed, intentionally and unintentionally. At the time, Planet Waves reported based on several factors in the astrology that the chart pointed to a cause that was “corporate and/or involves the government.”

Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit against Monsanto alleging that the company is responsible for contaminated homes and schools near a chemical plant in Nitro, West Virginia, heads toward trial next week after mediation efforts failed, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Though Monsanto has created nothing but liability and pollution, it is rare for litigation against the company to go to trial — and interestingly, one of the most famous cases that the company lost involved Nitro. Residents of the town, where a Monsanto plant produced chemicals and herbicides for more than five decades, claim their properties were polluted by dioxins, a highly toxic class of chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases. The plant in Nitro produced, among other compounds, 2,4,5-T, an ingredient in the chemical defoliant Agent Orange, widely used in the Vietnam War. Dioxins are a contaminated byproduct of the manufacturing process. The lawsuit, filed in 2004, is seeking medical monitoring and regular testing for as many as 80,000 residents. A separate class action also is seeking damages. Nitro was also the scene of one of the worst dioxin incidents in the history of industry, reported previously in Planet Waves.

Finally, we now understand what Neptune in Aquarius (which ends Feb. 3 after some 14 years) was leading up to. It’s obvious, but like most things with Neptune we didn’t figure it out till later — information as a religious sacrament — and this is now official. BBC has reported that the Church of Kopimism has been recognized by the Swedish government. The church, founded by 19-year-old philosophy student Isak Gerson, claims that “kopyacting” — sharing information through copying — is akin to a religious service. The “spiritual leader” of the church said recognition was a “large step.” But others were less enthusiastic and said the church would do little to halt the global crackdown on piracy. The Swedish government agency Kammarkollegiet finally registered the Church of Kopimism as a religious organization shortly before Christmas, the group said. “We had to apply three times,” said Gustav Nipe, chairman of the organization. “For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore copying is central for the organisation and its members,” he said in a statement.

An interview with Eric Francis was published in the December edition of The Artful Mind, the Massachusetts-based magazine. In the interview, Eric talks about how he writes astrology for his readers, his background in journalism, and other topics ranging from photography to music. “Astrology and newspaper reporting have always had a close relationship in my life,” he says. “I started studying astrology with high focus in 1994, at the peak of my investigative work. At the time I was unraveling how Monsanto, General Electric and Westinghouse had polluted the world with chemicals called PCBs and dioxins. This is heavy stuff, and I had been doing it full time for about three years when I discovered my passion for astrology.”

There is not a regular edition of Planet Waves FM this week. The latest installment of the Top Five Events of 2012 free audio series is a two-part podcast on the secrets of the Mayan calendar. Part One addresses the Mayan calendar systems and what day 13.0.0.0.0 on Dec. 21, 2012 might ‘mean’. It’s actually a critique on attempts to pin down the meaning of the day. Part Two is an interview with Carlos Cedillo, a daykeeper of the Mayan calendar. A forthcoming Part Three will include my own thoughts on the matter.

You can access both currently available parts of this latest installment — plus all previous Top Five Events podcasts — here. The first four installments cover Uranus square Pluto, the Venus transit of the Sun, planets entering water signs in 2012, and Mercury retrograde on Election Day. This entire audio series is part of Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check.— the 2012 annual edition of Planet Waves, which is also available for purchase by individual sign.

Friday, Jan. 6, 2012. Weekly Horoscope #886.| Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — What at first seems like routine news may turn out to be a lot more meaningful than it seems on its face. Therefore, I suggest you think in terms of the implications of what you learn, and the possibilities of what it might represent for you. You seem to be pushing for big changes, or they seem to be calling out to you. Anything you learn, any information that comes your way, has the power to lead to a sequence of new ideas, and as such may represent a turning point. You will have to listen; you need to pay attention, in particular, to the details. There are two distinct sides to any news that may seem strange or jarring, and I am not saying this as a truism. Look quickly for the silver lining and keep thinking in that direction. It is not a side benefit; it seems to be the whole point.

Aries, your birth sign or rising sign, is getting a transit from the planet Uranus — which is a wild wakeup call, and a bold creative influence. I’ve recorded an hour of astrology and a tarot card reading for you. Learn more by visiting this page.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Remember your negotiation skills. I only remind you because negotiation is not in vogue these days — making demands is, typically in the style of all or nothing. Given that nobody really needs it all, but nothing does not suffice, keep in mind that the essence of negotiation is making sure that everyone gets the basics covered. You can afford to think with a little more foresight than what you might want or need right now. Devise a way of consciously prioritizing. And you will have to be the one who rises above any atmosphere (or perceived intention) of less than pleasant psychology. Part of being a professional is contributing to reducing tensions rather than escalating them. The question to ask is, ‘What if everyone acted this way?’ Many people don’t realize it but they are waiting for someone else to set a good example — you’re the one who would be that example.

I’ve recorded an hour of astrology and done a tarot reading especially for you. It’s information that will help with your relationships, your professional life and your personal growth. Visit this page to find out more.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — At the moment, you seem to be at the mercy of what a partner is going through — and you probably think you have little influence over the outcome. The more appropriate thing to be wondering about is whether you want any influence, and if you did, what exactly it would be. The situation seems more clearly designed as something you will have to adapt to, which is another way of saying you’re dealing with a force much larger than yourself. What you experience may seem on one level like you’ve reached a turning point in a relationship, but what’s really happening is that you’ve arrived at a point of no return in your own life — and the relationship is just a reflection of that. Remember the Serenity Prayer, and remember that the most important part of that is ‘the wisdom to know the difference’ — and I would add: then you have to use that information well.

Gemini is one of the most misunderstood signs — and as someone born under this sign, part of your role is to hold a mirror to the world. I’ve recorded an hour of audio for you, plus a 20-minute tarot reading. You can get access to these by visiting this page.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Pay close attention to what aspects of a relationship or partnership situation are working, and which are not. You don’t want to wait around to find out what happens when you’ve got all the information that you need. Meanwhile, there are ways that you can contribute affirmatively toward a positive outcome. Much of what you’re dealing with in one particular involvement are your ‘hidden tendencies’ coming to the surface — tendencies which I would imagine you would let go of, if you could. The time has come to evaluate everything you say and everything you do on the basis of whether it adds or detracts from your quality of life and your quality of work. Many factors are compelling you to rise to the occasion of your life, as it is today — not how it was yesterday, or how you wanted it to be 10 years ago.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You need to strike a balance in a relationship situation between idealism and cynicism. That balance would come in the form of ‘none of the above’, which is to say, not trying to form a compromise between the two. Rather, a spirit of working from common ground, common values and a shared vision for what is possible will help you make the most of your situation. I suggest you give this at least a week or two to work itself out, as your emotions are currently under the influence of some form of projection. When Neptune leaves your opposite sign early next month, you will gain a more realistic perspective, and a lot more breathing room. To sum up, you have made a long series of compromises that it’s now time to begin reversing, though this will not happen overnight. It may take years, but it will help immensely if you know the specifics of what you’re working with, and what you have gained along the way.

The 2011 Leo birthday report is 70 minutes of in-depth astrology plus a 20-minute tarot reading for you, exploring relationships, personal growth and your professional life. Visit this page for additional information.

Introducing the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012

With the All Access Pass you’ll receive:

– Tuesday/Friday Email editions of Planet Waves weekly content and horoscopes. Follow Eric’s weekly and monthly interpretations for all of 2012.

For More Benefits of the All Access Pass, Visit This Page.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — There should be a word for ‘fear of depth’ or perhaps paranoia connected to curiosity. Anyway, neither of those will be particularly helpful right now and either could become a pretty big detriment. Therefore, go deep, and encourage your curiosity. You’ve been on a project the past few years of gradually letting go of your inhibitions. Now is an excellent moment to both take advantage of what you’ve learned, as well as to go deeper and experience something new. Your sense of adventure may be mingled with some questions about whether you’re exceeding your proper boundaries, or some code of decency you’re being held to but that nobody had the courtesy to inform you of. There are no actual rules and regulations, and to the extent there were, Pluto — currently your best friend — has taken care of them. All you need are basic ethics and your ‘common’ sense.

The 2011 Virgo birthday report is ready! I’ve recorded 70 minutes of astrology plus a tarot reading for you, exploring how you’re working through family material, your use of spirituality, some new energy in your relationships and your professional goals. Visit this page for additional information.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — How far will you go for love? You may be inclined to think that you’ll go too far — however, the dream you’re following will soon lead you to a new feeling, emotional experience or depth of healing. This may feel a little like going down the rabbit hole, but unlike the one that Alice discovered, the dimension you’re entering makes a lot more sense and is better suited to your nature than the brainy abstraction (or odd psychological tension) of the past few days or weeks. The theme of your life shifts clearly and somewhat boldly in the direction of healing, though what you may have forgotten is the extent to which that, for you, involves imagination and creativity, rather than some kind of technique. Both you — and your relationships — need space to move in, space that is reflective, sensual and creative, rather than adorned with too many ideas or chilly intellect.

Your Libra birthday audio for 2011 is finished. Created outside next to an open fire, this reading covers the astrology for your sign in about 70 minutes (looking at career, relationship, home life and the many influences to change you’re now experiencing). It also includes a Voyager tarot reading. Visit this link for additional information.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You may be noticing an odd sensation in your life, as your ruling planet Mars slows down to a retrograde. This may feel like the soundtrack is out of alignment with the frames of the movie, or like the air (or your mind) is getting a little thick. I suggest you take the cue and slow down. This is not the time to blaze forward, but rather, for a careful reassessment. Mars retrograde lasts between Jan. 23 and April 13 — which will give you a chance to look back on the past two years, and moreover, to prepare for the astonishing events of mid-2012. Take this opportunity to work out any hangups, disagreements or conflict over the most important thing you can do with your mind — deciding what you want. Remember, you don’t have to make all your decisions at once. You have some time, and I suggest you use it consciously.

Hello Scorpios! Your 2011 Birthday Report is ready. It’s about an hour of astrology, plus a 20-minute tarot reading. It’s hot with transformational energy. I focus on your ruling planet Mars, your imagination and desire nature, and a phase of solid achievement. Please check this page for more information.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You’re about to have an opportunity to develop your financial resources; that is to say, to either make money, get a gig, or tap into some existing resource that has more value than you think. The key to financial success, for you, is grounding. You don’t necessarily like ‘the material world’, and you know that there’s more to life than that — but when it comes to money or wealth in any form, your success will come from a practical, planned-out and in some ways traditional approach. As the next few days develop, I suggest you take any conversations slowly and patiently, particularly with bosses or clients. Small successes can lead to much larger ones, though you must take things one step at a time, no matter how brilliant or innovative an idea or proposal might be. Make no assumptions, and keep a close eye on the timing of commitments.

The Sagittarius 2011 Birthday Report is ready. It’s about an hour of astrology, plus a 20-minute tarot reading. Sagittarius is encoded with a sense of cosmic mystery, and the recent, hot eclipse activity in your sign will continue unfolding for the next 6-12 months as you journey. Visit this page for additional information.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Any secrets you may be keeping from yourself will soon come to light — and you may wonder what the hush was about. However, what you’re about to discover — either about yourself, or about something deeply meaningful to you — has the power to shift your perception of life — and that means, the path of your life. Most of the time seemingly little revelations are forgotten as fast as they emerge; it’s time for you to recognize the power of an idea. Now, the thing about ideas is that they are like seeds (and not everyone recognizes the value of these). In the present case, we’re talking about an idea equivalent to an heirloom seed. It will need to be cultivated and cared for, and this takes time, patience and continuity. The initial excitement of possessing the thing must develop into something more mature — with a focus on continuity and respect for the growth of living creatures.

Happy birthday! There will indeed be a Capricorn audio birthday report! Watch your email or check this space for additional information in the next edition.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You are certainly getting a tour of the light, the dark, the beautiful and the beastly. While I could be philosophical and say that it’s all part of the kaleidoscope of human experience, I am sure you would rather have your life be simpler. I know you’re getting exhausted with spending your days experiencing the kinds of extremes of existence that have characterized not only the past week but the past few months. You are at the end of a long, challenging phase of existence. By long I mean consider that what you’ve been living through is a phase that began in the late 1990s. You will recognize this a lot more clearly once it’s over — which by the way happens in early February, around the time of your birthday. Being a long phase there will not be an abrupt transition; tune in quietly and you will feel the subtle motion, ephemeral though it may be.

To pre-order Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check., your full-length 2012 reading including written and audio segments for Aquarius, please go to this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — One thing I know from living through a lot of astrology is that when Venus enters your birth sign, that’s good for you. It’s a moment of not only appreciating the finer things in life, but actually having them be within reach. In a sense they always are, and we’re often too busy or distracted to notice. But this is a special moment, as Venus makes a conjunction to Neptune and then ingresses Pisces, where it will be for a few weeks. Then, Neptune enters your birth sign. No matter how fast you may be going at the moment, or what challenges you may face, this is a moment to slow down and make space in your life for who and what you want the most. Share your abundance with others you care about. Within the madness of life, so much of it unnecessary, take a long moment and feel how beautiful your existence can be.

To pre-order Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check., your full-length 2012 reading including written and audio segments for Pisces, please go to this link.

Happy New Year — and Schedule Update

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Don’t miss Eric’s free audio presentation on the secrets of the Mayan Calendar. This image is of a Mayan stucco frieze from Placeres, Campeche. It’s displayed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Photo by Wolfgang Sauber / Wikimedia Commons.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Good Tuesday morning, and welcome to the first working week of 2012. So far so good.

This is the week of the year when I am wrapping up your annual readings (contained in Reality Check, the 2012 annual edition) and resuming regular publishing. Note, for subscribers and other publishing clients looking for the subscriber discount, here it is (that link takes you to the proper area).

The audio readings (each in three sections, about 90 minutes per sign, covering all of the major and some of the subtle events of 2012) are finished and ready. I have a bit more than four of the written readings to do, and I should be able to have those done Friday, if I keep everything else light this week. So what I can promise weekly subscribers for a Friday edition is, at least, a weekly horoscope. Any more and I’m pushing the annual edition schedule. So — look for a weekly horoscope on Friday morning. (In case you’re in Woodstock I’ll be at Taco Juan’s writing that.)

As for the annual: it will take us through the weekend to get the pages together, do the final edits, and tidy up any production details. So I anticipate that being ready Monday. This edition features not only your 2012 readings, but also articles by a diversity of writers, a resources area and a daily diary that is now running.

The Top Five Events of 2012 audio series (free to all readers) has been updated with a two-part series investigating the Mayan calendar and its significance. This features an interview with Mayan daykeeper Carlos Cedillo. There is one last part in this series forthcoming — my personal viewpoint on the turnover of the Mayan calendar.

I will see you Friday — and remember, Daily Astrology is running all week as well.

Lovingly,

The Big Question: What’s so 2012 about 2012?

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Painting by P.C.Turczyn.

Dear Friend and Reader:

It was someone named Jose Arguelles who popularized 2012 as the time we would take what he called the leap beyond technology. Arguelles was not the first to point out the significance of 2012 — though he was talking about it as early as the mid-1970s. Frank Waters (in his Hopi prophecies) also mentioned it in 1975, as did Terence McKenna in Invisible Landscape. Astrologer A.T. Mann briefly mentioned it in his 1986 book The Divine Plot: Astrology, Reincarnation, Cosmology and History.

Jose Arguelles at the Babaji Ashram, Cisternino, Italy 2009. Jose is the one who introduced the world to the idea of 2012. He died earlier this year. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Yet it was Arguelles’ creation of the worldwide Harmonic Convergence in 1987 that got the cultural meme of 2012 (and the Mayan long count) going. The Convergence was based on the idea that the 13th baktun of the Mayan long count calendar would be ending on the winter solstice of 2012, and that it was time to start preparing ourselves for whatever that transition meant. How long is long? A baktun is 144,000 days; 13 baktuns add up to about 1.8 million days, or 5,125 years, which is one-fifth of a full precessional cycle (that is, the cycle of all 12 ‘ages’ in Western astrology).

Did the Harmonic Convergence work? I say yes — so far, the world has not been destroyed by nuclear war.

Despite that barely-noticed good news, over the past 25 years, predictions of both doomsday and spontaneous enlightenment have flooded New Age literature and bled into mainstream thought, though in all of that time, none of it has struck me as particularly meaningful. Said another way, I’ve hardly ever heard a 2012 narrative I could even vaguely relate to. Pretty much everyone knows that 2012 is an important date in the Mayan calendar, but hardly anyone can tell you what it ‘means’ without drifting into speculation.

Our sin-obsessed Christian culture, clouded by truly horrid visions from The Book of Revelation (sometimes called The Apocalypse of John) — the last book of the New Testament — always seems to be waiting on doomsday. However, Judgment Day is our shit — not that of the ancient Mayans.

The Harmonic Convergence of Aug. 16-17, 1987 was a global meditation for peace. I took part in that major event as part of a spiritual community, and it had nothing to do with the ‘end of the world’ or doomsday. To the contrary, we had our minds on getting the world out of the mess that it was in — not into a bigger one. In recent years, Mayan scholars and Mayan leaders have objected to the obsession with gloom and cataclysm.

“For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle,” says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, Florida. To render Dec. 21, 2012 as a doomsday event or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.”

The Western Astrology of the 2012 Era

That said, 2012 is going to be one of the most significant years that any of us have ever lived through. It’s really an era that spans from 2011 to 2016, and in truth it extends much further in both of the commonly known directions of time. Yet one year from today, we will note that 2012 was indeed a radical turning point. The Western astrology illustrates sweeping changes in culture and geopolitics, and corresponding profound changes in the lives of individuals. Most of the planets involved in the alignments were not known to the ancient Mayans — among them Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, all of which were discovered by modern science.

Detail of Venus transit of the Sun on June 5, 2012. This is a precise conjunction of Venus and the Sun, taking place in the astonishing month that spans late May to late June 2012 — the epicenter of events next year.

These are the gods of change, and for the next few years they are working in concert with one another, propelling us to wake up, pay attention and consciously advance our lives. While some will experience this as little other than a wild ride, we are being summoned to participate in existence as a personal event — and as a collective event. Yet that statement calls attention to what it would mean not to participate: to merely observe, to decline participation on the basis of fear, or to attempt to stay stuck in old ways of thinking. If you’re experiencing fear and chaos rather than a bold quest, then it’s time to update your files.

Collectively, we have arrived at a point of extreme contraction of awareness, denial, paranoia and surrender of our power. We are being smothered in our own technology. If we don’t do something about this, global conditions will get worse. It would be fair to say that we’ve arrived at a moment of potentially reclaiming what we’ve given up, and perhaps of claiming something new, but it won’t come in the form of an iPhone app. The thing about computer applications is that someone else has the idea and does the work; then we load them onto our device and they do their thing. When we follow the guidance of astrology, or with any other personal work, we become the programmer; we have the idea and must take the initiative.

The astrology you’re about to experience is a calling to personal responsibility and most significantly, to use what we have learned in all these years of study, workshops, yoga classes, many efforts at healing, self-improvement and personal growth that have become so popular since the 1960s. Now is when we put the pieces together, with a momentous feeling; we are indeed at a point of no return, whether we’re talking about the environment, civil liberties or going beyond paralyzing fear and judgment.

In short, it’s now time to decide what matters the most, and take action. Not in the future — right now. Here are the top five events that illustrate the changes. Each of them influences you personally. The following will give you an overview.

Uranus square Pluto

Uranus, photographed by E. Karkoschka et al., for NASA.

The defining aspect of our era in history, look to Uranus square Pluto when you’re trying to figure out how it’s possible that Arab Spring, the labor movements of Wisconsin and Ohio, and the Occupy movement all happened within a few months. There are many factors that make 2011 distinct in modern history, and 2011 was just the beginning. When Uranus and Pluto get together, we enter an epoch of revolution. The way that revolutionary movements start is that individual people stir to awareness, notice something, feel a need to participate, and then join forces. Uranus square Pluto combines the revolutionary nature of Uranus with the evolutionary power of Pluto, and focuses them into a powerful force for renewal and change. The last time we experienced anything like this was in the mid-1960s, when Uranus and Pluto were in a conjunction. Now that cycle is about to reach the exact first-quarter point, where we can put the many lessons of the Sixties to work for us. By lessons, I mean the many beautiful opportunities that era teased us with, and the many disasters we witnessed. Uranus-Pluto aspects are a mix of light and dark. Yet they always bring progress, especially for those who are willing to consciously indulge change and adventure.

Venus Transit of the Sun

Photo: A. Ayiomamitis.

One of the rarest predictable events in astronomy, this is a precise conjunction of Venus and the Sun — so close that if you’re in the right place, with the right equipment, you will be able to watch Venus trace a line across the Sun. In astronomy, this is the most Mayan thing about 2012, because the Mayan astronomers and lore-masters loved the cycles of Venus. Venus’ transit of the Sun is about expression of the solar feminine — that is, the side of the feminine that is not reflected light but rather direct light. Said another way, the Sun becomes Venus for a little while in 2012. Taking place in Gemini, this suggests we can begin to experience ourselves as more balanced in our masculine and feminine attributes. Most of the conflict that humanity experiences (and by that I mean war, torture and greed) has its deepest roots in sex, gender and homophobia. It is the combination of repression, inner division and fear of self that I believe leads to our tolerance of the violence we witness and experience. For those who are interested, we are approaching a rare, concentrated opportunity for emotional integration and gender balance.

Planets in the Water Signs

Neptune from Voyager 2. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

In 2010, Chiron began its ingress into Pisces (coinciding with the BP oil spill), arriving to stay in 2011 (this lasts till 2019). Last year, Neptune visited Pisces briefly, and takes up residence in February. It will remain in Pisces for about 14 years. In October, Saturn arrives in Scorpio. These water placements describe at least two things: our global water crisis, and our emotional maturity crisis. It’s no coincidence that many places the drinking water is contaminated with Prozac. That’s because many communities drink ‘purified’ sewage effluent — something that will become increasingly necessary as time goes on. Emotionally as a society we’re not doing much better, as we drown our sorrows at Wal-Mart and drink the somewhat less purified effluent of our parents and other ancestors. These important planets in the water signs — especially Neptune, the god of oceans — point to a get-real moment of emotional healing, indicating that our emotions are the heart of the matter where growth is concerned. They remind us that water is the heart of the matter where sustaining our bodies is concerned. The quality of the groundwater, rivers and oceans connects to our emotional state. Enough oil spills, nuclear meltdowns and fracking. It’s time to grow up.

Mercury Retrograde on Election Day

This is what Mercury retrograde on Election Day once looked like.

If you thought the 2010 election was crazy, and if you’ve been following the race for the Republican primary this year, just wait for the actual 2012 election. We live in an era when voter rights are being systematically narrowed down (for students, the elderly and the poor). The 2010 Citizens’ United case has opened the floodgates to politics being a wholly owned subsidiary of Corporate America. During the past six months we have been treated to a slate of candidates who cannot identify China as a nuclear power, who want to shut federal agencies they cannot name, who think gay people can be ‘cured’, who want the smaller, less invasive government to regulate every uterus, who want to eliminate entire circuits of the federal courts and drag judges before congress and who have racked up more sexual harassment and cheating than — okay I will shut up! Here is my point: Mercury stations retrograde on Election Day 2012. The only other Election Day in American history when a Mercury station (retrograde or direct) was exactly involved was 2000. We are looking at the potential for some huge scam or something really weird like an Electoral College tie. As far as I can tell, we’re about to go post-politics. We need to create something functional in its place.

Stardate 13.0.0.0.0: The End of the 13th Baktun

Sample of page 2 of what’s called the Dresden Codex — considered the most complete of the three undisputably authentic Mayan codices. The names of the codices indicate where they were kept originally. It is the oldest book written in the Americas known to historians, created by scribes who were copying much older documents. It’s believed to have been a gift of Cortez to King Charles I of Spain in 1519. It contains a lot of information about rainy seasons, floods, illness and medicine, as well as planetary tables — but nothing about the ‘end of the world’.

The Mayan cycle that got the whole conversation going is the X-factor in the equation. Obviously it is significant that a 144,000-day cycle is turning over, particularly involving some of the people who occupied the Americas long before the Europeans arrived. Yet there has been more speculation as to the meaning of this event than there has been grounded creative discussion.

We are fast approaching the point where the culture that grew out of the European colonies is not only no longer sustainable, but where many days it seems like the whole thing is about to collapse. This may be more of a synchronicity than a prediction on the part of the ancient Mayans, but their calendar is all about synchronicity.

Certainly something is changing in the nature of time and how we experience it. Technology does seem to be at the heart of the situation. Remember that when Jose Arguelles was coming up with his ideas about the path beyond technology, nobody had a computer in their pocket. Most people had never even worked on a computer, ever, much less had several of them in their house. So technology in many ways has run wild, and this is something we need to notice.

In Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, there is a warning. I think of it as the Atlantis passage, and I’ve quoted it a few times before. “As I have said, this isn’t the first time your civilization has been at this brink,” God tells Walsch. “I want to repeat this, because it is vital that you hear this. Once before on your planet, the technology you developed was far greater than your ability to use it responsibly. You are approaching the same point in human history again. It is vitally important that you understand this. Your present technology is threatening to outstrip your ability to use it wisely. Your society is on the verge of becoming a product of your technology rather than your technology being a product of your society. When a society becomes a product of its own technology, it destroys itself.”

Lovingly,

2012 Annual Available By Sign — and Another Top Five Event

Dear Friend and Reader:

I’m back with two things — the first being a new installment of the Top Five Events of 2012 — and this is a hot one. It’s part of Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. — the 2012 annual edition of Planet Waves, which by the way is available for general sale to all readers, by sign. Subscribers may still get the 12-sign discount rate.

Photo by Elizabeth Joyce.

So, what’s the big event? Mercury stations retrograde on Election Day. Exactly on Election Day. That is to say, right in the midst of everyone voting in the highly anticipated, so close it could be a tie, who the heck are all these weirdos, one and only 2012 presidential election: exactly on that very day, Mercury goes retrograde in Sagittarius. I know — I could not believe it either.

Notably, Mercury has only ever stationed one other time on a presidential Election Day — in 2000, when we had Bush v. Gore and the loser won.

Now, for the second time in American history, Mercury is stationing exactly during an election. What is this about? In this segment, I cover the basic possibilities: it looks like some kind of scam, such as an overt case of election fraud. There is lying and denial; and since it’s in Sagittarius the courts may be involved. Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, square Neptune, has a bit of the religious huckster or confidence man to it. In that way that astrology can be bizarrely literal, this chart is the perfect image of the political landscape — and it is volatile.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, what could go right? We could get a wakeup call to civic involvement, and it’s on this note that I end the discussion: with a call to civic action. This presentation includes a bonus track — an interview with Planet Waves contributor Astrodem, a political consultant in Washington, D.C. Astrodem is not an official writer for Planet Waves, just someone who contributes his ideas about astrology and politics as a commenter. You will get to meet him in the bonus segment.

Even if you hate politics, you will enjoy this edition of the Top Five Events of 2012. The link includes access to all of the previous editions — and here is the ordering page.

Lovingly,

Extended Monthly Horoscope for January 2011. | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — This year is about precision. You’ve been feeling this calling for a while, in particular since your ruling planet Mars entered Virgo this past autumn. Your quest may extend to your mental and physical health, your work, and many other factors in your environment. You may apply this as a drive for impeccability, integrity or even perfection. The problem is that humans are not creatures of precision; we are works in progress. Mars stationing retrograde in Virgo is cautioning you against taking overbearing positions with yourself: pushing yourself too hard, or trying to solve all your problems at once. You would best be served by an approach that works in layers. It’s a little like housecleaning — you sweep before you mop; getting the dishes out of the way is always a good start; you wash, dry and fold in order. I suggest you take that approach to personal improvement. Meanwhile, beware of over-emphasis on the past. You may encounter old issues that are calling for focus. While you’re doing that I suggest you adapt a ‘clean as you go’ approach with present-moment subject matter. Keep your current relationships, enterprises and work patterns as clear as you can. Proceed carefully and even a bit meticulously, so that you avoid creating new problems. Yet most of all, recognize that shifting your mental outlook will shift the way the world appears to you. If the world looks broken, consider whether that’s how you feel. And remember that in the spirit of pragmatism, your ultimate goal is wholeness rather than perfection.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — There is something about sex that you seem to be trying to work through with every cell in your body. I will start by saying this. You cannot simultaneously exist in a world dominated by vanity, glamour and the appearance of purity, at the same time you reach for authenticity, healing and being clear about your desires. You must choose to exist in one world or the other. The first set of properties describes a way of life that is based on cloaking yourself in various illusions, while the second is about going deeper than appearances and reaching the substance of who you are and what you have to share. When we talk about sexual healing, we might well ask what exactly we would strive to resolve, correct or improve. I would propose, first, that you would benefit from being real about what you want, and noticing any fear or guilt that comes up as you name the specifics. Then make an inventory of the situations in your life where love and guilt are transacted as if they are equivalents. Last, check in where you are attempting to experience intimacy without vulnerability, or vulnerability without trust. These three things — intimacy, vulnerability and trust — together combine to form this thing we outwardly label ‘love’. The risky territory you’re exploring involves working out just that formula, but beware that to get there, you may have to move many lesser values out of the way. To accomplish that, you must be vigilant.

I’ve recorded an hour of astrology and done a tarot reading especially for you. It’s information that will help with your relationships, your professional life and your personal growth. Visit this page to find out more.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Your relationship life has been nothing less than surreal the past few months, and you may feel like you’re experiencing a kind of replay of everything that you’ve been through. The question now and for the foreseeable future involves commitment. Relationships of any kind call for being held in a container made of agreements. For you right now, both the content and structure of those agreements is what is up for review. One particular relationship is calling for a complete revision of the ‘sacred contracts’ that are involved, some of which are not so holy. Once you start, this will naturally branch out into the other relationships in your life. As you embark on that you may notice that your current agreements contain all kinds of odd little clauses, riders and addenda that take you off the main point of what your relationships are about. These are silent expectations, requirements and many of those you can trace back to your parents and grandparents. It’s similar to how the deed on a house or piece of property can contain requirements on subsequent owners, based on agreements made 100 years ago. Note that the first of those supposed requirements where a relationship is concerned involves the concept of ownership itself, which is infused through nearly all of our ideas about ‘romantic’ partnership or marriage. This is the place to start asking questions, or rather, the first things to question are the obvious ones.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You must accept the fact that a relationship is changing, which does not necessarily mean changing for the worse. Actually, you get considerable influence over what form and direction the change takes, though you’re also being confronted by essential elements that are out of your control. Borrowing from the serenity prayer, you have to sort out the difference. Meanwhile, I suggest you review the history of the relationship. There was a turning point between 2008 and 2009. If the relationship in question dates prior to that era, study the developments at that time; otherwise, consider this date range as a turning point in your relationship history, in total. The changes that are upon you involve both the form of your relationships, and their content. In short, the old forms can no longer hold what you want to express, what you feel or what you need. They are simply not flexible enough. Yet you may not be aware of what new structure to use. I suggest you allow form to follow function. In other words, what is the purpose and the content of the relationship? Then based on that, how to have the relationship will be more obvious. Yet this is a bigger change than most people think. We tend to put the form of the relationship over the content or purpose. We try to fit people (including ourselves) into preconceived ideas about relationships and this is precisely what is changing.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Focus on what is necessary. Aim your entire concept of beauty or creativity on efficiency — that is where you will tap your creative power. Do your best to expend every drop of your energy consciously. There is a feeling described in your charts, which is doing precisely what is necessary to get the result that you want. You will find that this takes less effort than you think; the operative concept is leverage — not you being leveraged, but you having the leverage. I have noticed that the value of ideas to get things done is grossly underrated, even by many people who work in the realm of ideas. You might consider something carefully until you have a good working concept of what you want; it’s possible that the idea you need will just come to you. In either event it will help you significantly if you delineate what you want to get done or what problem you want to solve. This way you will have a sense of whether an idea that just arrives, or an idea that you gradually brew up, is the one that might do the job. If you don’t define the puzzle first, you’ll be much less likely to notice whether you’ve fit the pieces together correctly. One other thing to be sensitive to is whether you’ve already worked something out. If you need something, check if you already have it. If something is puzzling you, pause and think back and remember if you’ve already solved it.

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Introducing the Planet Waves All Access Pass for 2012

With the All Access Pass you’ll receive:

– Tuesday/Friday Email editions of Planet Waves weekly content and horoscopes. Follow Eric’s weekly and monthly interpretations for all of 2012.

– Our best-selling special reports and projects including extended audio and eBooks. Past reports have included the Midyear Audio and Mercury Retrograde reports; 2012 is sure to include exciting, as-yet-unimagined offerings as we navigate the year’s adventures.

– Research/lookup service for astrology students. We will assist you in researching any articles you need for your astrological studies through December 2012.

The All Access Pass is a little like having a personal astrologer for a full year.

Or, think of this as a custom level of service. While we tend to be close to our clients, answering the phone and responding to emails, the All Access Pass is a way of enhancing that relationship, designed for those who benefit the most from Planet Waves, whether as a spiritual seeker or an astrology student. Once you sign up, we will set up your custom login identity and keep you posted as soon as any new stuff becomes available.

Use this link to place your order. If you have questions, please give Chelsea a call at (877) 453-8265 within the U.S. and (206) 567-4455 from anywhere else in the world and she will be glad to help you.

As always thank you for doing your metaphysical shopping at Planet Waves. It’s great to know that together, we’re building a truly unique source of astrology wisdom in a time of profound change.

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Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — This month, Mars stations retrograde in your birth sign. This is another way of saying Mars will spend a total of eight months in Virgo, about 10 weeks of which it will seem to be traveling backward. Mars is the most assertive planet, so this back-tracking is often considered challenging — but it serves a crucial purpose, for you and for us all. The planets seem determined to teach you how to use this mysterious, elusive thing known as your will. Everything you experience must be filtered through one question — what do you want? You will develop the skill of discernment, for example, sorting out everything in your life on the basis of whether it helps you or hurts you. You can learn new ways to correct what is not working about your life, and what you don’t like about yourself. Mars is a hot, sharp object, and it has no morals of its own. You therefore need to be the intelligence behind the changes, and cultivating that awareness is the whole point. Proceed with surgical precision, getting clear on the mental level, then checking with the deeper emotional level, and finally making your actual adjustments meticulously and carefully. Take the whole duration of the retrograde (Jan. 23 to April 13) to identify and correct the patterns you don’t like, and to cultivate the ones that you know you want and need. Take nothing for granted. There’s no such thing as too careful — unless you spend your days in hesitation.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — If you want to understand yourself, study the nature of fear. There are a few different kinds of the stuff, ranging from a kind of lurking anxiety to paranoia about specific things. Lately you may be experiencing the fear of specifics: of what might happen if you don’t take care of details, or correct certain flaws that you might perceive in yourself. There is a kind of microscope pointing into your deep hidden nature, and you need to use it carefully. Beware of obsession in any form, or of any violent thoughts you might direct toward yourself. By ‘beware’ I mean be aware, and be wary. Notice these mental patterns and see if you can trace them back to their early origins. Despite your laid-back exterior, you possess a kind of deep perfectionism, though it’s not always the healthy kind. Be especially cautious of what you think that others think of you. This is almost always incorrect, though your projections of what others might think is a good indication of what you’re signaling to yourself. If it’s not already clear, you must send yourself more positive messages, and you have plenty of material to work with. In the end it will come down to a question of which viewpoint is true. Which makes you feel healthier? Which leads to your being happier and more productive? This is indeed a time when you will make many improvements to your mental patterns and emotional habits; the question is how you go about it.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — To what extent do you rely on outside structure to hold up your life? We all do, to some extent. I am always glad to have a house to live in and boots on when I walk outside in the winter. But it’s also essential to have a strong internal structure, so that you’re the person who is actually guiding your life, and whose spine supports your being. If you’re going to put any personal growth project on top of your list for the next year, strengthening your internal structure is the one. Nearly every important transit that’s happening to you is a commentary on some form of discipline, self-mastery or being conscious of the boundaries of your life. These serve a purpose: to help you contain, cultivate and direct your creative energy. You may feel like you have so many changes to make that you’re overwhelmed at times. You have a feeling for how much territory you’re going to cover before these particular processes are over, but your inner workings also have significant momentum. You’ve achieved more than you think, though at this point there really is no looking back except to check in, briefly, with where you started. Trust that you have a solid beginning. One of the next places you’re going to be directing your energy is your reputation. The question is, are you known for who you really are, or is there something else going on? One of the themes of 2012 for you is impeccability, which in this instance translates to absolute authenticity.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — I suggest you use imperfection as your teacher. Since perfection doesn’t exist except as a concept, you need to put to good use the things you perceive as ‘wrong’ with yourself. What’s interesting is that what you perceive as being a problem and what you perceive as being your best assets may be very close together, so close that they are inseparable. You may notice, for example, what is ‘imperfect’ about your body just as you notice your own beauty. You might observe that you’re in good health but before you have time to appreciate that, you may be annoyed by the one or two persistent problems you have — and the negative can have a way of dominating the discussion. It’s like the small issue gets your attention and obscures your perception of everything else. Obviously this is not the way to make progress, especially if you want to develop your talents, be of service and feel better about yourself — all things that are eminently possible right now. You’re being challenged to work with a functional standard of quality and monitor your judgments of what is good and what is not (especially about yourself). Yet most significantly, you need to develop a sense of perspective. Perfection may not be a value, but improvement certainly is a useful one. I often think of what my old friend Melinda scrawled into my high school yearbook: Someone is not a true artist until they can see the flaws in their own work.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Faith is one of the most difficult-to-grasp concepts, but as an actual thing in the world, it’s fairly easy to see. And it’s what you need to be the most vigilant about now. Your solar charts suggest that you’re having a crisis of faith in yourself, so you may notice this quality more by its absence than by its presence. This will work — as long as you recognize what’s going on, and go to the next step. One thing I can tell you about faith is that it comes from inside you. If there is an external source, then by my definition anyway, it’s not faith. Therefore, seek that internal source of connection. At the same time, you seem to be in a colossal struggle to work out what you believe: about life, about yourself, and ultimately about what is possible. You may be feeling the effects of disappointments relating to prior plans, or a sense of failing to meet your own potential — and these may be influencing what you believe is possible. Let’s stick with that for a moment. If what was possible in the past is any indication of what is actually possible in the future, then humanity would have made no progress on anything, ever. What is possible today is, specifically, what was not possible previously. Therefore, consider what seems impossible today as an indication of your true potential. If you can gently notice where you lack faith, you’re halfway to being filled with it.

Happy birthday! There will indeed be a Capricorn audio birthday report! Watch your email or check this space for additional information in the next edition.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — For the next few months, you’re going to be working out the details of a partnership that may have you going over old ground. This is not about backpedaling; it really is about resolving unfinished business. The good news is that once this phase ends, you’ll be able to proceed forward with actual courage and confidence. The lessons you’ll learn include the nature of commitments and what it means to get into them (and out of them), and how much care you must take to ensure that the fine points are really what they should be; and a big wake-up to the power you have when you step forward with your independence rather than thinking you need others to be involved in every decision. What seems like a review will really be a planning phase for a period of your life that I would describe as a period of achievement. There is a warm-up to this phase, and you’re in it now. The more you have a grasp on the history of recent years (and some long-gone ones) the more successful you will be. In the most positive sense, your success comes down to one question: knowing what you want. That, in turn, breaks down into several subtopics, including knowing exactly what would get in the way of that awareness. In the process, you will map out your psyche and the maze of your life, and this map will be an extremely useful tool as you progress forward.

To order Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check., your full-length 2012 reading including written and audio segments for Aquarius, please go to this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Whatever that thing you’re most dedicated to, that is who and what you are. It’s not that you have to identify with it, but rather that you are free to do so. Remember this. There seems to be a healing process at the heart of the matter. There seems to be something about sex and your sexual identity, and how you contain and express your energy. And you’re feeling a calling to absolute authenticity, which includes giving yourself the space to be yourself. If I had to assign one theme to the next four seasons, that’s the one: hold that space open where you are free to be you. Imagine a large fire in the middle of the space, which defines the room you have to move around, and provides both an energy source and a focal point for your existence. Holding open space to exist may have the feeling of taking back territory. By doing something positive and assertive you may get the sensation that you’re doing something negative and even wrong. No doubt you’ve been through this territory once or twice (or more) but it’s easy to forget. This is one reason why I suggest you think in terms of defining your space (rather than defending it). There is room for you on this planet. There is room for you to be different, and most of all there is room for you to fulfill your purpose. In the coming four seasons, however, you’re likely to graduate to something even more powerful: living on a mission.

To order Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check., your full-length 2012 reading including written and audio segments for Pisces, please go to this link.

Introducing a Weekly 2012 Diary by Eric Francis

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Dear Friend and Reader:

This thing called 2012 is approaching fast. We’ve got just one more season and we’re there. This is one of the most predicted-about times in human history. I can tell you that there will be a lot of unemployed prophets on Jan. 1, 2013. And I can tell you that the changes that do happen to society will be the ones that were right in front of us — but which we were not expecting. In honor of those changes, and our opportunity to use them creatively, for the next few months I will be using the Tuesday space to write a 2012 diary. [Note, even though our records show you’re not a subscriber to Planet Waves Weekly, we will be emailing the October monthly horoscope to you on Friday.]

What is the theme of 2012 as I see it? In a phrase, “Everything, All at Once.” We’ve had a few little tastes of that quality the past few years (especially in 2011); yet the story has just begun. This astrology will come in and out of focus, depending on the positions of other planets. It happens to be in high focus today, as the Libra New Moon makes an exact square to Pluto and a close opposition to Uranus. We are in what you might think of as a 2012 microcosm. [To read about that in detail, please check Soul, Form and Fear: New Moon Square Plutoon Planet Waves daily.]

At the heart of this is Uranus square Pluto, which is exact from 2012-2015. It’s been building for a long time and once we know what to look for, we’ll be able to see cultural manifestations going back five years. This aspect will influence you personally; it is affecting all of us. It could manifest emotionally as some form of obsession, the drive to participate, deep introspection — or as fear. One thing we need to learn through the 2012 astrology is how to keep fear, and the people who use it against others, in perspective. Mostly, this alignment is about the drive for progress.

Every change we’ve delayed, every place we’ve been stuck, every aspect of our lives that needs attention, the ways we feel summoned to get involved — all of these will come into focus in 2012, and stay there for at least three years. That’s a lot of material to cover. It will seem to rush on fast, and yet we must use well the time we have.

Many Decisions, Many Variables

A lot of this is about embracing decisions, and allowing for variables. We know how much we delay making changes because one change might lead to another, and another. Yet there seem to be so many variables right now. There is a way to go through this experience without getting overwhelmed, and my intention as an astrologer and writer is to help you see the way to do that.

This Tuesday weekly series will relate directly to the 2012 annual edition of Planet Waves. The annual edition, usually published the first week of January, is where you get your extended overview of the new year (last year’s was called Light Bridge; the year before was called Cosmic Confidential). Our annual is a comprehensive product, which many people depend upon for a bit of perspective and easy-to-understand astrology guidance.

Because of the extraordinary astrology of 2012, I am devoting extra time to doing this year’s edition. This new Tuesday series will serve two purposes: one being to keep you informed about this unusual astrology and related events; and the other being a place for me to create and develop the ideas that you’ll be reading about when the annual publishes in just a few short months.

Big astrological events mean something different to everyone. I will be counting on your feedback, ideas and wisdom to create this annual edition. You can write directly to me by replying to this email.

The Cycle Starting in 1965 Turns a Corner Now

The topic for today is: what is the relationship of 2012 astrology to the 1960s — and why should you care? Let’s take them one at a time.

The Rain in Spain — the 1960s were not all about protests and LSD. Among the less-tumultuous developments was a film production of My Fair Lady, adapted from a play by George Bernard Shaw. It won eight Academy Awards, including best picture, released shortly after the Beatles arrived in the United States.

On Oct. 9, 1965, there was a conjunction in mid-Virgo — Uranus conjunct Pluto. That was the epicenter of what we think of as “The Sixties.” Historians have tried for decades to explain what the 1960s were — and it would help if they had astrology. Let’s just say they were about a lot more than protests. They were a time of monumental change in every facet of life: technology, art, literature and music. The family structure of the 1940s and 1950s was totally rearranged. Sex roles began to change. There was a sexual revolution, with mixed results — but some real impact.

You could say that consciousness itself changed, and we’ve been living with that particular mental vibe ever since. As The Eagles so brilliantly said it, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” We are, however, about to do something other than check out or leave. We are going into the next phase of that cycle — Uranus square Pluto. It’s taken 46 years for Uranus and Pluto to move from a conjunction to a square. This is like the week that it takes the New Moon to become the quarter Moon, only it was nearly half a century. Think of all that has happened in those years.

When Uranus and Pluto get to the first quarter, the action begins again. It’s actually been happening for several years, but it’s been really obvious in 2011, whether you consider Arab Spring, the volatility of the financial markets, the political chaos, the sense of total overwhelm that is reminiscent of the Sixties. The times we are in will challenge you to be yourself fully, and to live the life that is right for you. Clinging will not work — making conscious and informed choices will work a lot better.

Astrologically, one big difference between the 1960s and now is that the conjunction was in the relatively mellow, intellectual, service-oriented sign Virgo. The square that we are approaching now reaches from Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn — super-high energy signs that are all about taking action. Uranus in Aries is about a stunning self-awakening. Pluto in Capricorn is about changes to the very roots of our society and its structure. Where the two intersect for you personally is a crucial meeting point. It’s where you need to be focusing your plans, your decisions and your concept for your life, even as everything is changing before your eyes.

One thing that most people don’t understand is that times of change and instability are the moments of the greatest potential. Yes, you have to be gutsier, apply your intelligence, and dare to take a few risks. You could say the possibilities are limitless, though closer to the point is that they are real — and the astrology points us directly to them. More next week.

Lovingly,

P.S. The October monthly horoscope will be published on Friday.

Looking Back on a Wild Year

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Dear Friend and Reader:

As we approach the end of another calendar year, we are also closer to 2012 — a year that has been predicted endlessly, and in a sense, lived before anyone has had a chance to get there. For the next few months I will be doing the 2012 annual edition of Planet Waves. As you know, there is big astrology coming — some of the biggest of our lifetimes.

Photo by Eric Francis.

I’m not quite settled on the title of this edition (it changes every year — last year it was Light Bridge and the year before Cosmic Confidential), but it’s likely to be something like “Reality Check.” We need one of those, with so many strange beliefs taking hold, so much conflict and so many predictions of doom going around. The 21st century got off to a rough start. We have time to get on the right track, especially as individuals. I’m not really an optimist, but rather someone who has faith in the power of human creativity.

In order to get the annual edition done smoothly and on time, I have two proposals, one of which is a request for your feedback about your own life. If you would take a few minutes, please tell me as much about your astrology as you know: your Sun sign, your year of birth and other details if you know them. This will help me check my previous work and develop angles to help you with your astrology through 2012 and beyond. What are some of the questions and issues you’ve been facing? What opportunities have come your way?

How are you guiding your life through the changes that are influencing so many people? Have you been impacted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by the changes on the planet? How have these events altered your life and influenced your values? Here is a big one: What is up with your kids (if you have any) and what are your concerns about the future of the world as it impacts them?

Second general theme is: What inner developments are you experiencing? By that I am referring to what most people think of as their spiritual life, their healing process or their growth. I’m curious what you’re aware of within yourself, what changes you’re going through and how you are experiencing your maturing process. Are you in therapy? Are you on a spiritual path? Are you using meds to help you cope? How do you define the terms ‘growth’ and ‘healing’?

I would encourage you to use these notes as a basic guide — please don’t try to cover them all, only what is most important to you. I don’t need a lot of writing, just a few salient observations (I can discern a lot from relatively little). I do need your Sun sign and year of birth, and other details that you know would help (such as your rising sign if you happen to know it). Please send your responses to feedback@planetwaves.net with the subject header “2011 Feedback.” I won’t have time to respond to every one personally, but I will read what you write to me. If I quote you because you’ve said something better than I ever could, it will be anonymously.

Last thing. The annual edition includes written and audio readings for all 12 signs, as well as articles by myself and others. It’s a big, beautiful, useful project, and to do it, I need to focus — which can be challenging while I’m working for you as a full-time journalist. I want to do this well: It’s going to be a big year, and that is saying a lot.

To help facilitate my work, I’m going to make a series of schedule adjustments over the next three months to give myself a little more time and space to do these readings. For example, some weeks I’ll combine Tuesday and Friday editions. Other weeks I will depend more on guest writers. In the tradition of ‘Planet Waves Weekly’ (the real name of this newsletter) there will be something for you every week. If you see me make an adjustment to the schedule, that’s why I’m doing it.

Meanwhile, please look for a pre-order announcement some time in the next couple of weeks. There will be two phases of pre-order — one for those who want to contribute a little extra to the project to help get us started, and then a second one for an advanced-sale discount.

I’ll see you with a regular issue Friday, and the October monthly horoscope next week.

Lovingly,