Tag Archives: Feminism

Four Winds Report for June 23, 2017

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The Only Thing Missing From This Almanac Is Your Daily Horoscope

Every day, you read the Four Winds report, to get a sense of the current energies. There’s just one thing missing — your daily horoscope. Written for you, every day of the week, your Planet Waves daily horoscope is designed to give you the clue you need, that little edge to make your life go smoother.

One well-placed line from an astrologer can make all the difference in your life. We now have two editions of the Four Winds Report — one with, and one without your daily reading. You may be one of the readers who wait for years for me to offer you this — and now you can have it. Horoscope Lover membership gets you direct mailing of each day’s reading, plus the weekly reading on Sunday night, and the monthly reading the last Thursday of the month. Sign up at this link.

with love,
eric

Today is Friday, June 23, 2017
Hebrew date is 29 Sivan 5777
Islamic date is 28 Ramadan 1438

Mayan Tzolk’in Day is 11 Chikchan
Mayan Long Count is 13.0.4.10.5
Julian Day is 2457928

Today’s Birthdays: Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468), Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), James Meade (1907-1995), Jean Anouilh (1910-1987), Alan Turing (1912-1954), Irene Worth (1916-2002), June Carter Cash (1929-2003), Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994), Frances McDormand (1957), Joss Whedon (1964), Yann Tiersen (1970), Selma Blair (1972), KT Tunstall (1975), Mizchif (1976-2014), Jason Mraz (1977), Memphis Bleek (1978), Becky Cloonan (1980), Duffy (1984).

“As long as sex is dealt with in the current confusion of ignorance and sophistication, denial and indulgence, suppression and stimulation, punishment and exploitation, secrecy and display, it will be associated with a duplicity and indecency that lead neither to intellectual honesty nor human dignity.”
— Alfred Kinsey


You Are Wearing a Gray Suit

Dear Friend and Reader:

A few weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a training program for women as a male model and actor. The essence of the class was teaching women to be in their power, and how to treat men as people.

Kasia Urbaniak, headmistress of The Academy.

The exercise I took part in was late in the weekend, Sunday evening for a class that had started Friday night. The instructions were simple. One of the five men who was serving as a “model male” would sit in a chair. One of the students would approach him, with the instruction of making three observable statements of fact, for example, “You are wearing a gray suit.”

The effect was profound. For many of the women, it seemed like one of the most challenging things they had ever done. Some could barely speak. One was moved to tears, and the class had to pause so she could be consoled.

Leading the class was Kasia Urbaniak, former dominatrix with 17 years’ full-time experience, who had during those years also spent enough time in Daoist monasteries to come within four days of being ordained a nun.

Read more…


Moon Phase: Moon is in Balsamic (waning crescent) phase and enters New phase tonight at 7:30 pm PDT / 10:30 pm EDT (02:30:38 UTC).
Next Full Moon is in Capricorn on July 8-9 at 9:06 pm PDT / 12:06 am EDT (04:06:30 UTC).
Next New Moon is in Leo on July 23 at 2:45 am PDT / 5:45 am PDT (09:45:30 UTC).
Moon Sign: Moon is in Gemini and enters Cancer today at 3:06 pm PDT / 6:06 pm EDT (22:06:33 UTC).
Sun Degree: 2-3 Cancer.

Planetary Stations and Sign Changes
Borasisi stations retrograde at 10:58 pm June 22 PDT / 1:58 am EDT (05:58:10 UTC).
Moon enters Cancer at 3:06 pm PDT / 6:06 pm EDT (22:06:33 UTC).

Interesting Selected Aspects | Data by Serennu
— Sun square Salacia at 6:26 am PDT / 9:26 am EDT (13:26:15 UTC).
— Mars sextile Echeclus at 12:47 pm PDT / 3:47 pm EDT (19:46:56 UTC).
— Mars opposite Juno at 6:18 pm PDT / 9:18 pm EDT (01:17:41 June 24 UTC).

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If Your Birthday is June 23
(The Day of Interpersonal Enchantment) | Cancer Birthday Reading | All Other Signs
You’ve reached a point in your life where you know you must make real changes, and fortunately just about every factor is working in your favor. First, identify what you know must end, and work to resolve it. Then, focus on what you know you want to begin, and with your newly liberated energy, invest generously in your most cherished goals.

Written in the Planets
What do you want, emotionally speaking? And what does a partner in a relationship (not necessarily romantic) seem to need? If one of you wants to cycle and flow freely while the other seems to need security and stability, know that you can find a meeting place. Along with today’s New Moon in Cancer, an opposition between Mars in Cancer and Juno in Capricorn is highlighting the false dichotomy between ‘movement’ and ‘stability’. There is a point of negotiation between the two, and it looks like it might be focusing on what remains constant within and between each of you, in the midst what’s shifting. If an emotional habit or attachment is holding you back from allowing some flow, or from allowing yourself to demonstrate how much you care, use today’s New Moon energy. It’s perfect for gently, consciously bringing one thing to an end, and then setting new intentions with the rising tide.


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INVOLUTION has now been published! Order all 12 signs of INVOLUTION here for instant access, or choose your individual signs here. Check out our all-new video preview.

Democracy Now! — Wednesday, July 27, 2016

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Eric is about to begin creating the new 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. Covering Jupiter in Libra and other forthcoming astrology, this exciting reading will carry you well into 2017. Seize your chance to get all 12 signs for the bargain price of $47. Grab your copy today. Image from the 2012 Blue Marble by NASA GSFC.

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Whatever you might think of Hillary Clinton (and believe us, we know it’s not all good), there’s no denying this is a moment of human progress. Image: video still

Hillary Clinton made history Tuesday when she secured the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, becoming the first woman to head the ticket of a major party in U.S. history. During the roll call vote at the Democratic National Convention, Bernie Sanders joined the Vermont delegation and moved to give Clinton the party’s presidential nomination by acclamation. Clinton’s nomination was officially seconded by Congressman John Lewis of Georgia.

The historic night marking the first nomination of a woman on a major party’s presidential ticket was not without protest. We speak to some of the hundreds of Bernie Sanders delegates who walked out of the Democratic National Convention soon after her former challenger asked to award her the nomination. “They did not listen to the people,” said Felicia Teter, a New Hampshire delegate. “They did not just ignore us, but they fought against us.”

Democracy Now! was on the floor of the convention speaking to delegates and political leaders from around the country who formerly backed Bernie Sanders and now plan to support Clinton, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo, and Jesús “Chuy” García, former Chicago mayoral candidate. “This is really not necessarily about the individual,” says Carol Ammons, an Illinois state representative who introduced Sanders when he spoke in her district. “It is truly about the ideas.”

Broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, we host a discussion about how Sanders backers can move forward together with supporters of Hillary Clinton to defeat Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump. We are joined by Rep. Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, who endorsed Hillary Clinton last year, and Danny Glover, an actor and activist who endorsed Bernie Sanders.

One of the most moving moments of the DNC came Tuesday when the Mothers of the Movement gathered on the convention stage. They were the mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Mike Brown, Hadiya Pendleton, Dontré Hamilton and Sandra Bland, whose deaths spurred the Black Lives Matter movement. We hear from Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland; Lucia McBath, mother Jordan Davis; and Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin.

Their address marked an “extraordinary moment,” says New Jersey delegate Larry Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization for Progress. But he adds, “I wish someone would have said police brutality must stop. … In the two years since the death of Michael Brown, 2,500 people have been killed by police in the United States.” Both he and Danny Glover say they formerly supported Bernie Sanders and now plan to vote for Hillary Clinton. Glover notes, “What we do beyond the 9th of November is the most important thing.”

As the Democratic National Convention enters its third day here in Philadelphia, one of the city’s most famous native sons is observing and covering the proceedings from inside a state prison facility. Former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal is a well-known prisoner and also an award-winning journalist whose writing from his prison cell has reached a worldwide audience through his Prison Radio commentaries and many books. Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, but has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty International has found he was deprived of a fair trial.

We are honored to offer this broadcast as part of our affiliation with the Pacifica Network. Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.

The Radical Notion that Men Are People

Dear Friend and Reader:

Mars stations direct in Libra on Monday, after being retrograde since March 1. In modern astrology, Mars is the planet of desire, motivation, drive, impetus, volition and aggression, named for the Roman god of war.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Our society has Mars issues. We have too many wars. We spend too much money on wars, on police and on imprisoning people. We also don’t know the difference between need and want. We tend to want what hurts us and not want what helps us.

Mars is also about men. We train our men to be warriors, then seem surprised when they act like them.

The Mars retrograde journey has stirred up many questions, rocked the boat of relationships and shaken up the life orientation of many people I’ve heard from. Mars retrograde at its best is a study in desire: in getting clear about what you want and why you want it.

Certain events in astrology sum up an entire era, and Mars stationing direct is like the distilled essence of everything that’s happened all year. Think of this as Mars holding a message or secret of some sort, and it’s about to choose its moment and reveal it. That message will reveal something about what we’ve been through these unusually intense and strange months. I have a sense that something deeply introspective, some long-silent inner voice, will reveal its truth as Mars shifts polarities.

Yet because this particular Mars retrograde involved the Uranus-Pluto square, an aspect that describes the culmination point of an entire generation, there’s information on tap that reveals something about our current phase of history. The Uranus-Pluto square is the second great turning point of our century, the first being the Saturn-Pluto opposition of 2001-2002 that arrived with 9/11 and two of the longest wars in U.S. history. One thing we have with Uranus-Pluto is the opportunity to reverse much that went wrong during Saturn-Pluto.

Because Mars is now in the spotlight, I think this would be a good time to comment on men and maleness. Back in April, Amanda Painter quipped that Mars running retrograde in Libra, the sign ruled by Venus, would delve so far into Libra that it would produce the first fully transgender planet. She gave language to something I’d been trying to put into words for months: this is a transformation experience for Mars and all things martian and male.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

During my coverage of Mars retrograde and related gender studies issues, several women have asked me what I have to say to men. But first I have something to say to everyone: men are people.

I say this because men are currently blamed for all of the world’s problems. This is so prevalent that it’s seemingly an unquestionable truth, perceived to be a fact of nature. Everything bad that happens is allegedly a man’s fault. I don’t deny the existence of the patriarchy, but it consists of a far more complex set of dynamics than most descriptions you will see.

The shape-shifting Archetypal Bad Man morphs from oil company CEO into the misogynist frat boy to the serial rapist into the emotional or sexual abuser to the womanizer to the psychological infant to the terrorist/active shooter to the deadbeat dad to the guy who will stick it anywhere to the state governor shutting down women’s reproductive health services to the human trafficker to the hypocritical preacher, politician or warmonger.

Let’s not forget the generic asshole, the jerk of a boss, the drunk, the guy who never puts the toilet seat up (or down), the dude who loves his car more than his girlfriend or children and your everyday inhabitant of the fragile male ego.

The presence of the Archetypal Bad Man, the one whose values and conduct are so base he’s not worth bothering with or acknowledging, or worse, not considered human, is looming everywhere. As a result, everyone with a penis is at least a little suspect.

Not everyone feels this way. But enough people do, including many men, that it’s time we take notice of the prejudice, and notice that it’s not helping anything. It’s not making the world a better place nor is it helping anyone be more enlightened.

These men all exist somewhere. They all have their female counterparts. It seems to be that society’s problems are a human thing rather than a male thing. Yet the open and casual derision with which men are spoken of in our era is impressive, if one is able to notice. There’s not a commonly-known word for this. Who has seen the word ‘misandry’ in print or heard it in school? Who could define it without a dictionary? Does it have anywhere near the connotation of ‘misogyny’?

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

If you are a man, you may find it extremely difficult not to take on some of this projection. However, I suggest you make a conscious choice of not taking responsibility for what you didn’t do, that which is not yours or for who you are not. You don’t have to accept the projections of others, especially those that would in any way deprive you of your humanity.

Yet at the same time you, like any other human, must evaluate yourself, and determine what is in fact yours — and not because someone said so. You will only know what is yours if you search your soul. That is the essence of personhood. Personhood is not a destination. It’s a process, and a lifelong journey.

Being a man has special demands in our society; being a man is a slight twist on being a person, as is being a woman.

I have some other suggestions for men and those people becoming men, which I would offer for all humans in search of their personhood. I offer these as ideas for your consideration, not as necessities or requirements. As ideas, they are focused on facilitating development into what you might describe as a self-actualized state. [Here is a discussion forum for this article.]

Get to know yourself. I know, this seems obvious — but it’s necessary to say in a society that is so committed to depriving people of self-knowledge, and where there are so many opportunities to forget. There exists a taboo against knowing who you are. Self-knowledge is considered a dangerous thing. Among those who lack self-knowledge, it certainly is. It’s also an essential ingredient in freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. Knowing yourself is the ever-ripening fruit of a relationship with yourself.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Focus on your growth. Growth isn’t just for little kids, puppies and kittens. Psychologically and emotionally, I would propose that growth has three basic elements: maturity, confidence and self-esteem. These are different things, they are all closely related and they are all related to honesty. There’s a severe shortage of these things in our society. They are equally meaningful, though I would say that of the three, the self-esteem crisis is one of the most serious issues facing our culture. Part of the problem is it’s not easy to notice one’s own lack of self-esteem. You may have to deduce it from your confidence and maturity levels (which are easier to see), or by noticing how you let others treat you. You can also see it in the value that you place upon yourself in your interactions with others. Once you notice your actual self-esteem level, it’s easier to address in some constructive way. It’s very unlikely to just “fix itself.” It’s something that you have to focus on.

Know what you don’t know. If you are clueless, that will make this fact all the more challenging to ascertain. Figuring out how little you know is one of the most liberating experiences of life. Ignorance, which has as its root the word “ignore” — an intentional, even forceful act — is not an excuse for anything. Its vast popularity is no excuse, either. That is different from lack of knowledge. To address that, you have to figure out what you don’t know. This takes special sensitivity, because you need to notice your voids of knowledge without judging yourself. When you know you don’t know something, and you can admit that fact, then you can find out what you need to know. This is called intelligence. The more intelligent you are, the less prejudiced you will be. Prejudice is the result of not knowing when you don’t know (whatever).

Learn to look after yourself. By this I mean acquiring basic life skills that are quickly being forgotten in our “service-oriented” society. Learn how to shop for food, how to prepare meals and how to establish and take care of your home. Learn how to wash your clothes and keep your house at least vaguely orderly. Learn how to take care of your body. Many men believe that it’s a woman’s role to do all of this for them. You’re not learning this for their sake, however, you’re learning it for your own sake. If you’re terrible at cleaning or can’t stand doing it, then learn to make enough money to hire a professional; that counts as self-care. Speaking of money, learn to organize yours, and to have a healthy relationship with it. Your money is your power. It’s not your only power but it’s one of the most important kinds. Know how much you have at all times, and look after it and measure every purchase on its investment value. In our society, functionality with money is one of the most essential ingredients in looking after yourself and one of the most obvious failings of people who might otherwise be successful and productive.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Focus and master your talents. Pursue what you are good at, what is useful and what gives you pleasure. Note that some skills are to some people less “fun” but are also essential to a good life. You might not like filing taxes, but if you’re good at it you have a distinct advantage. Our society has gone through a profound deskilling in recent decades. Most of your friends will spend most of their free time entertaining themselves. Obviously some amusement is necessary. However, humans stop growing when they stop learning. I suggest you spend a significant portion of your time building your skills and accumulating knowledge, and putting them to use. This will make you a more well-rounded, self-reliant and overall useful and productive person.

Take care of your health. This is a key aspect of looking after yourself — indeed, the most important. All the things you know can hurt you actually do. If you work with chemicals, know what they are and what they do — don’t believe any claims of innocence by your company or by your boss. If you smoke, you are contaminating every cell in your body with every single drag of every cigarette — smoking is that efficient. The cigarettes you smoke are also deadly to the people you come into contact with (second-hand smoke) and the people they come into contact with (third-hand smoke). To quit, you may need to figure out why you smoke in the first place. If you drink alcohol habitually, there’s a reason for that too. You’re literally consuming and expending the resources of your liver, of which you have but one. Note, if you want to preserve or improve your health, and have a good quality of life, you have to eat real food, which means knowing how to shop and prepare food. Additional note: I suggest you discover the extreme virtues of dental floss.

Beware of doctors and hospitals. The medical profession can do some excellent work and has made many strides in recent decades — and it also needs to be approached with extreme caution. Many people leave hospitals sicker than they went in. (I suggest you look up the word nosocomial.) On all medical matters affecting you or your loved ones, I suggest you get two opinions on things that seem minor and at least three on things that seem more important. Most significantly, use your intuition. Doctors will want to prescribe or inject you with drugs they may not have fully researched. (Please look up the word iatrogenic.) It is up to you to understand what is being put into your body. Don’t be afraid to stop the show and seek additional information the moment you don’t understand something. It’s worth mentioning that there exist many forms of complimentary or alternative care, often disavowed by the medical profession for reasons of competition. A good homeopath can help you resolve an issue that most medical doctors cannot diagnose. However, you must do your homework choosing an approach and a practitioner.

Learn to take care of women’s bodies. If you’re a man who has physical relationships with women, it’s essential that you actually understand something about what a female body is and why it needs special care. Women’s bodies are resilient, amazingly strong and do all kinds of fun and biologically fantastic things that men’s bodies don’t do. They’re also more sensitive and more challenging to maintain. Rise above any ignorance and squeamishness you may have, or any sense that the woman’s body is some alien “other.” Get yourself a copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves and read it carefully. Ask the women in your life about the special care that their particular bodies need. You would be amazed at the subtlety, the detail and most of all at how much you did not know before.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Learn to negotiate sexual consent. That means having an authentic conversation in a sober state about what both partners want and whether sex is appropriate for you both at that particular time. This includes being real about your sexual history. Sex is negotiated on a per-event basis, not as a standing contract — even with your fiancee or wife. We are rapidly heading back into the time when there is no such thing as clear yes or clear no, but you don’t need to go there. There’s a lot more sex available without the integrity of a clear yes or clear no, but I don’t suggest it’s the kind of sex you want, and you can get in serious trouble without clarity. I would propose that you want to relate to people who are excited about you, for whom yes is clear, honest and real. That puts a filter up — one made of respect and self-respect.

Keep it covered. Presume that all sex will include a condom, unless you specifically plan to create a child. You are responsible for the destiny of every single sperm cell your body produces. You are responsible for any pregnancy that you co-create. It does not matter if a woman says she is using birth control. Everyone needs to bring their own birth control to the table, and not put it off on anyone else. That means you, in the first instance. You are also responsible for any sexually transmitted infections that you pass along, or that you get. Condom negotiation with you should take a grand total of no seconds, though this is not the norm. Bring your own condoms and note that many women are sensitive to latex. Ask your partner about this. While you’re keeping it covered, keep your private parts — all of them — clean. Good hygiene is essential to healthy, friendly sexual relationships.

If you’re gay, accept that fact. If you’re questioning, that’s OK too. Despite all the positive PR about being gay in recent years, many gay men still pretend to be ungay. If you’re biologically and emotionally attracted to men and are not so attracted to women (or not attracted at all), then you’re probably gay. There’s no point being in denial, even if you don’t understand why you are gay.

Bisexuality is normal. Having attractions to and fantasies about both men and women is normal, in the statistical sense — it’s part of the norm. Many people of both sexes experience this (far more than you might imagine), and it does not make you gay. Along the way you will meet women who have attractions to both men and women — I suggest you treat this with the utmost respect. It’s not your sex toy, and if you’re ever invited into the sanctum of female-female sex, consider yourself fortunate indeed.

Deal with your homophobia. Your homophobia is not about that other guy — it’s about you. Usually homophobia has a power source, an engine of some kind running it. It’s up to you to figure out what that is.

Deal with your jealousy. The partners in your life are going to have attractions to others and others are going to have attractions to them. You are going to have attractions to people other than your partner. Make room in your relationships for the simple truth of this fact. The first way to do this is for you to deal with your own jealousy, which is at its essence a control drama and death trip. Note, just because you address your jealousy does not mean that other people will address theirs. It’s up to you to select enlightened partners who share your values.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Your sexual desire is your property and your responsibility. It’s not up to anyone else to provide you with sexual gratification. It’s not the responsibility of women, no matter what anyone may say, think or put into a music video. Your most available consensual sexual outlet is masturbation. It’s more than about getting off; masturbation is an expression of your relationship to yourself. If you treat it that way, all forms of sex will become more relational and more about communication.

Your partners are not your property. You are not theirs. There is much confusion about this. Our society’s whole relationship model is based on the presumed ownership of other people, which is so prevalent as to be taken for granted. The concept is inherent in everything from marriage to rape. This is the source of so much misery it’s impossible to measure. Both sexes are trained to do this to other people. The only solution is to be your own person and to treat others as their own person. This takes bravery, enlightenment and risking people thinking you’re weird. In fact it may require some authentic stubbornness and a revolutionary spirit. So be it.

Learn to be friends with women. By that I mean learn to have friendships with women where you treat them as equals and feel respected as their equal. I don’t mean ‘just friends’ mode; I mean friendship with a real commitment. This may necessitate keeping the sexual and romantic aspects of the relationship off to the side. I am not suggesting you deny your feelings but rather that you express them in a way appropriate for that particular situation. Friendship makes a solid foundation for other forms of relationship, and tends to be what endures the longest. Note that it’s also taboo in many social circles. This is a good taboo to break.

Learn to be friends, not competitors, with other men. Despite the incorrect notion that all men always stick together, men are often viciously competitive with one another, to everyone’s detriment. If you don’t want to live that way, you’ll need to choose male friends who don’t take that approach. Cooperation gets more accomplished, and is the only thing that can build a sane and productive culture. Cooperation means getting beyond the idea that there are absolute winners and losers, not seeing your interests as separate from those of others and being a more generous person. You will feel better about yourself and about existence.

Love those who respect you. In the course of your life, you may fall in love with others who do not seem to love you back. You may put considerable energy into these seeming relationships. Unrequited love is a popular item on the menu of human diversions. This is worth looking at as early in life as possible. Who you love is your choice, and who loves you is their choice. I don’t think it’s possible to persuade someone to change their feelings. I suggest you cultivate a life policy of loving those who, at the very least, offer you respect, kindness and attention; and those who voluntarily offer you nourishment in some form. I have found that we tend to love who and what we take care of. This is a profound gift of human psychology, and I suggest you be open to it working in all directions.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Go to therapy. Everyone in our society needs therapy. We all have childhood damage and neglect to work through, no matter how wonderful and attentive our parents were. Those injuries get in the way of happiness, success and intimacy. However, therapy is not just about dredging up the past or delving into one’s unconscious motives. It’s about learning to speak about one’s reality and how to put one’s experience up to a more objective mirror. Many men in particular feel, for some strange reason, that this is a sign of weakness, something I’ve never understood and which I suggest you not fall for. It’s unhealthy to let things build up, and one potential reason we may see so much violence coming from men. The skills you learn from a good therapist will benefit you the rest of your life, and enhance your ability to help others in need.

Cultivate mentors. Therapy is a form of mentorship, though there are other kinds that are essential. Mentors are generally older people from whom you learn life skills, and learn about yourself. They are not ordinary friendships but rather associations with people you respect, and to whom you’re willing to listen. They are relationships wherein you gain clarity and receive the gifts of someone’s perspective and long experience. You get a chance to see how far you have to go, and you can get some reassurance that it’s possible to actually make the journey. It’s been said that a wise person is able to learn from the mistakes of others — another reason it helps to have mentors. Along these lines, I suggest that whenever possible, you hang out with some people you suspect or are certain are much smarter than you.

Your anger is your responsibility. Anger is a natural emotion, particularly in a world with many aggravating and frustrating factors. As a matter of discipline, you can remove as many of those factors as possible, along the way to actually dealing with your anger. If you’re someone who sulks, you’re probably angry at your mother. Remember that in our society, men are trained to be warriors, and often have all kinds of warriors as heroes. They have superpowers, kill people with impunity and are able to act out their drive for justice or revenge. You are human and that places certain limits on you, which can be frustrating. You’ll need to create healthy means to personal justice and ways to channel your warrior energy.

You don’t need a gun. Guns provide a false sense of security. They also cast an eclipse over every other common sense form of avoiding or dealing with danger, from street smarts to staying away from where you don’t belong to learning martial arts. If you ever have to use your gun, your life will be changed irrevocably, and unlikely for the better. If you carry large amounts of cash or jewelry as part of your work, you can probably afford to hire a security detail.

Planet Waves
Photo by Charlie Lemay.

You are not your father. You don’t need to live up to any of his supposed expectations, and even if you do, he may not acknowledge you. Your life is your life; you are you and not anyone else. If you want the potential for a solid relationship with your father, be your own person and meet him on level ground.

You must come up with your own answers. There are many in the business of dictating right or wrong, telling you who to hate, what is moral and what rights you’re supposed to have. Whether it’s some relative, FOX News, a politician or a preacher, you don’t need anyone telling you what to think or do. You do need to decide what to think and do, and that will take some conscious reflection and exposing yourself to a wide diversity of viewpoints.

Don’t let anyone cheat you out of your passion. There are plenty who would say that to do what you want is wrong, that your sexual desire is incorrect or evil, and that what you know in the depths of your heart somehow goes against nature. Ultimately you are the only one who can give up your passion, your awareness and your freedom to choose, and these things are your birthright.

You will not live forever. Get used to that fact. Make your days, your seasons and your years count. Notice the passage of time. There are some who say you’re not really alive until you have a conscious relationship with death. This relationship will help you value your time more consciously, and calculate the risks you want to take.

I have three book suggestions. These are the three books that helped me understand being and becoming a man, and understand women, more than any others. They are: Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir and Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man by Susan Faludi. They are all worth their weight in pure gold.

Lovingly,

Here is a discussion forum for this article.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Friday morning in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual subscription rate: $99/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Hillary Ghee, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Painter, Amy Silver, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, which goes over each edition on Thursday night — and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions.

 

Charlie Lemay: About the Artist

I consider Charlie Lemay one of the great contemporary artists, and it’s a privilege to have his work illustrate my writing. We met when he arrived one day many years ago as my astrology client, and I’ve since taken him on as one of my photography and philosophy of art (and living) mentors.

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He is both a photographer in the classical style, often using black and white film, and a digital artist, morphing his studio work into elaborate montages and triptychs that emerged one day as a nearly fully-formed deck of tarot cards.

His book, Seeing: Insights and Images, will be available shortly. I will let you know when that’s ready. There are some excellent galleries on his website.

In an email this morning, Charlie wrote to me:

When I was asked in 1996 by Karen Smith to write what I thought the job of the artist was, for the digital show I was participating in, I said, “to wake up the artist, and then for the artist to wake up others.” 

I stand by that still, and it seems to be indicated by the neuroscience. In the sequence of events, impulse, command, action, and rationalization, all our jobs might be to do our best to not interfere with impulse, to allow it to flow through us and be made as whole in the physical world as each of us is capable of. That may be what “getting it” is really all about. The secret of our existence might be to simply be and allow this physical manifestation of the spiritual to manifest. Our insistence on the rationalization as the reality may be the cause of all our problems.
He added: All critics, like our thoughts, are late to the party and have nothing whatsoever to do with the initiating impulse. Like our conscious minds, they may actually inhibit the flow when they become the arbiters of this process. This includes our self-critic especially.
Mars Stations Direct: Planet Waves Community Forum

You are invited to a first-of-its-kind event — a Planet Waves open forum, presented as a call-in radio program. It’ll take place at 8 pm EDT on Sunday, May 18, 2014. This will be an opportunity for Planet Waves readers all over the world to hear from one another and participate in a live conversation. The focus of the discussion will be Mars stationing direct, which happens one day later. The event is free, though you’ll need to preregister.

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You’ll be able to participate via telephone, Skype or by listening to a live stream. Internet listeners will be able to participate via a chat feature; I’ll read some of those comments on the air.

We are planning to develop these events into a number of formats, including live question-and-reply sessions associated with each of the birthday readings and 12-sign reading products, and a series of astrology classes.

Subscribers who participate in Sunday’s event will be offered an upgrade path, available the first year with discounted early renewal, that will enhance their Planet Waves experience. This will include opt-ins for a daily mailing and astrology update text message service, and teleconferences on special topics open only to Planet Waves core community members (our subscribers).

I am looking forward to seeing you there. Once again, here is your link for pre-registration.

w/love,


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At Long Last, Mars Stations Direct

As Mars stations direct over the next few days (exact Monday, May 19, at 9:31 pm EDT), see if you can feel the subtle shift of energy. This has not been an ordinary Mars retrograde, owing to the fact that Mars has now passed twice through alignments with the Uranus-Pluto square — the aspect that is helping define this moment of our lives, individually and together.

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This is a brain schedule, but it’s similar to a train schedule. The word LONG, above, is short for longitude. You can see the daily positions of Mars and for contrast, a far-away planet, Pluto. Notice that for about four days, Mars moves slower than Pluto. Note that this lists the retrograde as ending on May 20 because it’s set for midnight Greenwich Mean Time, four hours ahead of New York time.

I’ve been referring to this as the cardinal grand cross. You can review my description of that aspect in this article, called A Matter of Trust.

These next few days as Mars stations are a sensitive moment. Mars in Libra seems to be hanging in the balance, about to make a decision about who it is.

There may be a subtle edginess in the air, an apprehension about what direction to take, and the sensation of many things unexpressed.

Easy does it. I describe this in greater detail in today’s edition of Daily Astrology.

Mars has been retrograde in Libra, the sign opposite Aries, which it rules. So we’ve had many questions arise relating to role reversal, sex and gender, relationship, and matters of desire and consent. This has raised many questions related to sex roles and sexual identity, and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways they influence relationships.

When Mars is retrograde, what’s really happening is that the Earth has passed between Mars and the Sun. When that’s happening there’s a visual illusion that Mars has changed directions. Now that the Earth has moved out of that alignment, Mars will soon appear to move direct.

Yet before this happens, there is what’s called a station — Mars appears to be standing still in the sky, and in the ephemeris. For a few glorious days, Mars seems to be moving as slowly as an outer planet. In the table above, I’ve compared its daily position to that of Pluto. Note that the only column where either have any progress indicated is arc minutes, or sixtieths of a degree.

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Sample of my latest chart for Mars stationing direct. In my handwriting are included the points Typhon, Logos, Atropos, Child, Vulcanus, Cyllarus, Kronos, Requiem and Amor. Full chart here.

There are many ways to think of this. One is a kind of pregnant pause. Another is a delicate balancing point. Given that Mars is the planet of action and Libra is the sign of balance, there may be a decision, or many decisions, involved. There may be questions of commitment. You can scan through the different factors in your life and notice where the metaphors apply.

Mars emphasizes the matter of desire, in particular, focusing the question of what you want. So as Mars pauses in the sky, this is a good time to consider that. One of the factors is likely to be the impact of the “what you want” concept on a relationship — that is, how you feel someone else would respond, or how they do respond.

This takes us to the identity theme in the chart: to what extent do you submit your whole identity to a relationship that you’re in? For many people, their identity is dependent upon a relationship,
and without one, they don’t feel like a complete person. This setup is suggesting it’s time to look at that issue. You may indeed be formulating your need for independence, or discovering who you really are in the context of a relationship.

Once you have that going, then you get to experiment with “being yourself,” which might mean “asserting your individual will,” and seeing how that influences things. Because this whole arrangement involves Mars and Libra, there may be a specific focus on sexual desire, and on sexual or gender orientation.

While this is happening, Mercury is moving into a square aspect with Chiron. Mercury — the original planet synonymous with mental — is in Gemini. On one level that is the very symbol of smartness, though since Mercury is approaching a square to Chiron (exact Saturday), there are some poignant questions appearing in the chart. [Link to an introduction to Chiron.]

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Somewhat simplified chart for Mars stationing direct. Note that Mars is high in the sky across the eastern United States, and it will be visible from many other points west. If skies are clear, you can be looking at Mars while this happens. It’s interesting that the Aquarius Moon is making an exact trine to Mars at the moment it stations, an image of mind-body integration that is also inherent in Mars in Libra as well.

The first is described by Mercury approaching the depth and full-spectrum sensation of Chiron in Pisces, and involves recognizing how superficial most communication is. Yet the mind that may be caught in that superficiality has a deeper question, which is about its own capacity for emotional intelligence.

Who hasn’t had the notion, “I’m not smart enough for that”? Yet with Mercury-Chiron aspects this can be a debilitating obsession. This aspect seems capable of bringing lurking doubts to the surface. The opposite of this is another prevailing state, that of being cocksure, absolutely certain of something with no basis in fact or experience.

I would describe Mercury square Chiron as the aspect of “know when you don’t know.” My first words of training for young journalists, knowing when one does not know is the first step to finding out. It is the essence of intelligence. Yet in this illustration, with Chiron in Pisces, the superficial mind, the one that might be entertained by TV commercials, is encountering something on a different order of reality.

So this is not really about facts or ideas; the encounter is more along the lines of one of those spiritual awakenings when someone one day realizes that everything they know is wrong. That would be a real point of beginning.
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Why plants move around in circles as they grow has “been a mystery since way back.” Plants may be stationary but they’re rarely still, says biologist Roger Hangarter. They’re simply coming up with engineering solutions on their own time. Photo: Science Friday video still.

The Mystery of the Spiraling Cucumber Tendril

People born under a Taurus Sun often seem to live in a separate temporal universe, moving along at their own pace until provoked to get moving — mirroring the often-slow emergence of Northern Hemisphere spring. Likewise, J.R.R. Tolkien once noted that while plants and animals share the same physical universe, plants seem to inhabit their own temporal universe — but it has taken time-lapse photography for humans to get a clearer view of how that operates.

Flora Lichtman, producer of the Science Friday video series, notes that the reason behind why plants move around in circles as they grow has been a mystery since way back. Lichtman has featured the time-lapse movies of biologist Roger Hangarter, creator of the website Plants in Motion, as well as the work of physicist Sharon Gerbode and biologist Joshua Puzey, to create an entertaining explanation of how cucumber tendrils twist — and of the broader engineering implications of the discovery.

“If you do enough time-lapse, you see that there aren’t too many parts of a plant that don’t move,” explains Hangarter. The branches move around, the leaves wiggle around.”

If you can slow your own perception down enough the next time you’re with your favorite Taurus, you just might notice the same thing.
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Scorpio Full Moon, Games People Play, Millennial Generation Astrology

This week’s extended edition of Planet Waves FM covers three topics. I begin with an overview of the current astrology including the Scorpio Full Moon (which was exact Wednesday), Venus passing through the grand cross and Mercury square Chiron.

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Eric Berne, from the book jacket of Games People Play, first edition.

In the second section, I look at the work and the astrology of Dr. Eric Berne, innovator of transactional analysis. This is the 50th anniversary of the book Games People Play, and Dr. Berne’s 114th birth anniversary was this past weekend on May 10.

Dr. Berne was one of the great contributors to modern psychology, and one of the most practical. His work has largely been left behind as “pop psychology” but its source was an idea he developed while training young psychiatrists, and it managed to break into popular culture. I consider his work and take a look at his chart as well.

In the third section, I look at the astrology of the millennial generation, in particular people born between 1983 and 1999. I cover a series of events that shaped the lives and thinking of this generation, and which helped define the concept “millennial.”

You will learn something about the chart for Pluto entering Scorpio in 1983, the Saturn-Uranus conjunction of 1988, the Uranus-Neptune conjunction of 1993-1994, Pluto entering Sagittarius in 1995 and the Chiron-Pluto conjunction of Dec. 30, 1999 (the Y2K aspect). Note, this is just the beginning of my Astrology of the Millennials coverage. I will be back soon with more.
An Astrology Reading from Someone Who Really Understands Gemini

To My Gemini Readers:

Soon after the Sun enters your sign, I’ll have an extended reading for you. My readings are highly practical sources of information, inspiration and motivation. I speak directly to you in plain language. They are divided into three sections — two astrology segments of about half an hour each, and a section of astrology afterthoughts and a tarot reading.

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These readings morph the best of my work as a Sun-sign astrologer and a professional counseling astrologer. When I developed this method, I thought it might work pretty well, but I’ve been amazed at the response I’ve had.

Astrologically, I will cover the unusual Mercury retrograde that happens in Gemini, the highly unusual grouping of planets that’s working its way across your relationship angle, and what it could possibly mean to have the planet Chaos in your sign.

I’ll also go over the influence of the grand cross, and focus on Uranus square Pluto and the impressive influence of Chiron and Neptune on your career.

The reading is accessible and playable on any kind of computer or mobile device (smartphone, iPad, etc.). It includes a live question and reply forum that will be held right around the New Moon (archived for those who cannot make it), as well as access to last year’s reading, so that you can review and check my accuracy. Plus you get an extended written description of your birth sign. And there will be some fantastic original theme music composed by Daniel Sternstein.

It’ll make an awesome gift for you if you have Gemini Sun, Moon or rising, or for the Gemini in your life, and is now available to subscribers for the pre-order price of $19.95.

Lovingly,

 

 

Planet Waves

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published your extended monthly horoscope for May on Friday, April 25. Your extended monthly horoscopes for April were published Friday, March 21. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Taurus New Moon published Tuesday, April 22. Moonshine horoscopes for the Scorpio Full Moon published Tuesday, May 13. We also published an Inner Space horoscope for April Tuesday, April 1. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

 

Planet WavesWeekly Horoscope for Friday, May 16, 2014, #998 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — When Mars stations direct next week, the mystery revealed is less likely to be how someone feels about you, but rather how you feel about a relationship situation. When that moment arrives, remember how much thought you’ve put into this situation. So when you finally get that information, I suggest you trust it. The chart describes a scenario where you’ve wondered what to call something, whether you’re stuck there, what you want and what your environment is telling you — all of which are stylizations of the core idea of how you really feel. The only reason such a simple thing could be made so complicated is because it has so many other seeming manifestations, which all seem to move the central reality of the situation away from you. It never was outside yourself and it never will be. That counts for many other situations you may be wondering about.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The past will stalk you to the extent that you let it. Note that the past is not a thing, but rather a set of perceptions, expectations and beliefs that were more appropriate for another time in your life. It may also extend to the results of choices you made in the past that still have some manifestation today, but not usually. If so, most of the time they are obvious and easy to address by making decisions. But the decisions might indeed be clouded by those perceptions, expectations and beliefs. You may not be the only one who needs to address these elements of history; someone close to you may be struggling to have a clear, tangible and useful opinion about the way things are versus how they were supposed to be. I would suggest here that these seemingly complicated, even convoluted, questions come down to, “Who am I now, and what do I want to do?”

Gemini (May 20- June 21)

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may be feeling edgy and uncertain as the Sun makes its way across the very last degrees before entering your birth sign. When it does, I think you will feel new determination that may seem, on one level, to be driven by your desire to survive or endure. Yet there’s much more going on, in particular, a surge of creative and sexual energy
that you’ve been holding back for some reason — perhaps out of an abundance of caution, or because your life seemed too complex to give yourself the space to take any chances. However, that seems to be the very thing you now must do, if you want to get anywhere. Taking chances sometimes means risking everything, but more often it means allowing yourself to do something that you previously hesitated over. As of today you may think you’ll never have the courage or the confidence to do that. I think you might feel a lot differently in a week.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You have learned a lot the past few months, by some measures more than you’ve ever learned (and resolved) in such a short timeframe. I would sum this up in a few words as “leadership comes from within.” You must take over your own life and your living space, and get into alignment with the people around you before you can be effective in any other aspect of your life. This is not true for everyone; many people can be grossly out of whack with their environment and still get a lot done. You cannot be. Remember that every waking moment — what you do is every bit as important as where you’re doing it. Your energy level and overall performance will be entirely influenced by where you’re doing whatever you’re doing. How you feel will be your best barometer. That includes how you feel about the people who surround you. For all of the above, choose carefully.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The Sun’s entry into Gemini will make it easier for you to catch up with all the changes that have been going on around you. You haven’t exactly been left in the dust, but progress does seem to be moving a little faster than you prefer to go. Your solar chart suggests that the most meaningful thing you can do is be available and visible. Take every opportunity to engage and converse with others well beyond your home office, your cubicle or the cafe where you usually work. You’re the one who must bring the initiative and reach out to others. Make the call, send the email, start the conversation. Gemini is the 11th house of your solar chart — the house that brings the greatest benefit, the income rewards of your work. Gemini says this will happen through human contact, and the Sun says that starts with visibility. So freshen up and take every opportunity to be seen and heard.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mars stations direct in your money house (Libra) just as the Sun enters your career house (Gemini). This is a great combination. Mars is the money planet — making money takes motivation. The Sun is a fine indicator of work and reputation. Put the two together and you can allow success and financial motivation to drive your desire to succeed, and allow success to drive your financial goals. This may all seem too worldly and not so spiritual, though I would define ‘spiritual’ as being responsive to the conditions of your environment and your current stage of growth. The past six months have come and gone with all kinds of questions about money, and the best direction you want to be taking. It looks like the next week will provide you with significant information, though I think your deepest discovery will be about who or what is the most important to you, and what you want to do about that fact.

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You are approaching a moment of truth. It could be about any aspect of your life, though it’s likely that an intimate situation is involved. Your charts tell a story about your having gone through a series of initiations over the past six months, which has put you in a place where you could hardly have expected to be. You may, as a result, have outgrown a relationship. Rather, it looks like you’ve become the thing that you’ve always sought in other people. That means that you no longer need them to provide it; this in turn will save you loads of time and energy pursuing something outside yourself. Yet at the same time, you want to relate to others, and this is suggesting that your contacts with others will benefit from a new purpose. I don’t know what that will be, but I would propose that it’s more about being a whole person than it is about being half of a relationship.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You may have dreamed many dreams about what you would do, if only you were less afraid. You may have even tried, and succeeded, to go beyond your own inhibitions. The journey of Mars through your 12th solar house has been a study in these hesitations, which has served to remind you how much time you’ve spent wondering if you were doing the right thing, or what might have happened if only things were some other way. It’s time to leave your regrets behind you and confront the moment in which you stand, edgy though it may be. You’re not really standing at the edge of a cliff; you’re standing right on the edge of your relationship to yourself. There really is no point hesitating about that. If you were fully committed to your relationship with yourself, many factors in your life would seem far more confident than they often do. And that moment of full commitment is about to arrive.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You may think you’ve been struggling to fit into the world someplace, when you’ve actually been succeeding at doing just that. I know it may not feel that way, but there’s a discovery or two you have yet to make about what the changes of the past few months have really been about. One thing I can tell you is that determining the direction of your life is not merely a process of elimination. It’s true that eliminating non-viable options is critical, and you’ve done some of that, but that’s not all you have to do. I suggest you take an inventory of what is working in accordance with your stated life plans. Notice what is already happening in some form or fashion the way you say you want your life to be. Notice where your gifts are already recognized. Notice who tells you, or in some way demonstrates, “you belong here,” and notice how that feels. Use that information to make any further choices.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Everything you’ve been doing the past few months has been mere preparation for the Take Leadership position you’re about to adopt. Since that was preparation, it’s worth remembering everything you’ve learned since early December, especially about your professional relationships. It is clear that you either want or are destined to dominate a certain situation, though you may realize you cannot do this in an obvious way. You must do it in an artful way. That involves an emphasis on beauty, any time you get the chance, but mainly it involves finesse in your relationships. Even if you’ve rubbed certain people the wrong way, you have the chance to make amends and align your mutual goals. One thing you can trust is that you have something of worth in the relationship, be it power, influence, talent, a vision or charisma. Remember that, and notice how well the skills of others compliment your own. That is a good position to be in.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You can take things more lightly than you have lately, and you’ll probably feel just that inclination. You might even call the feeling ‘spiritual contact’. However, one reason I try (not so successfully) to avoid the concept ‘spiritual’ is that it’s an abstraction of what you already contain and who you already are. So, an aspect that suggests that you’re growing on the dimension of faith suggests that you have more faith in yourself. An aspect that describes ‘messages from the gods’ can be interpreted as you getting into deeper contact with who you are and fulfilling your reason for living. An aspect that describes ‘lessons’ is also about your willingness to learn. All of these images relate to your chart, and therefore to your existence — suggesting a moment of enlightenment, which is to say, becoming lighter; a moment of contact, which means improved communication with yourself and, if you want, with others around you.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Looking at your solar chart I would take an educated guess that you wish things were simpler in your professional life. Many of the more meaningful small planets are clustered in your 10th house, and it has a churning feeling — the sensation of relentless developments, transformations and revisions. Yet this truly unusual set of conditions is the very thing that is helping you create or achieve what you are doing. For example, the presence of many seemingly smaller goals rather than one pointed objective is compelling you to be fully adaptable and to reassess what you’re doing on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. Your mind is organized such that you can handle this much change. But there’s something more significant at work. You have the ability to observe the order in the chaos; to see a vision rise up out of the mists. And that’s exactly what you’re doing.

 

 

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Mars in the Zone of Projection

Dear Friend and Reader:

One of the core astrological ideas in the current grand cross aspect involves Mars, the planetary ruler of Aries, retrograde in its opposite sign Libra.

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The Vulva on Mars — This image was created by the U.S. Geological Survey by merging Viking mission images with topographic data. It shows just a portion of Valles Marineris, a 5,000 km canyon on Mars so massive that it could swallow a few hundred Grand Canyons whole. Some scientists suspect the feature has been sculpted by flowing water.

I will say that slower. Every sign has planets associated with it. In traditional astrology, Aries, the first sign, is ‘ruled’ by the planet Mars. Mars is now retrograde in the sign that is opposite Aries, which is Libra.

Let’s use a simplified version of astrology wherein Aries is the sign of “I am” and Libra is the sign of “We are.” The ruling planet of a sign represents that sign, wherever else it may be in the zodiac. One way to think of this setup is that Mars, the representative of Aries, is being fully projected from Aries to Libra.

This describes a concept of relationship powerful enough to be on the level of an expectation or cultural mandate. Mars is the planet of maleness, but it can represent anyone, depending on the context; in our context here, it’s an expression of self-concept, so it will work for all sexes and genders. There are other contexts where Mars represents men or maleness.

In Western astrology, which is almost always psychological astrology, Mars is the planet that describes individual will power (or ‘personal power’), self-assertion, desire, sex drive and going after what one wants, as well as aggression and violent tendencies. Remember, Mars started as the Roman god of war; psychology works with its subtler shades.

Mars projected into Libra presents the image of investing one’s power into a relationship. All that I Amness of Mars looks like it’s handed over its individuality and becomes involved with the We Areness of Libra.

There’s more to the picture. Mars is currently retrograde. You can think of the retrograde as representing withheld energy. It’s also a reference to the past. In a natal chart, retrograde planets can represent personal qualities that we masked over or suppressed as a child so as not (in the child’s mind) to threaten our caregivers.

Mars is also in ‘detriment’ in Libra. That’s a way of saying that it’s potentially uncomfortable, out of sorts and, depending on the circumstances, either not performing up to its full potential or expressing itself differently than usual. There’s a persistent question of whether whatever Mars represents is really welcome in Libra; or the sensation of potentially being unwelcome.

It’s as if Mars is trying to assert itself in Libra, but ends up meeting inner psychological resistance (detriment), or keeping quiet, as if trying not to push things out of balance (retrograde). There is the sense of “I am here, but I’m not sure if I belong here” (detriment).

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We’ve come a long way, baby — Transvestite in Paddy Wagon, New York City, from gelatin silver print, circa 1940, photographed by Arthur (Weegee) Fellig, a happy image of Mars retrograde in Libra.

The reference to the past might be saying, “This has been going on for a while. Maybe things have always been this way” (retrograde).

There’s also the sensation of either one’s identity lost to a relationship, or seeking identity within one. Mars so invested in Libra potentially looks like a situation with no obvious way out, a kind of entanglement. Or it looks like an experience of total submission to a relationship.

When people define themselves as aspects of one another, as is one of the more popular current relationship models, their wholeness seems to depend on the involvement, acknowledgement or approval of the other.

I’ve noticed a good few people who don’t consider themselves to be people if they are not in a relationship of some kind. These days you will meet very few people who openly admit to being single; it’s like the new form of queer that it’s not flattering to talk about.

There seems to be no concept of and exceedingly little cultural support for taking a break between relationships, to do a self-assessment and figure out something about yourself.

We all know there is plenty of cultural pressure to be in a relationship. There are places and levels of society where one will be treated as a person when one is “in a relationship” and treated as somewhat less than a person when “not in a relationship.”

In his essay Jealousy and the Abyss, William Pennell Rock explains that one of the reasons jealousy is so devastating is that people tend to project their identity into relationships with a kind of totality. The relationship becomes their reality. When there is a jealous episode, it’s not just the relationship that’s threatened — most people feel like their very existence is threatened.

Mars is a planet that’s about both desire and aggression. Often, desire is aggressive, and jealousy episodes often come with a measure of rage; many people expect this, or feel entitled to it. It’s just one example of the way that desire is conflated with aggression. There are many others — for example, all of the various presumptions of personal ownership that come along with relationships.

These presumptions have gone on so long they are invisible. But one way they have come into focus is the current discussion of what is being called rape culture. Here is how Wikipedia defines that term: “In feminism, rape culture is a concept that links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape.”

I define the term differently: Rape culture is the inability to distinguish sex from rape. This troubling confusion is possessed by people throughout the social spectrum, from many teenagers and young adults to some ad executives to some feminists. If sex in its loving and violent forms has become indistinguishable to many people, maybe that has something to do with how our society extols violence as the solution to nearly every problem.

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Just your average-looking kind of guy — Adrian Ernest Bayley, who raped and murdered television producer Jill Meagher in Australia on Sept. 22, 2012. He was sentenced to 35 years to life.

Before I get into the topic of rape culture, I would suggest that those who are survivors of a sexual injury or serious incident read carefully and reality-check against your own experience. As one who has worked with many survivors in my astrology practice, I would remind you that the pain you may be carrying can be healed. You do not need to live with it in an unresolved state for the rest of your life. If you remain open to the potential for healing, you will be much likelier to encounter it.

Readers sent me two articles that came out this week highlighting the issue. One was The Danger of the Monster Myth, written by a man named Tom Meagher, whose wife Jill Meagher was raped and murdered in Australia.

In his article, he explains that the image of a rapist as a monster lurking in an alleyway or the bushes is mostly inaccurate — most of the time it’s seemingly normal people who commit rape. In my counseling practice I have noticed that it’s often committed by someone the survivor describes as “a friend of a friend,” who (for example) offered them a ride home.

Meagher wrote, “While the vast majority of men abhor violence against women, those dissenting male voices are rarely heard in our public discourse, outside of the monster-rapist narrative. Indeed, the agency of male perpetrators disappears from the discussion, discouraging male involvement and even knowledge of the prevalence and diversity of male violence against women.

“Even the term ‘violence against women’ sounds like a standalone force of nature, with no subject, whereas ‘men’s violence against women’ is used far less frequently. While not attempting to broad-brush or essentialise the all too abstracted notion of ‘masculinity’, male invisibility in the language of the conversation can be compounded by masculine posturing, various ‘bro-codes’ of silence, and a belief, through the monster myth, in the intrinsic otherness of violent men.”

He has a good point here. I think there is indeed a context issue, but the context is much larger than he’s saying; much larger than male perpetrators. The context is all of sexuality and our entire society. There is no such thing as rape culture; if the concept is valid, then we are talking about our culture itself. And within our culture, rage — the intrinsic ingredient of rape — is a serious problem, and not just in men.

What he does not talk about is the problem of all men being considered potential perpetrators — a problem with significant psychological impact on many men. He does not talk about the danger or potential of false accusation, which like rape for some women is the stuff of nightmares for some men — such as the ones who would never rape a woman.

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Jaime about to rape his sister-lover Cersei in front of the body of their recently murdered son. The director claims the scene was intended to depict consensual sex. This is considered family entertainment.

The other article that came to my attention was called What That Game of Thrones Rape Scene Says About Rape Culture, written for ThinkProgress by Tara Culp-Ressler. The scene was in the most recent edition of the program, which is HBO’s most-watched program since The Sopranos — getting up to 6.6 million views for a single episode.

She wrote, “In the scene, Jaime forces himself on Cersei next to their son’s dead body. They had been kissing, but she pulls away from him, apparently still repulsed by the fact that he’s missing a hand — and Jaime becomes enraged with her rejection, hissing, ‘You’re a hateful woman. Why have the gods made me love a hateful woman?’ He pushes her to the ground, holds her down, and thrusts into her despite her continued protests. After she repeatedly begs him to stop and tells him it’s not right, he responds, ‘I don’t care’.” [Note, I believe she says ‘It’s not right’ in the context of having sex in the room with their dead son.]

The director of this episode, Alex Graves, claims to have been depicting consensual sex. I guess that depends on your concept of consent.
In her ThinkProgress article, Tara Culp-Ressler makes a coherent point: the meaning of rape is diluted if many people don’t know what it is, or don’t have a concept of consent.

The way we talk about rape, the systems we have in place for investigating and punishing rape, and the way we approach rape victims, are all wrapped up in our struggle to recognize when someone’s consent has been violated, and our failure to acknowledge how serious that is. It’s perhaps no wonder we’re confused.

Kids don’t grow up learning about consent, and it’s not a concept that’s deeply ingrained in our culture, so they don’t necessarily know when those boundaries have been crossed. Without that knowledge, people … can look at the interaction between Jaime and Cersei — or a college administrator can consider a sexual assault that occurred between two students after they attended a party together — and mislabel it as “consensual.”

This is already happening among our youth. A recent study of young women who have experienced some type of sexual violence found that most of them simply assume that sex is something that’s done to them, in the way that Jaime does what he pleases to Cersei, and not something that they can be an active participant in. Other research has found that rapists don’t necessarily believe they’ve done anything wrong because they simply feel entitled to women’s bodies.

Planet Waves
“Just because I’m dressed like this doesn’t mean I want to have sex” — is this the rare case of a meaningless symbol, or is it necessary to explain that the clothes one wears make an intentional statement about one’s values? Photo by Gordon Mccomiskie for the Sunday Telegraph, Australia.

So, if rape victims tend to be people who think that sex is something that happens to them and rapists simply feel entitled to women’s bodies, we have a much more complex situation on our hands than is obvious on its face. Or looked at another way, it’s less a ‘problem’ and more of ‘the way things are’. It’s normal in American culture that the older generations do not understand the way the younger generations negotiate sex.

We do not live in a system of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ consent. We exist in a system of ‘maybe’ and ‘no comment’. I would ask, if you are someone who believes that sex must be transacted with explicit consent, how many times and in what language have you directly said yes, in actual words, not signals?

When we get into yes and no discussion, we enter sensitive psychological territory, connected with the right to assert one’s existence. Yes is often connected to shame, and no is connected to guilt. With those as options, it’s no wonder that ‘maybe’, ‘no comment’ and various signals are a seeming way out of the maze. Nearly all the time, this happens in the context of alcohol. Sex negativity has so terrified people of sex that many require a substantial amount of alcohol in order to get over their inhibitions — yet another way of evading responsibility.

Then it’s easy to blame sex on men. There is an underlying spiritual issue here, obvious to anyone familiar with Jungian psychology. To say that all rape (and often, all sex) is the fault of men is to project all sexual shadow onto men. Whomever may be responsible for any given rape, everyone has shadow material: conflict, shame, guilt, fear, jealousy, abandonment, anger and other emotions considered dark and undesirable.

To say that one sex or the other is the sole bearer of shadow material for everyone is not only to project the shadow material onto the other — it’s to project one’s power onto the other. This situation will persist until it becomes obvious that we all must claim our shadow and our power; claim responsibility for our choices and what they lead to, including the choice to give away our power. Choosing to be passive involves an active choice.

Planet Waves
Commentary on Abstinence Only indoctrination by the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.

Part of the context of our current version of rape culture is an anti-sex indoctrination program pushed on society by fundamentalist Christians, called Abstinence Only. This has been taught in public schools in all states but California since the early 1980s. The theory is if you tell young people to abstain from sex, and make them sign a pledge, they won’t have sex, so therefore you don’t have to tell them about it.

Because they won’t be having sex, neither do you have to tell them about consent, pregnancy prevention, condom negotiation, sexually transmitted infections, masturbation, homosexuality and the idea that sex is about pleasure rather than about power. One result of this lack of information has been the rape problem we now have.

To go with that problem, we have an equally simplistic approach to the rape problem: rape is exclusively the fault of the man, end of discussion. This seems valid, from a legal and moral point of view. Rape is most often committed by men, but not exclusively. In truth it’s a crime committed by people of all sexes and genders, against people of any sex, gender or age.

In the rape paradigm as defined by law, rape is entirely the responsibility of the rapist. It is a kind of inviolable fact of modern society that this theory cannot be questioned. If one questions it, one will invariably be accused of advocating rape, rather (for example) than advocating preventing it.

In a comment this week to the Planet Waves website, one reader said: “When a man takes advantage of a woman — especially when she is in a vulnerable position like being drunk — she is a victim and not responsible for his violent behavior whatsoever, ever! If she decided to dance naked on a table, it is no invitation to rape, and a perversion indeed if she herself was made to believe that it is.”

Really? It’s common sense that if a drunk woman dances naked on a table at a frat party, she’s going to get fucked, whether she says yes, no or Moby Dick. Maybe that’s because dancing naked on a table at a frat party is the expression of desire, seduction and consent. Should she make a disclaimer in advance? Or announce, “Now it’s OK to fuck me!” If she does not know that dancing naked (along with many other behaviors) is potentially an expression of consent, she will find out soon enough. Whether something is legal in this context is another discussion — one that will be had in court, where with any luck law rather than custom prevails.

If we teach girls and young women that rape is always the man’s fault (and leave it at that), that will eclipse the idea that everyone has a duty not to be negligent; that on our particular planet everyone has a responsibility to take care of themselves.

Planet Waves
The SlutWalk, a rite of passage, seems to be an attempt to claim back some of the sexual power given up to rape culture. But does it succeed at claiming pleasure? Photo via Reuters.

The message translates to, don’t worry — if he rapes you, it will be his fault. A menstruating woman has a right to go swimming in an ocean where sharks live, and she risks being eaten by those sharks. Just make sure you don’t tell any girls or women who live near that particular beach — that is the current state of the sex discussion.

All of these scenarios involve the projection of power onto someone else. They all involve the notion that sex must always have a victim.
Under the current terms of the discussion, all men are potential rapists and all women are potential rape victims.

All of this is a long way from men and women seeing one another as potential lovers, or friends, or allies. It’s a long way from admitting that dancing naked on a table is a symbol of something; it is not value-neutral, and it will have different values in different situations. It is definitely a sexual symbol. Pretending it’s not does not make that disappear. The same is true of all sexual symbols.

It may seem like women are the only victims in this game, but any man who has sex with a woman under the ‘sex is something that just happens’ scenario is subject to prosecution for a felony and spending 10 years in jail, even if implied consent was given. Failure to get clear consent is a way of giving up one’s power as well.

Rape is a demonstration of a problem in its most extreme form. An honest discussion of that problem would include all of the subtler forms, including the issue of consent — but before there can be consent, there must be desire.

What I believe is lost in this whole mess is that desire itself is the controversial thing; the thing that is veiled in taboo. Saying yes to sex — the very thing that means that sex is not rape — is about admitting to one’s desire, and that is potentially controversial. Saying yes means taking full responsibility for what happens. Implying consent, or hinting at maybe, or no comment, are all ways to evade responsibility. And that’s the way things are usually done. If you are concerned about this, explain the potential perils to your children.

The word consent means to “feel together,” an experience that is not always spoken. Still and all, yes and no are only meaningful in the context of one another. If we insist on using that paradigm, the one that exists mostly in theory and in the courtroom, both yes and no must each be understood and available for the other to be at all valid.

Wayland Young, one of my favorite authors, wrote in the book Eros Denied: “In museums, we replace the solid castings which cover machines by transparent covers because we want the children to see how things work. But no greenpainted steel casing around a crank case or a gearbox, no cover or shield or lid was ever so opaque as the wrapping with which we conceal the workings of desire and pleasure from our children and ourselves.”

At the heart of the matter, the problem seems to be a mix of ignorance and shame. I would propose that both are voluntary; both are optional.

Lovingly,

Special thanks to Betty Dodson and Joseph Trusso for their help with this article.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Friday morning in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual subscription rate: $88/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Hillary Ghee, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Painter, Amy Silver, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, which goes over each edition on Thursday night — and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Our editions are also proofread and fact-checked by Jessica Keet.

 

Planet Waves

Annular Solar Eclipse in Taurus: The Yin Side of the Grand Cross

The grand cross aspect is not over. It is still in a close alignment, and we are approaching an event that’s part of the same experience: the annular eclipse of the Sun in Taurus, which happens Tuesday, April 29. [See chart here.]

Planet Waves
On Jan. 4, 2011, the Hinode satellite captured breathtaking images of an annular solar eclipse. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon, slightly more distant from Earth than on average, moves directly between Earth and the Sun, thus appearing slightly smaller to observers’ eyes; the effect is a bright ring, or annulus of sunlight, around the silhouette of the Moon.

In astronomy, everything has an exact name, unless of course it hasn’t been named yet. An annular (not annual) eclipse is a total solar eclipse, but one where the Moon is so close to the Earth (close enough to apogee) that it does not cover the disk of the Sun. This does not argue for the eclipse being any less influential. Annular eclipses get results. That it happens in association with a grand cross pattern is a way of saying pay attention.

The eclipse probably will release some tension and clear the air of a good few issues that have been lingering, but remember, Mars is still retrograde. The inquiry on the topics I’ve described in the article above will persist and most likely intensify until Mars stations direct on May 19. A more helpful way to think of Tuesday’s eclipses is as an opportunity to set patterns. You have enough time between now and then to make some decisions and to open up some time.

Think of what you do between now and the eclipses as a form of commitment to what you want. I don’t mean an intellectual or mental commitment like we are accustomed to, but rather one done with your feelings and your body as well as your mind; a commitment that is demonstrated in time.

One of the reasons this is so influential is that eclipses (and the time regions that surround them) are an example of condensed time. Imagine that you’re living a day in an hour. An hour of dance or music practice would be equivalent of perhaps a day. So decide what you want, clear up some time and make the investment.

Here is some additional news. As of Friday, Juno is in late Aries. It will ingress Taurus at 10:14 am EDT Saturday, April 26. Juno in Taurus might be read as a caution about attachment and jealousy, or the concept of the relationship partner as chattel property (as in cattle, Taurus) — except for one thing. There’s an outer planet right there, right in the first degree of Taurus, which I described in last week’s edition of SKY — that being 1992 QB1, the first planet ever discovered beyond Pluto.

Instead of an experience of attachment, jealousy and control, the charts describe a transformational experience of what to do about these things. There seems to be some proof that the most toxic elements of the marriage paradigm can indeed be transformed and released. Relationships can have experiences of jealousy but do not need to be based upon jealousy per se.

Planet Waves
An annular eclipse can create a strange double shadow effect.

With Taurus, there is the message that the most essential level of relationship involves values. Values are the place where we actually meet, where we are the most suited to collaborate in a creative way. Values are really the only motive; we will be motivated by what we value.

Friday, April 25 at 11:27 pm EDT is the Mercury-Sun conjunction. I have noticed over the years that this is an interesting, surprising and usually helpful aspect. (It always reminds me of the day that Illinois Gov. George Ryan shut down Death Row in his state, setting an example for the rest of the country.) This is an aspect of decisive thought and action, and it takes place in Taurus, sextile Neptune — let intuition guide you. Verify against the facts. The two are likely to align.

As for the Moon — as of Friday morning EDT, the Moon is in Pisces, and will make a conjunction to Venus at 4:03 pm EDT. The Moon will ingress Aries Saturday, April 26 at 6:01 pm EDT. For the next 36 hours or so, the Moon will pass through the grand cross configuration, lighting up the Uranus-Pluto square.

The Moon then ingresses Taurus Monday, April 28 at 10:23 am EDT, and the annular eclipse of the Sun in Taurus takes place Tuesday, April 29 at 2:14 am EDT. Mercury is trine Pluto and sextile Jupiter — easy does it, meaning, a sense of ease gets the job done.

Note, Planet Waves FM will update Monday evening, in advance of the annular eclipse of the Sun.

 

Planet Waves

A Quiet Place To Reflect and Consider Your Life

Dear Friend and Reader:

It’s a beautiful thing when one’s best work is rewarded with success — and that has been the story of the 2014 Spring Report. Doing the project, I felt that it was my best-ever audio reading work; the copious feedback we’ve received from our clients has confirmed that. It feels good to make contact.

Among the many letters we’ve received, this one stands out.

Planet Waves
Shure KSM 32 microphone, and Yogananda, in the Planet Waves FM studio, where I recorded your 2014 Spring Readings.

Mary LaSelva wrote, “The Spring Reports are, by far, the most insightful astrology I have heard. Your ability to apply what is happening in the heavens to understand various ways in which we may be affected, and provide objective guidance of how one may use it to wake up, grow, develop, and recognize opportunities, is truly unsurpassed. I am thoroughly impressed and grateful. Taking the time to listen to several signs, more than once, was well worth it.”

As a way of putting the readings in reach of those on a limited budget, we are now offering them individually. The readings are designed to be complete readings when listened to individually, and also designed to fit together and work as a group. So they are still available in the original all-12 package.

The readings focus on Mars retrograde, the grand cross, the lunar and solar eclipses, and Mars stationing direct on May 19. This grouping of events describes a pivotal time in our lives. When we look back in a year or in five years, that will be obvious. It may be less obvious now, as we process the rush of information coming in, the crisis points, the specific opportunities.

Yet the longterm influence of what is being shaped at this time may not be apparent now. My role as an astrologer is to weave the threads of time. My intent is to help you see your options, see the resources that you have available, and to consider our obstacles in a different way.

What you get in these readings is carefully prepared astrology, presented in clear language, with the benefit of many years of experience reading concentrated events (and in particular, Uranus-Pluto patterns, planetary retrogrades and eclipses). This is astrology that requires an experienced hand, if it’s going to be used in a productive and creative way.

The readings are recorded in studio-quality audio and are presented in formats that you can use on any computer or device. I open up a quiet, reflective space that you will want to come back to again and again.

I look forward to meeting you there.

Lovingly,

 

Planet Waves

A Look Inside: Artwork by Lisa Nilsson

Planet Waves
Tauruses are very tuned-in physically and love art, but Lisa Nilsson’s anatomical-yet-reverential works of quilling take things to a new level. Shown: A detail of Profile showing the sinuses, front teeth and tongue.

If you know anyone with a Taurus Sun, you know they tend to have a penchant for taking their time with things (often using traditional methods), as well as for beauty and anything that piques their bodily senses. Artist Lisa Nilsson’s website does not mention her birth date, so we don’t know if she’s a Taurus.

But her intricate “Tissue” series, done using an old method of rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper called quilling, certainly calls to mind several Taurean themes.

The works in “Tissue” are incredibly detailed anatomically correct cross-section views of the human body. But these are art, not medical textbook illustrations; and quilling originated with Renaissance nuns and monks, who made use of the gilded edges of worn-out bibles. Nilsson, too, uses the gilded edges of old books for the paper coils representing bones:

“I do this for aesthetic reasons as well as a means of pulling the pieces away from the world of scientific specimens and a bit more in the direction of religious reliquaries. I like to emphasize the reverential and the precious; to have a look inside is such a privilege.”

 

Planet Waves

The Cardinal Grand Cross: Eric Francis as a Guest on ‘Beyond the Ordinary Show’ Hosted by John Burgos

On Wednesday, April 23, I was a guest on the Beyond the Ordinary Show, hosted by John Burgos. The interview begins with a short history of Planet Waves, and then covers how astrology fused with news reporting has created a way of telling the story of the world that is creative and life-affirming. I then talk about the April 23 grand cross, the April 29 eclipse and Mars stationing direct on May 19. I’ve given many interviews over the years — this is one of the very best.

Cardinal Grand Cross, Hypocrisy Meltdown, Projection in Rape Culture and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

In this week’s program, I focus on the phenomenon of projection implied by Mars retrograde in its opposite sign Libra, consider this in the discussion of ‘rape culture’, and look at the hypocrisy implied in this placement — which is now coming to a crux. I propose that we have to take the discussion deeper than the legalistic or moralistic level and deal with the reality of what people do and why.

Dan and Eric’s Music Hour: The Gear Show

Are you interested in buying a guitar, or getting one as a gift for a young person in your life? We go over the basics of how to pick out a guitar (including discussion of electric, acoustic and classical guitars). We talk about the setup — how the instrument is modified once it’s purchased. Then we go over a few different effects pedals, demonstrating how they sound.

 

Planet Waves

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We’ve published your extended monthly horoscope for May below in this issue. Your extended monthly horoscopes for April were published Friday, March 21. Moonshine horoscopes for the Libra Full Moon were published Tuesday, April 8. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Taurus New Moon published Tuesday, April 22. We also published an Inner Space horoscope for April Tuesday, April 1. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Reader Feedback on my Recorded Readings

The Taurus birthday reading is available for pre-order now. I’m going to offer a live Q&A call to purchasers of this reading. This will give me an opportunity to connect directly with you and answer some questions about your astrology for the upcoming year. Here’s what a couple of our listeners have said about their readings:

“It sounded like a recording of my life. I appreciate the validation and encouragement to be confident and feel capable and safe.”

“I’m highly greatful for the work you do. All of the readings I have gotten from you have touched my Soul the Core of its very essence.”

 

Planet Waves

 

Planet Waves Monthly Horoscopes for May 2014, #996 | By Eric Francis

 

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — There’s a fine line between being lost and being found. Have you ever become disoriented, then certain you knew where you were, then discovered you did not know, and then finally figured it out? That’s different from cruising along confidently, sure of where you’re going — a quality you would love your existence to have. Yet to be there, you would need to know where you stand with yourself, and where you stand with others. That is the quest of the moment. I suggest you start with where you stand with yourself. It will be tempting to consider what you would do based on another person’s feelings, or to plot out your life based on what might happen in a relationship. The order of the moment seems to be how you can live your life spontaneously as yourself, following your plan for your own existence. Yes, it’s possible that plan involves investing your whole consciousness and intent within the life of someone else. You might ask yourself how that’s worked out for you in the past, and how much of what you have wanted to accomplish you actually have accomplished. Or closer to the point, to what extent do you feel that your way of relating to others has interfered with your ability to actually live your life? Once you sort this out, it’s likely to prompt you to redefine many things you took for granted in the past.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Taurus (April 19- May 20)

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The opening you’re trying to pass through is as narrow or as wide as your mind. Rather than push harder, I suggest you notice what you’re thinking and feel whether it’s flexible enough to stretch. In principle, thought should be the most flexible thing in existence; it’s made purely of ideas. Yet it seems that humanity has figured out how to cut through stone, mold steel and forge new elements more readily than it can change its mind, especially on a collective level. It’s challenging enough making any decisions at all, and more complex when a second person is added to the equation. Your intimate partners are on their own path at the moment, making choices entirely outside the realm where you can consciously influence them. But you have all the influence in the world over your own choices, if you can think of yourself as an individual and not as part of something larger. You might say that’s the challenge of the moment. This relates to how as a much younger person you could not make a move without some version of family approval. You may have figured out that you can, but in truth it takes most people a long, long time to get there. In order to accomplish this, you don’t need to assert your individuality to other people — you need to assert it to yourself.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Gemini (May 20- June 21)

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — There are karmic implications to sex. If nothing else, that has been the resounding message of the lengthy Mars retrograde that draws to a close over the next few weeks. Karma is merely an analysis of cause and effect, which is a simple law that says every cause has many potential effects and any effect has many potential causes. But the heart of the matter is that there is a relationship between the two sides of the equation. In our era, most of the karma around sex is created due to lies, secrets and silence. We would remove many of the implications of sex were we to open up and tell the truth — but at the same time, many relationships as we know them would crumble. People who go through this almost always emerge with a better life, a lighter conscience and a more direct way of relating. As Mars comes to a halt in Libra, your 5th solar house, you’re being invited to clear the air of anything that is lingering; of all that you have not said; to express the basic, elementary truth of your heart and soul. The risk involved is shifting, tipping or upsetting the seeming balance of your existing relationships. You might ask: is it really balance, or is it a balancing act? How do you tell the difference? Balance is easy; a balancing act is a struggle.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Cancer (June 21- July 22)

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — When you meet someone new, something that seems likely to be happening frequently for you right now, go right to the level of values. Cut past the superficiality and niceties and do your best to identify what you actually have in common with the person. Listen for clues about what he or she counts as the most significant elements of their existence. Listen for what matters to them. You don’t have time for anything else. What matters, that is, what exists on the values level, is the foundation of the relationship. You can only build on a foundation, so if you’re looking to create something, or to have your encounters with others serve a productive purpose, establish whether that deeper layer exists. It is unlikely to be based on appearances or the fact that you might be in the same line of work, or like similar music. You must be perceptive, and take into account both first impressions and what you learn over time. Notice when you’re ‘overlooking’ things or pretending they don’t matter. I have observed that people will indeed tell you where they are coming from, and that the only thing you need to do is listen and use the information you collect. What I am talking about here is the cultivation of trust. There are rare instances when trust is intuitive, and that intuition is correct. More often, you must use your conscious mind.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — It’s time to assess your relationship to the technology that surrounds you. There are days when you love it and days when you want to throw it all in the nearest swimming pool. I believe that the ‘technology issue’ currently represents the most critical turning point of the human race, and you may be feeling this in spades right now. You are more susceptible to its influences than many other people. I suggest you investigate how your use of devices has influenced your existence. Has interconnectivity connected you or isolated you? How much more time do you spend inside versus outside as contrasted to earlier in your life? When you think back 10 or 20 years, how was your social life different, in particular your group involvements? What about your one-on-one intimacies? Do you trust people more or less? One last thought: where do you think the infiltration of humanity by technology is headed, on the largest scale you can imagine? These questions are more complex than they may seem; they are the stuff that sociologists will be looking at for many decades to come. Yet within the emotional and spiritual levels of your life, the answers are accessible to you, and they will be meaningful. If there is something you’re concerned about on your behalf or that of your children, I suggest you make adjustments now.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Managing your finances, and working your way to true prosperity, is a matter of balance. Many different elements are involved, similar to the ‘credits’ and ‘debits’ lines on a bank statement, but more complex. There is the equation where time must balance out with money; making more money often means investing more time. There is the time and energy equation; sometimes you have time, but you have to manage your energy. Perhaps the most significant one is, how do you go beyond a linear model, that is, a dollar-per-hour model of supporting yourself? That’s a way of asking, what is the value on your intelligence? In order to support yourself on your ideas, you must understand the value of your ideas to others — and then connect with those other people. These are some of the themes that are described by Mars stationing direct in a few weeks, and working them out all month long will help you set yourself on a productive path. One more thing: there is no substitute for commitment; there is no alternative to applying yourself fully to what you want to do. Often where there is a question of money or of self-support, commitment is the heart of the matter. The dedication you must offer can seem like it requires a sacrifice. Yet in truth, what you offer must be wholly voluntary.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — After nearly three months of Mars retrograde in your sign, I trust you’ve done some thinking about what you want. It looks like you’ve learned about what you don’t want. Mostly your charts suggest you’ve seen what happens when you set the whole matter of desire aside, and just ‘let things happen’ and ‘see how they work out’. One hint from your astrology is learning to experience desire without guilt. To do that, you might need to use guilt as a way of discerning the degree to which you actually want someone or something. Guilt is a toxin, but for you it also may be a sign of authenticity. How is this possible? Guilt is an indicator of having been pruned, controlled and manipulated. It’s an emotional response that clues you into being under the perceived control of someone else, whether in the distant past, the recent past, or by someone in your life now. Authentic desire is one of the most dependable methods of navigation through the physical plane. For that to work, you must take hold of the freedom, indeed, the necessity, to want what you want, and also learn the art of unraveling guilt so that you have true authority over your life. This is one of the most challenging growth lessons in existence, but it’s also one that delivers both immediate and long-term results.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — For months, Mars has been retrograde in Libra, the most sensitive angle of your solar chart. This has provoked your imagination and your anxiety, and stirred you up emotionally. Now the retrograde is about to end, though once Mars stations direct on May 19, it will take more than two months to reach your sign. This phase takes the discussion to the subject of privacy and secrecy. Two months is enough time to make decisions about what you share and what you hide in your relationships. I suggest you make a careful inventory of what you allow others to know about you and what you choose to conceal, and why. Along with that, I suggest you look at any strategies you may have to insulate yourself, such as keeping separate groups of friends for different purposes, or managing whether certain individuals do or do not get to meet certain other individuals in your life. All of these scenarios present not just a map of your concept of intimacy, but of your concept of reality. These last phases of the Mars retrograde process are likely to emphasize the fact that you must live in a transparent way if you’re going to trust existence. Every secret you keep affirms that the world is dangerous and threatening. Every time you reveal yourself, you demonstrate that it’s safe to be alive as the person you really are.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — By now you have a pretty good idea who your friends are. You seem to have learned the value of both being appreciated and of pissing people off. It’s not that being annoying is a viable way of life, but in noticing who is irritated by you and who welcomes you, you can have an accurate sense of where you belong. Your life is not about popularity — it’s about finding your strongest, most viable place in society and working from that point of advantage. Carving out your niche is usually a process of trial and error, and for that to work you need both. Creating a space for yourself on the planet can have some brilliant moments, and it will inevitably get on some people’s nerves. Being your own person requires a measure of not taking things personally. It’s just that you’ve been so sensitive to what people feel, and it has not been easy for you to have a thick skin. One thing to consider is the extreme importance of allowing others to own their feelings, which implies that you do not own or control their feelings. When you’re handed something you don’t want, you have a right to pass it right back. In this process of establishing boundaries, you will take possession of what you feel, and what you intend to accomplish. That is the crucial step.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — With Mars stationing direct in your 10th house — the one that goes ‘all the way to the top’ — remember that leadership and authority are about relationships. These are not equal or level relationships, either. They are about authority, yet they also can be fair. What’s significant is that you are the one who must define fairness, and to do that, you must have a balanced mind, which is another way of saying equanimity. This is an interesting concept. It’s about one’s inner state, which has a way of expanding and reaching into the feelings of others. The relationships you’re building must be built on trust, and where you are in a position of authority, your willingness to play your role is a fundamental element of that trust. As the month unfolds, you’re likely to have a series of opportunities to step up to new challenges. I suggest you do this incrementally, never taking on more than you can handle. The goal is not to have power; the goals, if I may suggest a few, are to explore the feeling of competence, and what it’s like to collaborate with others in a satisfying way. Emphasize the quality of what you get done rather than how much or how impressive it is. If you’re concerned what others watching you might think, clearly, this is the focus.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may have the feeling that a close personal relationship has become so narrow that it’s not working for you. You are being called into a wider experience of life; you need your personal intimacies to grow and expand with you. One consideration here is that we are conditioned to create relationships that are ‘general partnerships’ rather than ‘limited partnerships’. In a general partnership, one size theoretically has to fit all, and one relationship is supposed to meet all purposes in our lives, which is plainly not practical in most situations. It might be, if you have an extremely retreating life, few ambitions and you don’t consider yourself on a path of rapid growth — none of which apply to you. Another dimension to this is that you need intense experiences. That’s just part of your nature. To have those experiences in a relationship, you need someone who can go there with you. You do a lot of guiding people into this concept, though that’s different from engaging with bold individuals who go there because they want to. Though this represents a big step from the seemingly intractable concept of one-on-one relationships that’s expected everywhere but hookup culture, you may need specific partners for specific aspects of who you are. This requires both confidence and mastery over your own life, and associating with others who trust you and who have authentic self-esteem.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Emphasize the positive. If you do, you’ll experience less resistance, and as a result, you will have more time and energy. Enough is going well that you can get a foothold in those aspects of your life and build from there. What this will do is push the issue of whether you have faith in yourself. Everyone experiences insecurity; Pisces has its own special variety, which can be debilitating in a subtle way. Yet the other side of that is that you possess the potential for faith that can get actual results. The fact that two centaurs are in your sign — Chiron and Nessus — reveals the possibility that you are sensitive to how dark the world is right now. There is no way you can deny this, even if such an approach worked in the past. Yet both of these planets also grant an unusual power of self-healing. That is the first and most significant step toward expanding your creativity and sense of mission into a working method that has a beneficial influence on the world. At this stage of your life it’s essential that you never take your own healing process for granted, and equally vital that you not get hung up in it, as if it’s the only thing there is. Work with your collaborators, use your time well and extend your creative awareness to everyone whose life you touch.

Are you ready for a change? The astrology of this season offers a new opening to intimacy and trust in your relationships. Order your Spring Report by Eric Francis now. You’ll get all twelve signs for $59.95 or you may purchase individual signs for $19.95 each. Curious to know more? Listen to the free audio preview.

 

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Transit of Venus: Embracing the Solar Feminine

Planet Waves
Photos of the 2004 Venus transit of the Sun by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Dear Friend and Reader:

“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
— Sulamitis, from the Song of Solomon

On June 5 (June 6 in some time zones) Venus and the Sun form a precise conjunction, called a transit of Venus. Venus and the Sun align about once a year — though this one is different due to the fact that Venus will not pass above or below the Sun but rather directly cross its path. This is called a transit of Venus. Considered one of the most rare predictable astronomical events, transits of Venus arrive in pairs separated by eight years; the pairs themselves are divided by more than a century.

Events in astrology gain influence by being unusual — though this one will also be spectacular. If you can see the Sun during the event and use a special viewing filter, you will be able to watch Venus cross the disk of the Sun. (Beginning at 6:04 pm EDT, viewers in New York can watch until sunset.) We most recently experienced a transit of Venus in 2004. The June 5 event may be related to something that you experienced or a phase of your life that began eight years ago.

Planet Waves
Melissa by Eric Francis — Book of Blue, New York.

The world will not experience another transit of Venus until 2117, 105 years from now. It’s a bit ominous that, barring some life-extending genetic therapy, nobody who sees this one will be alive to see the next one.

Speaking of omens, this kind of rare event indicates a check-in point with the state of humanity. It’s the single most distinct astrology element of 2012, a year that may break the record for how much prophecy has hung on its back. Yet we do stand in a moment when one logical use of celestial divination would be trying to figure out what’s going to happen to civilization on our planet.

By any objective measure, we are in trouble. It’s not that our national and global problems don’t have solutions. It’s not that there are insufficient resources. The crisis involves lack of leadership and ethics. Anyone trying for a solution must outsmart what amounts to a cabal of heavily armed thieves who are holding the planet hostage.

We face numerous hotly polarized situations of ‘us and them’, many of which come from a prevailing condition of inner division that has a grip on the human psyche. Which brings me to why it’s so excellent that this event is happening in Gemini. I believe that the political mess we face is a reflection of the deeper elements of our consciousness. Many of these are based on what I will broadly term gender issues.

In recent years, the political machinery has been using gender and sexual orientation — and sex in general — as some of its most effective wedges. Yet with the atmosphere heating up, with fracking consuming the United States and headed to Europe, with the economy in an extremely fragile state and our genetic code under assault from supertoxins-for-profit, worrying about who has the right to marry seems like a distraction.

Trying to blast reproductive rights back to the 1950s (as evidenced by the movement to repeal not just Roe v. Wade, which preserves the right to abortion, and also Griswold v. Connecticut, which preserves the right to contraception) is often described as throwing red meat to the conservative base. It’s typically analyzed as a political ploy that skews the discussion away from real problems and also preserves the jobs of politicians.

We all know there’s a severe imbalance on the planet, and there are many spiritual theories going around as to why that might be. Instead of treating the sex and gender issue as a symptom, I would propose that it might be a lot closer to the cause. People in political leadership are not known for their powers of deep introspection or their sexual integrity. Often they are in conflict and project that conflict outward as attack, attempted control and manipulation of people’s private sexual lives. People not in positions of public trust drive one another insane with this stuff as well.

Planet Waves
Not a pinhole camera — gear used by Anthony Ayiomamitis to photograph the 2004 Venus transit of the Sun. Those images are shown at the top of the page. Many prior transit events were recorded only by illustration. Some examples of those drawings are below. Photo provided by Anthony.

This inner turmoil manifests many other ways, including lack of sensitivity for the Earth (the consequence of which is often accurately described as rape). Nearly all of the most potent toxins of industry attack the female reproductive system first, though we’re all soaking in an ocean of hormone-disruptive chemicals and all feeling the effects to some degree.

The transit of Venus presents us with a compelling metaphor and also a palpable moment of transition. It’s a junction (literally, a conjunction) where we can make a conscious choice. Think of this as starting within, where most (some would say all) of our conflict originates. Think of it as an inner reunion between the masculine and feminine elements of ourselves, appropriately happening in the sign of the interplay of opposites — Gemini.

Venus is a feminine symbol and the Sun a masculine one. When Venus intersects with the disk of the Sun, it’s a little like the Sun is being penetrated by potent feminine energy. Both will change in the process. My astrology colleague Adam Gainsburg (Soulsign.com) has been describing this as the emergence of what he calls the solar feminine.

“Despite the dominance of solar gods at the root of western civilization, the metaphor of light is actually more akin to the feminine principle than to the masculine. Light shines, radiates, illuminates. But from our viewpoint on Earth, the Sun also sets and takes the light with it each evening. This ebb and flow of light is precisely what the feminine is: the flow, the dance, the ever-changing pattern of light into dark and back again.”

With the transit of Venus, he said, “What becomes illuminated is how your feminine aspect self-radiates into the world — what you uniquely have to give to the improvement of our planet.” He adds, “The solar feminine is, literally, our ‘light body’. She’s the one inside each of us who leaves nothing uncovered, nothing unfelt. We experience the full range of our actual feelings as her body.” Yet the Sun is expressive, so this is about being moved to take creative action.

“The Solar feminine is a confrontational idea for many religions because her very existence fundamentally challenges the fragmentary, long-held assumption of masculine spiritual superiority. By re-acknowledging her, we begin to re-empower her. The solar feminine shines not just through the success and expression of women, but through the power of a man’s emotions received in his heart.”

I think what Adam may be describing is a process of men becoming more receptive and women becoming more expressive. That would help balance things out — and at least it gives us a clear idea of what to reach for. While there’s been plenty of ways in which our culture has slipped backwards in gender relations (especially when you factor in politicians), I believe there is a gradual balancing out of masculine and feminine energies within many individuals and in many relationships. With this eclipse-like event, we have an opportunity to deepen and accelerate that process.

Planet Waves
Illustration of the 1874 transit of Venus at the point of ingress, seen at Sydney, New South Wales, and drawn by H. C. Russells.

The story of transits of Venus over the past few centuries gives us another metaphor to work with. Last year a book was published, called Transit of Venus: 1631 to the Present, by Nick Lomb (The Experiment, paperback, $24.95). Lomb describes the progression of how each successive event was seen by human eyes — and some of the implications. The following history is drawn from Lomb’s research.

No one is known to have seen the 1631 Venus transit — it was night in Europe. Johannes Kepler, who figured out the 1631 event, missed that there would be a second transit of Venus eight years later. Two people are known to have seen the 1639 transit: Jeremiah Horrocks and his friend William Crabtree, viewing separately from England. Amazingly, Horrocks figured out there would likely be a second Venus transit that century only about one month before it occurred. He began observing the day before his prediction indicated, just in case he had made an error in his calculations.

Edmond Halley (of Halley’s Comet fame) expected a Venus transit in 1761. He urged astronomers who would be alive at the time to observe the event. His calculations were off, but other astronomers worked out the correct timing. This was the first global scientific event, with 176 astronomers watching from 117 far-flung locations.

Eight years later, in 1769, there was another transit — the second of that pair. Up to 400 different calculations were presented to the Royal Society in London and similar elite European scholarly societies for the 1769 transit. The desirability of observing the transit in the South Pacific led to the founding of New South Wales, in what is now Australia; the British crown saw the need for calculations from the South Pacific as the perfect political cover story for its mission of seeking islands to expand to. In other words, modern Australia owes its existence to a celestial event. This adds the geopolitical expansion to the process.

More people observed the 1874 transit than any other previous one, reflecting the expansion of technology, science, education, industry, trade and population. It was also the first one documented in photographs.

Planet Waves
Drawings of the 1769 transit by Capt. James Cook and Charles Green.

The corresponding transit eight years later in 1882 was widely observed and better documented in photos. The U.S. sent out eight teams, including to South Africa and San Antonio, TX. They made 1,380 measurable photographic plates (four times as many as in 1874).

The 1882 transit was visible throughout the U.S. for almost the whole event. Amateur astronomers set up telescopes in parks and on sidewalks of New York City, collecting dimes from those who wished to look. In Meriden, Conn., a fire alarm bell was rung when it started, and people went to a local man’s house where he’d set up seven telescopes so people could look. Some 6,000 people observed the transit form that yard.

That takes us up to the 2004 transit, the most recent one. For the first time, we were able to observe the transit from space, with much vaster knowledge of Venus and the solar system. Not only could the general public observe, but hundreds of amateur astronomers could produce their own stunning photographs (three from the 2004 transit, taken by Anthony Ayiomamitis, appear at the top of this article).

For the 2012 event, many more people will be aware of what is happening, and due to that knowledge, and the availability of inexpensive viewing equipment and the proliferation of information on the Internet, this will be the most-viewed Venus transit of the Sun in history. Nearly everyone in the world will be able to see live video or photos minutes after it happens.

There is something in this rare event that’s about the exponential expansion of awareness. If (at least from an astrological viewpoint) we understand that awareness to involve the balancing of male and female energies, we can cooperate by spreading that energy in an exponential way.

There is one other beautiful message from this event that I picked up while researching the chart for the Venus transit. I cast the cart with 1,000 asteroids and newly discovered bodies, and noticed there is a minor planet precisely conjunct both Venus and the Sun when the transit happens. It won’t be visible — but it will be there. The planet, really an asteroid, is called Sulamitis. It’s a fast-mover (less than four-year orbit) so its presence is something to take note of.

I did a little research and discovered that Sulamitis is the female character in the Song of Solomon, a book from the Bible that stands out in that it’s not about laying down the law or describing the anguish of some tribe. Rather, it’s a passionate love poem presented as a dialog between a man and a woman.

The story has many twists and turns, but ultimately its theme is devotion and what it means to be in love, with a comment on how authentic balance between male and female energy feels. With this event happening in Gemini, the first place to seek and find that balance is inside ourselves. I could not think of a more beautiful visitor to stand guard over this rare event, at this vital opportunity for rebalancing our hearts, souls and our relationship to the Earth.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

Planet Waves

UAC Coverage Begins This Week

Greetings!

I’ve arrived in New Orleans and the United Astrology Conference (UAC) is getting under way. I taught my class on Astrology Storytelling earlier today and as I write I’m recording Donna Woodwell’s class on Weaving the Web. These are the first projects that we will produce.

If you’re looking for coverage of the conference, I suggest you check in Thursday afternoon. Coverage will be two places — it will be on the main Planet Waves blog, Daily Astrology & Adventure, located near the top of page. It will also appear
on Planet Waves FM. There will be clear instructions for how to access the coverage, most of which will be in radio format.

If you’re at the conference, please stop by the Planet Waves table.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis

Weekly Horoscopes, Monthly Horoscopes, Astrology News, Daily Astrology Blog, Birthday Reports

 

Planet Waves

Monthly Horoscope for June 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Within the context of the rare, beautiful astrological events of this month, your job is to devote yourself to the quality of your work. You may feel a drive to innovation, leadership, invention or otherwise stirring the pot — though what your chart suggests is that you work calmly and steadily on specific, focused projects. Said another way, ground yourself in your goals, processes and methods. Focus on the details. You will have the occasion to work through certain blockages or obstacles, which may seem to be in your environment. I recognize that I’m not describing a glorious role, despite the fact that all eyes will be on the Sun, an object closely related to your sign. Your influence will come from your awareness and your ability to remain calm and go deep. That is the kind of leadership that you’re being called to. It’s the kind that involves intelligence, persistence, tenacity and foresight. There is a measure of self-direction that you’re being called to initiate, and you may be the one who gets to solve a problem that is too annoying or seemingly intractable for anyone else to work out. You’re doing this all the better if you feel invisible through the experience. The point is that this is not about you. You have a role, and by all indications it’s an integral one. Yet you can only accomplish this properly if you drop back and work with the full presence of your mind with no interference from your ego.

Hello Aries — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed). We will have the Gemini birthday reading for you as soon as possible! Please check this space, and look in your email from us.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Has there ever been a time when the human psyche was more fragmented? Have we ever been pulled in more directions, injected with competing self-images or struggled with conflicting values systems? These conflicts and struggles used to be called neurosis (a term now abandoned by modern psychology) — including confusion, compromised sense of self-worth, obsession, perfectionism, habitual fantasizing and many other seemingly small problems that eat human bandwidth. Meanwhile, many external factors are competing for your attention — be they advertising, social opportunities or the demands of work. You’re aware of this situation, both within you and around you. You may be waking up to the desire to bring your whole consciousness together and to focus your mind. Events this month offer a special opportunity for healing, which is likely to arrive as unusual clarity around what your priorities are, and an opportunity to focus on a clear agenda. Consider how much of your past struggle has involved deciding what you ‘should’ be doing versus what you really love, and how to balance this out. Your astrology suggests you may get a taste of what life is like without this tension. Yet if that feeling vanishes, you may not recognize it as the presence of something else. Indeed, you could overlook it just because you feel good. Therefore, pay attention. Feel the inner alignment that allows you to make the decisions based on what works for you. Once you open that space, you will be able to return dependably — as long as you remember that it exists.

Hello Taurus — Eric has written a new description for your sign that you have access to from this link (no password needed) If you would like to hear your Taurus birthday reading, please visit this link.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The whole is not only greater than the sum of the parts — it’s a lot more fun, and useful, and interesting. Yet there’s another level to this — what you actually do with all this potential. A car is greater than a garage full of parts, but then — where do you go? This month’s precise Sun-Venus conjunction in your sign is a clear demarcation point between the past and the future. Wherever you are going, it’s somewhere other than you’ve been, and I reckon, other than where you expected to go. This will require you to summon flexibility that’s unusual even for you, and to facilitate that you are about to release many old tendencies that have kept you stuck in certain patterns and at a certain depth within yourself. Or rather, your relationship to yourself. It’s true that you relate to yourself in a way that many people you know do not — consciously, aware of your ‘inner other’. Over the next few weeks, it looks as if you discover that your inner other is actually your soulmate. You don’t need anyone else to play this role for you; your friends, lovers and companions have different roles to play. Your experience of them, and of anything seemingly outside yourself, is rooted in your experience with yourself — and your relationship to yourself. If the planets in their courses say anything about you right now, it’s that you are recognizing that your relationship to yourself is something to honor and treasure every day.

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)

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — This month’s transit of Venus is about healing seeming divisions and splits within the psyche. For you, there is a special theme — resolving something you’ve been unable to observe closely or give a name to, perhaps until recently. You’ve lived with the effects all of your life, which may have manifested in what I call the ‘hemisphere effect’ — the potential to experience yourself, or anything, two entirely different ways. They may have nothing in common and one point of view may be entirely exclusive of the other. I would consider this as a potential source of misgivings about yourself, as well as an ambivalence that has followed you through some of your most important relationships. Consider that at some of the most challenging points in your life, you’ve been experiencing the effects of something inside you projected outward. It’s difficult to see the actual process because you’ve only been seeing the outer manifestation — like studying the projection on a screen rather than considering the film or the projector. The coming weeks contain a moment of profound alchemy, wherein the mirage of an inner split resolves itself seemingly spontaneously — and then you notice a corresponding change in your relationships. You will not be able to predict what happens; challenges or unresolved situations you’re currently involved with may work themselves out any number of ways. From the strength and integrity of the current astrology, you can trust that what develops will serve your growth and your longterm happiness beautifully.

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)

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — I suggest you take a bold step beyond considering your image or your appearance and fully immerse yourself into your relationship with the world. By that, I mean the world as you think of it: the constellation of everyone and everything in your life. You may be familiar with the Lakota prayer Mitakuye Oyasin, which translates loosely to “all are related.” It is an expression of the idea that all people and all things are interconnected. They may be related by being part of our sphere of consciousness, or looking a bit deeper, by the truth that we are part of something larger than ourselves. This of course violates Western concepts of separateness, division and privacy, ideas that lead to quite a bit of chaos and conflict — which are all based on a violation of natural law. The extraordinary astrology that is now unfolding is a reminder that you are part of holistic existence. Everything you do, and everything you think, influences the totality of your environment. This isn’t a theory but rather a property of existence that may boldly reveal itself to you during the next few weeks. Such an experience would shift how you experience yourself in the midst of your reality. Imagine if you could live that interconnectedness all the time. What would change? What would come into your life? What conflict would disappear into the deeper truth that you are related to everything from earth to sky to all members of the human family? Imagine.

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

 


Spring Checkpoint: Individual Signs Now Available

We will soon figure out that it’s actually 2012. The recent retrogrades of Mars and Mercury seemed to create a delay, but really this winter and early spring has been a phase of gestation. Over the next four weeks, the energy starts to pick up pace dramatically, and we will discover where we are and that something unusual, and beautiful, is happening.

Even as we approach the truly beautiful potential of the astrology that’s developing, many people are struggling with their day-to-day lives. There are more questions than answers; the economic and political situations seem hopeless; the pace of existence is going so fast that there seems to be nowhere to get in a little meaning, or seek some peace of mind.

Planet Waves

Here is where astrology can help. Astrology looks at the longer cycles, and the deeper themes — and can help you see your life in context of the present moment, no matter how chaotic it may be. Context means a sense of where you fit in that will help you see your potential and make better choices.

For years, I’ve been helping my clients prepare for making the most of the astrology of the 2012 era. Based on this experience, and many years of study, I’ve prepared a set of readings for all 12 signs (and rising signs, and Moon signs) that guides you through this astrology, step by step. I cover the most challenging and energized developments of this spring, which includes eclipses, Venus retrograde, the Venus transit of the Sun, and then a few days after the Sun ingresses Cancer, the Uranus-Pluto square.

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.

Spring 2012 is a kind of checkpoint along the way to wherever you are going. But really it’s a calling into the adventure of existence, a bold invitation to go beyond your past limits and explore something truly new about yourself.

Signs are now available individually for an amazingly low price, cheaper than the paper shopping bag costs at Jimmy Choo — order your reading here. 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.

Please drop us a note if you have any questions.

Lovingly,

Eric Francis


 

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — During your long search for a purpose, a mission, a calling, have you noticed how many others are on a similar quest? This search for meaning and purpose influences far more people than those who seem to have not accomplished much. Many brilliantly successful people are seeking contact with this feeling, having not found it in the midst of all of their achievement. You seem to face another kind of issue. It’s sometimes framed itself as the question, which of your two greatest talents is the one to pursue as your true path? What about how they seem to compete with one another, for time, attention and resources? Here is the message from your astrology: First, your purpose goes beyond any specific activity, job or role. Each face of what you do is an expression of something deeper, and this is one moment in your life when you make contact with that inherent quality. When you feel this, you’ll know because the sensation will shift your perspective. Second, your diversity of skills, and your choice to develop multiple gifts, has only strengthened you, widened your vision and given you the opportunity to cross-reference from several fields of knowledge. Finally, I suggest you cultivate a special reverence for language, and the language skills you possess. They will always serve you, the more so for investing in them and using them regularly. This is called being an integrated human being. You have always been well on the way — you’re about to go to a whole new level.

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)

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Balancing fear with love does not work. It only turns love into a defense, which reinforces fear. It may work to bring some light into the darkness, though for true healing to happen, all that is dark, existing beneath the surface or cloaked by denial must be brought to the light. If you work with these basic principles, you will be able not only to solve any problem, you will unfold a new vision for your life. The Venus transit of the Sun involves the planet associated with your sign and this takes place in one of the most visionary houses — the 9th. This rare event culminates with an opening for you to let go of an outdated vision of yourself. You would be amazed how such things can block new energy and ideas from entering your life. You will soon reach the point where the past is, in fact and in your experience, over. Many ideas you’ve had about the future up until this point will melt away. What is approaching is more exciting and beautiful than nearly anything you’ve conceived of before. You may need to go back over the things you were thinking in childhood to find certain sticking points, romantic ideals, and most of all, concepts about God that were inflicted on you. Consider these things carefully, and without sentimental attachment. Be willing to let go of everything you were told, or that you believed, was wrong, and in doing so open up space for the truth about yourself.

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)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Every story in your life right now seems to be about commitment. And, despite being associated with attachment and bonding, one of the places you seem to hold the most self-doubt involves commitment to others. That is where to draw the line: it’s easy for you to confuse your investment in a relationship with an investment in your own life. Yes, there is a fine line, though the people who care about you the most understand that they provide a forum for you to self-actualize. Look carefully at the relationships in your life and make sure that you know which ones fit this description; that you understand who exists in your world for the purpose of consciously (as in willingly) holding space for you to get to know yourself. I recognize that this may seem ‘one sided’, though I would offer the idea that when your deepest relationships have this as their primary element, you are more available to others, not less. So, far from being self-centered for its own sake, I am talking about being self-aware and fully involved with your own growth, so that you are able to participate with greater depth and involvement in your relationships. You only run into trouble when you make some kind of significant compromise of your personal truth, which means you can only be half-present — and that’s as useful as not being present at all. Forget the fact that some people insist that’s what you do. There are others who want you uncompromised and at full strength.

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)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — It’s not a relationship that’s changing — it’s your whole orientation on relationships. You’re enough of a philosopher to know what I mean when I say that everything is a relationship. In truth, what is coming to life is a new contact point with existence. You might glimpse something that hints to you that something is possible — remember that you’re seeing what’s possible all the time. Experiences you never dreamed could happen are right within your reach. All you have to do is take that step and go toward people you like rather than having them come to you. This is a significant shift in orientation for you, though it’s long overdue. Your independence will not be compromised; part of your reorientation is understanding how to share space with others in a way that leaves space for you. In doing this, you’re on the leading edge of a revolution that many people are eagerly awaiting, and you get to be there mainly because of your courage. As this unfolds, notice who you are attracted to and who is attracted to you. Be sensitive to the energy you share. For sure, your existing relationships are going through a transformation of some kind, and you may get the feeling that this is outside of your control. That’s true, to a point. You have the option to notice what is actually working and what is not. You have the option to suspend any efforts to fix things — and then size up what is so, and respond appropriately.

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)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Pay attention to the speed and grace with which thoughts progress into concept and then into full manifestation. Though there are many steps to the process, the most significant is the one where you change and embrace the new pattern of your life. That feels like yielding to a force more powerful than yourself, though it usually has a pleasant sensation of release and embrace rather than the sensation of being pushed. In truth that force is within you, and it’s been building for a long time. You know that you’ve consciously initiated many deep changes the past few years of your life, and you’ve been wondering when some of them are finally going to bear fruit in the form of actual progress. That time has arrived. One of the key lessons in all of this is that of confidence. The world is a profoundly different place for those who proceed with confidence, which means with faith in themselves, and those who are ruled by their insecurities. You have no time to waste on such folly, and you’ve experienced many moments recently when you know you’ve found your true center. Yet you’re also being challenged to be certain of who you are in a time when that has never seemed to change faster. Consider yourself a being in motion, a work in progress, and define your sense of ‘self’ based on that sense of movement and development. Invest your trust there and you will have handsome rewards.

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)

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — What is the difference between a creative person and an ‘uncreative’ one? There definitely seems to be a distinction — and by early adulthood most of us have typecast ourselves as one or the other. It may not be possible to teach creativity, but what interferes with the process can be identified and moved out of the way. What would that be? I can name two things offhand: rigid patterns and fear. Those things that move creative energy can be encouraged, such as curiosity and the spirit that the whole world, and everyone in it, is there to feed your process. I would say the distinction that a ‘creative’ person has is guts — they are willing to dare. That alone does not bestow talent, but it sure can help you get there. By daring I don’t mean the bungee-jumping or gamble-a-lot-of-money kind of daring; I mean the willingness of a child to experiment with what turns you on, coupled with the adult commitment to follow through once you get the energy going. For you, the risk factor includes exploring the very ideas you think are the most dangerous, taboo or unacceptable. It means daring to speak the message that you know is true but that you’re afraid others will find to be somehow offensive. This is the spot where nearly all good ideas either fizzle out before they go anywhere, or the spot where they go past and emerge into consciousness as something fun and maybe beautiful.

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)

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — I am sure you’ve read lots of those annoying little statements in self-help books and ‘sacred’ texts that inform you that when you change yourself from within, the world around you responds. That’s exactly what’s happening to you right now. Your psychic, psychological and emotional innards (all part of the same spectrum) are coming into alignment. It’s as if you’re settling into yourself, and as you do, the world is becoming a different place. If you’re feeling any inner divisions, that will soon yield to the palpable sensation of those fissures closing and healing. Much of what has troubled you in the past goes back a long way; in a sense it was built into your childhood, and it has roots into your genetic lineage. That’s one reason why it’s been so persistent. Another reason is because it’s often difficult to accurately perceive our relationship to our environment — and we’re taught that manipulating the outer world works better than working to nourish and strengthen ourselves in the spirit of healing. What happens over the next few weeks will help you finish the repairs to your foundation that you have likely already begun. What seemed like irreversible damage from the past will reveal itself as being subject to healing and growth. You are not the only one who will benefit; the repairs will extend back through the generations. Observe the changes in your perspective as you experience being united with yourself and your environment. There is a word for this — integrity.

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