Tag Archives: Mercury

Aries New Moon Called Off

Dear Friend and Reader:

In an extraordinary step, the Masters of the Universe have canceled Sunday’s Aries New Moon. “It seems like a big deal to you, but it’s pretty much nothing for us. We took a look at the front page of The New York Times and thought the better of it,” said one of the Masters, who with his colleagues has presided over the Earth for the past 6,500 years.

Artists’s impression of the Aries New Moon that almost happened Sunday, but was canceled due to danger.

“Frankly, it was a really bad idea to schedule this New Moon for right now,” the Master continued, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He said he had consulted his longtime personal astrologer, Flo Higgins of Rumson, N.J., before making the decision. He added, “We thought you would have some fun with it, but obviously not the way things are going now. What a mess.”

The potentially dangerous combination of influences involves a New Moon combined with the Jupiter-Saturn opposition, at the same time that Mars is exactly conjunct Uranus right on the Aries Point. “That’s just buggered, especially with those Japanese nuclear power plants and a few thousand tons of spent fuel still on the brink of turning to plutonium soup,” he added.

“Plus, Mercury is retrograde,” Flo Higgins said.

A spokesperson for ascended master Sanat Kumara, reached on the outskirts of Shamballa where he was recreating with the Lords of Karma, said yesterday that, “It would have been a fantastic opportunity if you guys had a faint clue how to hang loose. We’ve never seen people so freaked out, and this is the 14th time we’ve observed the evolution of humanity. I know you’re thinking, ‘the world is so messed up, how can I relax?’, but consider this. You’re not going to make any progress till you have your wits about you. Half of you don’t even know you’re alive.”

“New Moon called off. Party at my house,” tweeted Jonathan Cainer of York, England.

Sources close to the decision noted that currently there are a number of people on Earth who are trying to destroy the planet who would not have responded well to the New Moon, despite the fact that it was supposed to be conjunct Jupiter. The polarization of the Jupiter-Saturn opposition — the two largest planets opposite one another, with the Earth in the middle — plus Mars and Uranus lining up, was clearly a recipe for planetary psychosis.

Short on leads for this article, last night I went on a reporting mission to Club 55 on K Street in Washington, DC., looking for my friend Marvin, who is an energy lobbyist. The last time I was there, he gave me an earful about why we need to get rid of daylight savings time, just to waste more oil.

Majeston works at College of Uversa, a nonphysical institution located in the 7th dimension, shown here as it occasionally appears to mortals. Illustration by Tammy Russotto.

Before I could find Marvin, who I don’t really like anyway, a dancer I know named Tanya saw me as I came in through the door. She walked over and whispered in my ear, “Majeston.” Then she winked, kissed me on the cheek and strutted away, swaying her hips tantalizingly.

Of course! I knew he was a professor of astrology at the College of Uversa, a nonphysical academy that prepares souls to be astrologers as they pass through the 7th dimension. He said that during the past week he had assisted with the decision as a consultant and was familiar with the issues that were considered.

“We had to spring this on you fast, but actually, it fits with the astrology,” Majeston said. “With Mars conjunct Uranus, you know something a little different was going to happen on fairly short order. Doesn’t anybody actually read these charts?”

Majeston added that despite suspending the New Moon, normal evolutionary processes would continue at least through June 2012, when the Masters would assess whether anyone was getting the benefits of the current planetary alignments. “We thought you would all be having a lot more fun by now. We thought you would get bored of people who spend all their time trying to jerk you around with fear,” he added. “In short, we were pretty sure that by now most of you would have a clue.”

“Seems like the only place anyone knows how to have a good time is in Madison, Wisconsin — or Thailand,” he added. I took notes feverishly as Majeston went on.

This does not help. Repeat, this does not help. Staring at yourself critically does not make you more beautiful. According to Yavanna, you just need to relax and be yourself. It’s okay, you can do it.

“Obviously you don’t get it. Anxiety is boring. We had no idea humans, in their infinite adaptability, would figure out a way to make it into a fascination. Let’s put it this way. It’s possible to get a flat tire while you’re on a road trip and have that be an interesting experience. Okay, that is creativity. But who would want a flat tire every day just for the fun of it? Or spend your whole life worrying about it? That is the basic state of humanity. You guys are a piece of work.”

He suggested that I contact Olooma, one of the Ancients of Days, for additional information. “He’s got time to talk to you. He just chills out all the time,” Majeston said.

I found Olooma in his usual spot in the 9th dimension, reclining next to his fountain of light surrounded by spectral divas. “Most humans are fitted with a version of the ego that’s full of bugs,” he said. “Just about everyone is using Version 6.3. That one was a disaster. We’re now up to 10.6 and that works a lot better. You should try it out. We’ve enhanced color sensitivity and music appreciation.” He added that the newer, upgraded egos are more sensitive to solar-lunar events and can feel the presence of Jupiter as something besides alcohol.

Yavanna, Queen of the Earth and Giver of Fruits, said that humanity’s struggle involved pleasure anxiety. “It’s blocking your intelligence,” she said. “I actually mean this. It’s sad how many of you are proud of how prissy you are, but it’s not doing a thing for you, except to keep you in a mental fog.” She said she hoped that the temporary respite from the intense astrology of the past two years would give people an opportunity mellow out for a few days.

“Play some music or have sex,” she added. “Man, I just don’t get it. You people love to waste your time on nothing when you could be consummating creative bliss with every waking hour.”

Astrologers Around the World React

Tracy Delaney, programmer of the Serennu.com website, discovered that to “cancel” the New Moon, the Moon would station retrograde shortly before the planned conjunction to the Sun. In order to do that, however, the Moon would have to be declared void-of-course from August 2001 through January 2016, “which explains a lot,” she said.

Tracy Delaney this week became the first astrologer in history to calculate the Moon going retrograde.

Doing the calculations for the extremely rare lunar retrograde this week, she went through three quarts of vodka, eight pots of coffee, two laptops and a box of stress balls.

“It was ugly, and it took a while” she said, brushing her hair out of her face, “but I sodding figured it out. Actually my daughter Alys did when she made a joke about Black Moon Lilith, and that cracked the formula.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, programmers at Time Cycles Research were furious at the decision because it meant their software would be inaccurate. They responded by stripping all the asteroids out of their newest edition.

At Astrolabe, publishers of Solar Fire, frenzied telephone operators handled hundreds of panicked inquiries from confused customers, many of whom asked if this involved the new 13th sign.

Despite the obvious logic of canceling the Aries New Moon, many Earthly astrologers were confounded by the decision.

“That’s gonna be a little weird,” said Adonis Moonchild of Goddess Girl astrology in Phoenix, who is a voracious columnist for StarIQ and huge fan of Jeff Jawer. “There hasn’t been a lunar retrograde since 11 ice ages ago, but I guess they have to do what they have to do. But I don’t think it’s a good idea. It was havoc for the trilobites.”

Richard Noelle, one of the world’s most talented astrologers, said, “This goes to show that horoscope columns are pure garbage.”

Astrology Retrograde: Young astrologers group left for Mesopotamia in 2006 and has not been seen or heard from since.

Reached by satellite phone in Mesopotamia, Chris Brennan, who is bravely leading an expedition of thousands of bright young astrologers into the Dark Ages, said that he did not want to interpret the chart until he had calculated the time lords, which would take until August.

Asteroid specialist Martha Lang-Wescott, the wisest astrologer in all of Montana, said, “The gods are perverse. I told you.” She then went back to teaching her dog, Cady, how to read.

“What’s wrong with a little New Moon in Aries, opposite Saturn? It’s just gonna mess up a bunch of other stuff,” said David Roell of the Astrology Center bookstore. “Fiji, Syria, Timor, whatever. If you write a book about it we’ll be happy to stock it.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” said Michael Lutin of Park Avenue.

Psychological astrologers were debating the issue vigorously. Violating the laws of space and time, a special retroactive session was called for UAC 2008, which met in a packed room on Monday. Before an audience stuffed with students of Kepler College, the all-star discussion panel consisted of Liz Green, Melanie Reinhart, Howard Sasportas, Dane Rudhyar and Dr. Marc Edmund Jones. It was moderated by Isabel Hickey, who presided with a riding crop.

Liz Green makes a statement outside the retroactive UAC 2008 panel on Sunday’s canceled Aries New Moon.

Emerging from the meeting, Green inaudibly whispered the following statement: “There are no shortcuts to self-knowledge. Even if the New Moon is canceled, the shadow material represented by retrograde Saturn in Libra must still be addressed.”

Later that day, I found Richard Tarnas out in the lobby and asked him what he thought. “Subtracting the Aries New Moon is like the archetype of the empty self. It fits the modern zeitgeist perfectly,” he said, adding that he would cover this in his next book, which comes out in 2025. “We’re in the midst of quadrature alignment of Uranus and Pluto but it’s awfully quiet. It feels like Christmas morning but only the mice are awake,” he said.

Jose Arguelles was available for a conversation over peyote buttons spiced with cannabis indica. “From my new perspective on the Other Side, I can tell you that time has actually run out. You people have already gone over the edge, into the void. That’s why everything seems so crazy. Your fragile logic of time has fallen apart. You must step out of time and you’ll be happier.”

In Truth, Coyote Stole the Moon

Intergalactic astrologer, modern day shaman and top-secret consultant Philip Sedgwick noted that the Masters of the Universe who claim to have made this decision had only been in charge for 6,500 years, which suggested a bias toward Judeo-Christian thinking.

On a previous instance, Coyote stole fire. Tomorrow he is expected to steal the Moon. Image by Hyenacub.

“Coyote stole the New Moon,” he said in a phone interview Thursday.

“I became concerned when I went into the backyard to check my sundial on the first 90-degree day of the year, and I noticed that it was off kilter. I thought it had to do with the pole displacement due to the quakes. But it seems that time has been reset, not that the New Moon has been canceled.”

“I’m even more worried about the New Moon in Taurus a month from now when we have seven planets in Aries counting Eris, of course. According to the Northwest Indians, Raven will steal the Sun. So people will be totally in the dark, as usual.”

“That’s a good thing,” said Emma Langley, a receptionist at the local eye doctor, commenting reluctantly. “I’m a very non-controversial person. I like my life that way, no matter what the Masters of the Universe think.”

Yours & truly,

Amidst Retrogrades, Planetary Action Heats Up

April 1, 2011 Northampton, MA (AP) — Following close on the heels of recent rolling revolutions in many of Earth’s countries — thought by most astrologers to have been sparked by Uranus aspects — the next wave of the ‘Twitter revolution’ phenomenon went cosmic.

As soon as the Masters of the Universe decided to pull the April 3 New Moon, planetary tweets, including posts from planets orbiting other stars throughout the galaxy, began coming in at such high volumes that Twitter’s servers actually crashed. One source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested the white-hat hacker group Anonymous might have been responsible for the crash. However, the official word from Twitter is that since the tweets from beyond our solar system took many hundreds of thousands of light years to get to Earth’s Internet, it is likely a simple case of a non-compatibility issue caused by grossly outdated formatting.

Tweets posted before the crash, however, indicate another factor: Mercury’s latest move to retrograde motion. Now that everyone can know anyone’s whereabouts and status in a blink of an eye instead of an aeon, we’re seeing trends move faster. Even non-retrograding bodies like the Moon, suddenly released from her duties on Sunday, have decided to join initially-reluctant Mercury in the revolt against direct linear motion. What follows are some of the tweets caught before the server crash.

Mercury

Horoscope says should go #retrograde. Dunno if I feel like. Just did few months ago. Got soo wasted. OMG! Sooo not up for that again.

Luna

@Mercury: Hey, I’m going #retrograde too! MayB we can together? Go EZ this time.

Venus

@Mercury: Didn’t u go all #retrograde 4 the holidays? U crashed my #matchmaker site NYE!

@Luna: Moons can’t go #retrograde!

Luna

@Venus: Mind ur own business. I’m going. :p #Newmoon, so I’m doing something new. Get it?

Titan

@Venus: Moons can 2 #retrograde! Callisto & I do all da time.

Mercury

@Titan. Heard that about u2. Here goes! Going #retrograde! Steady…. hold on now…

Mercury

!drawkcab s’gnihtyrevE !ti did I ?anuL ,gnimoc u R

Eris

@Luna: u r such a follower!

Venus

@Eris: b nice! She just got dumped by Masters of Universe. Is confused & lonely

Eris

@Venus: whatev! I been waiting yrs for this party in #Aries. No one invites me to da others. Merc shows up, makes 1 pass, thinks he can try 2 more

@Mercury: u get as drunk as last time, I’ll deck u!

@Luna: have fun w.Merc. but don’t expect him to last long. Too quick! Then he sneaks out da back

Mercury

@Eris: ouch. Harsh! U shld chill & try #retrograde

Eris

@Mercury: not now. Sun is coming thru #Aries. Omg — hottie!

@Titan: U & Callisto swing?

Titan

@Eris: no. try Pluto & Charon. They r wild & out there!

Charon

@Titan: hey now! No rumors pls. we thought we’d try retro 2gether this time

@Luna: how’s it working 4u? I’ve never tried b4. Am nervous!

Luna:

@Mercury: .hsur-deah giB .yzzid mA !aohW

@Charon: .nuf tub drieW !ti 4 oG

Venus

@Luna: don’t close your eyes. Makes it worse!

— by Sean Springer and Amanda Painter

First ‘photos of Mercury’ in 30 years taken with Mercury retrograde

The first photos of Mercury distributed widely on the Internet were taken with Mercury retrograde, giving rise to speculation that they are really photos of somewhere else.

Dubious images are believed by the public to be Mercury. Very little about the picture actually makes sense. Photo: NASA.

“They look like just about anyplace,” said astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech, who discovered Mercury. “You cannot conclusively say that’s Mercury. It’s the probable surface of something, a planet, an asteroid, maybe even Arizona. But to say it’s Mercury is speculative.”

Neil Armstrong was emailed the image Thursday. “This looks extremely familiar,” he said from his home in California. “I could swear I’ve seen this somewhere before.”

By Thursday night, speculation that the Mercury photos were a hoax was running wild on the Internet. “Look closely and you’ll see the shadows go in all directions,” said Sophia Coppola, reached at home in Palermo. “This is worse than the crap Kubrick did for Nixon with the Moon landing thing. I can’t believe anyone is falling for this. Look, there’s a Snicker’s wrapper on the lower left.”

But NASA officials were adamant that the photo originated with the $56 billion MESSENGER program they say arrived at Mercury this week, the first spacecraft to reach the innermost planet since Mariner 10 in the mid-1970s.

“That would be nice, but the whole thing was fried by solar flares,” said Martha Alexandra, a secretary at the space agency, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I mean, toasted. The decals on the outside of the ship are actually scorched. You can’t tell if it’s USA or USSR.”

“The Moon was in Pisces when the photos of Mercury appeared,” said Rob Hand, who was leading a tour of the Nile Valley with his cousin Barbara Hand Clow. “Clearly, this is a work of cinema.”

Check this audio announcement for information about Eric’s

new e-book, Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span.

Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span by Eric Francis is the story of irrevocable change told through the lens of astrology, history and self-awareness. This is a carefully selected set of articles and essays by Eric written since 1987, which take you through the transition of the millennium into 2012. The essays are a continuing meditation on the experience of confronting global changes from long before anyone was certain they would really happen. It begins in a spiritual community in 1987 and comes to the present day, including a look at the astrology of the 2012-2015 era. Included are Eric’s best essays on sweeping world changes, relationships and maintaining some sense of one’s inner life in the midst of it all. The book, available as a printable PDF, is 174 pages and is illustrated by Carol McCloud. It’s just $14.95. It’s the perfect companion to Light Bridge, the 2011 annual edition of Planet Waves. Purchase your copy here.

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, April 1, 2011, #854 – BY ERIC FRANCIS

Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Saturday’s New Moon in your birth sign may offer you some shocking insights into who you are. You knew you were bold; did you have any idea you were this bold, or this assertive about something that might ordinarily sap your confidence or be something you might not usually express? The idea is to make the most of the breakthrough, and to consider it a doorway rather than a passing experience. I also suggest you stay grounded in your feelings. You may find that challenging, because the way the planets are set up you may have the sensation of a strong ego presence, but if you sense a bit more deeply, a kind of dry sensation. Therefore, stay wet. Drink water, take baths and don’t let all the fire and heat boil off your subtle inner presence. Your true emotions may seem to take you by storm at odd moments.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Aries, please go to this link.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The complexity of the moment includes the sense that you are on the cusp of some huge leap, and that the story of your life has the potential to take any turn. At the same time you may find yourself seized by moments of a false lack of confidence and even panic attacks. Therefore, any time you’re feeling like you lack the guts to dare, I suggest you question that. Look directly at your fears, and figure out where they come from. If you think life is a conspiracy of some kind, remember that it can just as easily be a conspiracy that works for you as much as against you. Therefore I suggest you do what you can to foster cooperation, and as you make up the story of your life, embed plot elements about how people you may not even know are assisting you behind the scenes. As Lou Reed said, you can’t count on the worst always happening. In fact it rarely does, leaving plenty of room for everything else.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Taurus, please go to this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Episodes of confusion or mild chaos will provide you with wide openings to define yourself and understand your purpose in a new way. Therefore, when you get to the point where you don’t understand something, or where disorder seems to prevail, that is where you become the one who can apply purpose and direction. This will remind you how different from your friends you can be, and how different they can be from you, yet the result of the relationship is still productive. One of the prevailing themes of the forthcoming Mercury retrograde is remembering that who you are is not only flexible; it’s changing constantly in subtle ways. This is precisely why you can handle diversity better than many people you know; your encounters with others are a means of experimentation. There’s no requirement to commit yourself to any point of view other than awareness and responding appropriately from moment to moment.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Gemini, please go to this link.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — This is a time to make significant, even astounding strides in your professional life, though you may not notice the results right away. What you will notice is the feeling of something truly interesting happening. The planets suggest that this is the time to push the limits of what you thought you were capable of, as well as the limits of appropriateness. If astrology means anything at all, the implication of the current alignment is that you are so free to be whatever you imagine that you can barely describe the potential. But the potential exists and it’s fully energized now. Allow yourself those moments of taking chances with being fully authentic. Give yourself permission to do what you think of as your ‘real work’, and by that, I mean expressing your true calling and deepest mission, no matter how outrageous you might think it is.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Cancer, please go to this link.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The image in your chart is a crack in the sky opening up and a whole new dimension being not only available but obviously so. At the least you have an opportunity to see far into the future, and to look at the current circumstances of your life and of the world in a way that transcends all of the insanity developing in the short term. There is freedom in this, and there is the gift of being able to solve problems from a ‘higher’ level of reality, which tends to make them seem much simpler. Think of it this way. You can measure the area of a room by counting how many times you can lay down a 12″ x 12″ tile, or you can measure and do the math. Only now apply this to your perception of yourself and what role you’re playing in the rather meaningful global drama that is unfolding. You possess solutions to problems that have not even been identified yet. Don’t worry if you have no idea where they come from.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Leo, please go to this link.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You have some amazing new opportunities opening up, but to take advantage of them will require trust on a level that you may have experienced only at rare moments of your life. Remember that all trust is trust in yourself; the reason is that no matter where or in whom or what circumstances you may invest it, you have to trust your decision to do so. So it all comes back to you. If people are offering you opportunities that seem way outside what you have ever considered possible, you’re going to need confidence in order to make the most of them. Despite the startlingly quick turns of developments, I suggest you consider the next few weeks a test phase. You don’t need to make ‘final’ commitments about the future — only about what you’re willing to explore right now. Therefore, you can go in as deeply as you want, remembering that everything is an experiment.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Virgo, please go to this link.

Check this audio announcement for information about Eric’s

new e-book, Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — It’s a good thing you handle intensity well, though you can admit it to yourself if you’re being pushed past your limits. These would include the sensation of feeling overwhelmed, or if you’re burning out from expressing such a high level of sensitivity. It’s true that full awareness is your best friend right now, and that includes using that information to manage your environment in ways that matter. Make sure you leave enough energy and resiliency to handle the surprises that others seem to be springing on you fairly regularly — some of them are going to be worth going with. If you think this is all some kind of conspiracy to get you out of the past and into the wild world of the present moment, you’re right. If you encounter boring or staid tendencies in yourself, figure out which parent gave you that particular quality, put it in an envelope and mail it back to them.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Libra, please go to this link.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — If you cannot accomplish something by one method, you can definitely accomplish it by another. For example, if you cannot change another person, it’s absolutely certain you can change yourself. I don’t mean to accommodate who someone else is — I mean to accommodate who you are. Said another way, if you cannot change your circumstances (which I doubt), you can change how you respond to them (and that will clue you in to where change is not only possible but inevitable). That said, for the next few days I suggest you proceed cautiously. Don’t push your health. Drive the speed limit, and particularly when traveling, do so with your mind rested and alert. Focus on basic self-care. Your best ideas and breakthroughs will manifest where you leave a clear space. In moments when you don’t feel like you’re getting anything done, do less rather than more and you will make some brilliant, efficient moves.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Scorpio, please go to this link.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Your world is more lavish than you know. Your ideas are better than you ever imagined. That the circumstances around you seem reticent to change doesn’t matter. If you have this idea that the best of what you have to offer is not being accepted by the world, you can safely ignore that as some form of misinformation. You are making a place for yourself: a one- of-a-kind place for your truly unique offerings. You can afford to be patient where outer results are concerned — and as bold as you care to be on the level of your creative process. This is a truly meaningful time to experiment with your sexuality, remembering that some of the best opportunities show up unexpectedly and are not subject to planning. Make sure you attend to the basics to take care of yourself, then proceed with confidence.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Sagittarius, please go to this link.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — The world is inviting you to open up, yet you seem to be persisting in some kind of retreat. What are you feeling insecure about? The more you dig in, the more imposing the potential in front of you will feel. Even if you resist a little less, you will feel considerably safer. Most of what you’re experiencing is an energy differential — the world is changing fast, and this may translate to either some directly personal circumstances changing, or your sense that global events are more than you’re equipped to handle. To the extent that you experience any of this as destabilizing, it’s mostly an illusion created by a pressure buildup in your emotional body. If you let off some of that pressure, the world will seem less overwhelming. The more of that tension you hold, the more imposing events will seem. Therefore, find a way to blow off some steam and you will feel grounded and safe.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Capricorn, please go to this link.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Your mind needs some room to breathe. You may feel overwhelmed, and like you have more on your plate than you can handle. The beauty of the moment is not how much you can get done (which is plenty), but how well you apply yourself to one particular idea. The key is having faith in yourself, or rather, that is what you’re learning. In order to use your mind to its best potential, create some space in there. Pause before you begin anything and ask yourself the best approach. There will be an easier, better way to go about it. Then apply the same method to the bigger puzzles that present themselves to you. In fact this is the time to contemplate solutions to your most perplexing problems and to work out your most ambitious plans. If you relax your mind just a little, nothing is impenetrable.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Aquarius, please go to this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You have options. That’s one thing to remember — it’s the beauty of the moment. You have resources, and you’re much more self-sufficient than you think. That’s a great position to be in, and at the moment you’re free to experiment with the idea. There’s freedom in self-awareness, and that freedom includes access to your vast inner stores of initiative, energy and creativity. You have plenty to share but you’re under no obligation to do so. Yet of all the opportunities presented to you by the genuinely unique and positive astrology of the moment is the chance to take the inner territory of feeling good about your existence: that is, recognizing who you are and what you’ve accomplished. Yes, we are in a dangerous time in history. In the immortal words of Hunter Thompson, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

To order Light Bridge, your full-length 2011 reading including written and audio segments for Pisces, please go to this link.

Check this audio announcement for information about Eric’s

new e-book, Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span.

Mercury Retrograde: A Change of Mental Perspective

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Mercury stations retrograde on Wednesday. This is a little like turning up the volume on our mental environment.

Poster by Kevin Paulsen. Photo by Eric Francis.

And that environment has been overwhelming lately. Monday’s news that plutonium is leaking from one of the crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant is a reminder of what you might encounter on an hour-to-hour basis, if you pay attention. For more than two weeks, events at this fairly typical nuclear plant have been spinning out of control — the latest in a very long series of developments that are reminding us how close to the edge the world really is. Since Sept. 11, 2001 we have lived through a decade of one calamity after the next. Just how many of the ‘one of the worst earthquakes ever’ can we have in a few years?

Heck, we’ll go back merely to the first week of January, when the prevailing news was birds falling out of the sky by the thousands and fish floating to the surface of streams. If that seemed a little ominous, it actually was; the day after we reported that, the shooting happened in Tucson. Then there was a wave of revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. Then the corporate puppet Teabag party governor tried to shut down the public unions, leading to three weeks of the most massive U.S. protests since the 1960s. Some governments gave in; others started shooting at their people (Bahrain, Syria, Libya). Then came the quake and nuclear crisis in Japan, which, by the way, is every bit as serious as it was the first day; the threat of a meltdown is just as great. Radiation is leaking into the atmosphere, the groundwater, the oceans and has spread across half of Japan. Then the US, NATO and its allies went to war in Libya, with no plan to get out.

So, let’s be clear. While the world needs attention and its systems need updating and rethinking, and while things fall apart, those who have taken over society are spending most of their time making war and taking money. The two are related. And one way or another, this is affecting all of us: energetically, emotionally, spiritually, economically. If you happen to know people in Japan, you will be feeling that personally. If you’re one of many people who loves Japanese culture for some inexplicable reason, you are feeling this. If you live near a nuclear power plant, you’re feeling how vulnerable we are. You have probably never had to abandon your home and the pattern of your life as a refugee, but the way the world is, you may be able to relate to the feeling.

I don’t care how deep a person has their head stuffed in pillows as the alarm clock goes off again and again: everyone is feeling the global call to awakening. For some this is exciting, for some it’s annoying and for others it’s literally terrifying. As you watch videos of that tsunami sweeping away cars, tractor-trailers and warehouses full of goods, you realize the power of the natural world to impact our lives; the order of nature becomes apparent, and I think that’s liberating.

Everyone’s favorite nuclear power plant operator.

It is easy to lose context in the midst of all of this; to lose connection with the greater scheme of existence. It’s also possible to be brought into connection with that greater scheme, with others who care, with others who want to grow and make a difference rather than freak out. I would remind you — maybe I don’t have to — that plenty of people are actually, genuinely scared. By that, I mean certain people among your coworkers, friends and neighbors, who are feeling the potential for everything to fall apart, or maybe even yourself. I mean kids who might have a clue what’s going on in the world, yet not fully understand or have a way to process the information.

One morning about 10 days ago, I woke up, looked out my bedroom window and saw the rain dripping from the neighbor’s roof. I was grateful it was not radioactive rain. Here is the truth. We may not be able to say that for long, and in fact there is a large, densely populated part of the world where rainwater is carrying elements like cesium and iodine. Tap water as far as Tokyo is contaminated, and radiation has turned up in many crops. Plutonium has escaped from Unit 3 and has been found outside the plant. Remember that there are numerous nuclear plants with the same design currently operating in the United States. I would note also that while actual increases in radiation are not apparent everywhere, there are some individuals who can feel an energetic breach like this, or an injury to the Earth, no matter where they are.

And here is something else: there may be a lot of people who just don’t care. Part of the skill of being alive now is not letting the zombies and the green, three-eyed space aliens get you down. Part of how you do that is by maintaining a sense of who you are. Note that this is not usually experienced as certainty but rather as an active question. Once you become comfortable with the question, you will be a lot more comfortable with who you are. If you keep asking the question the same way, you may get frustrated. Therefore events and astrology come along to shake up the whole matter — and that is what Mercury retrograde in Aries is about.

Here is a short summary of that transit, which goes from March 30 through April 23.

Mercury represents the mental environment. It is not merely the ‘theme of communication’ or ‘the mind’, but rather where consciousness intersects the world around us. The two patterns overlay one another and create a totally unique pattern within our minds. Because it’s so compelling, and dominates consciousness so thoroughly, we tend to associate this pattern not merely with what we are experiencing, but also with who we are.

Chart for Mercury stationing retrograde.

Aries, where Mercury will be retrograde, has lots to say about who we are and who we think we are — and at the moment Aries is the scene of a revolution. When Mercury stations retrograde Wednesday there will be six major points collected there — the mean lunar apogee (Black Moon Lilith) on the Aries Point, Uranus one degree away, the Sun, Jupiter, Eris and Mercury. Not shown on any commercial chart is a point you’ve read about here — 1992 QB1.

Here are a few highlights:

Mercury is making a series of conjunctions to Eris. The furthest known planet from our Sun, Eris represents the personality chaos that marks our era in history. It’s the obsession with not knowing who we are. There is a lot of freedom in over-emphasizing that ‘you don’t know’ — such as being liberated from the need for authenticity. Once you tune into who you are, the next logical step is to stop bullshitting yourself and anyone else. Awareness of self implies commitment. You can gradually become powerful in that way that you always struggled with not being. Mercury is stationing retrograde very close to Eris. It’s just made a conjunction and over the next five weeks as the retrograde works out (the process is longer than the actual 24 or so days that Mercury’s apparent motion is in reverse), there will be two more. This is an opportunity to see your issues for what they are, and to assemble the seeming pieces of yourself into a cohesive idea.

Mercury is close to a conjunction with 1992 QB1. This is the planet that helps us get past the notion that ‘death rules’. I suggest we take a look at how deeply and unconsciously we accept that. In our current version of the world, whoever has the power to kill is the boss. Have you ever considered this one? Oh, Mr. Policeman has a gun. My husband might beat the snot out of me (and kill me). That nuclear power plant might blow up — we better treat the guy making millions off of poisoning our kids as a god. Taking that to another level, we are fond of the phrase, ‘death and transformation’. Oh, doesn’t that just make the notion of change sound like a wheelbarrowful of fun? 1992 QB1, as the first planet [ever] discovered beyond Pluto, offers another notion of change; another idea of transformation. Its energy feels more like gradually slipping into orgasm than someone coming along and saying, ‘change or die’. The thing is, this requires willingness.

Tags on the wall, Kingston, NY. Photo by Eric Francis.

Mercury is making a series of conjunctions to Jupiter and oppositions to Saturn. This sounds like an experiment in understanding the difference between willingness and resistance. Human consciousness is not merely dualistic; it requires contrast to be able to sense distinction. People who either blur everything into one gray mess or see the world hotly polarized in stark black and white are not seeing the subtle shades. Jupiter and Saturn are more similar than most astrologers acknowledge, representing complimentary rather than contradictory energies. It just helps to know the difference between the way the water feels and the way the edge of the pool feels, and Mercury getting into the opposition of Jupiter and Saturn is here to offer us the sensation of that contrast.

Part of the contrast is the difference between self and other. Oppositions imply relationship. On the most basic level of astrology, Aries represents self and Libra represents other and our relationship to other. We now have a kind of revolution happening in the sign of self, complete with the planet of revolution (Uranus) right there. But we tend to get stuck in out-moded concepts of relationship and then caught in the confusion of not understanding why we feel so trapped. Conventional wisdom holds that there is no other way, except to seek self in other and then get stuck there. But at the moment the influence of self-awareness is so strong we’re likely to figure out that we don’t need another to be who we are; we can be who we are and relate to others if we want.

One last. The Moon is conjunct Neptune waaaaaaay at the end of Aquarius. There have been more than 150 Moon-Neptune conjunctions in Aquarius over the past 12 years or so, and now there are just a very few more before Neptune takes up residence in Pisces in 2012; and just one more before Neptune visits Pisces starting next week. Cutting a long story short, the conjunctions in this last degree of Aquarius are an opportunity to help us transform our emotional body into a living instrument tuned to subtle energies (rather than the sticky, heavy thing that we so often experience it to be). Most of what we think of as growth, transformation and healing involves our emotional body, which is the thing that tends to get stuck in the past no matter how smart we are. However, part of the challenge is about doing this at a time when there is an enormous emotional strain on the world, indeed many; it is daring to open up and let yourself feel at such a moment.

Mercury retrograde offers us many chances to shift our mental perspective as an experience and not merely as an intellectual concept. As you take this ride you can actually experience different sensations based on seeing the world differently, which is another way of feeling your own existence differently. That starts with consciously exploring with curiosity and willingness rather than resistance and judgment. Those are your basic choices. And in them more is contained than you may think — for example, we are actually face to face with the potential to spark a global awakening.

Catch you Friday with a weekly horoscope.

Yours & truly,

PS, looking at the minor planets, there is also a triple conjunction of three asteroids — House, Hera and Memoria. It’s time for something other than jealousy, shame and control drama to rule the roost. True, one has to have some authentic confidence to allow in another idea. It’s possible, and it’s easier if we’re willing to consider the alternatives.

PPS, here is the article about the most recent Mercury station direct, in early winter. And here is the article about the corresponding Mercury station retrograde three weeks earlier.

Check this audio announcement for information about Eric’s

new e-book, Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span.

Attention Light Bridge Subscribers: Light Bridge audio readings are now available for half the signs — the rest are coming soon! If you have not signed up yet, you may do so here. Everyone is invited to read the articles on the Light Bridge blog, which will update periodically. Customer reviews of Light Bridge are collecting here. Don’t miss the free audio introduction to the project that explains how I created these seven-year readings. To everyone: thank you for your patience while we completed the written phase of Light Bridge.

Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span

Dear Friend and Reader:

Planet Waves has just completed a digital compilation of my writing about 2012 dating back to 1987. It’s called Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span. The span extends from the Harmonic Convergence through to the winter solstice of 2012. [Here is an audio introduction. Here is the purchasing link. Note that this is a different project than the Light Bridge annual edition.]

The articles in the collection are drawn from a number of sources, including Planet Waves and our various annual editions, as well as blog entries, my notebooks and one from an earlier book called 313. The book begins with a new piece that covers the history of the Harmonic Convergence and its possible influence on world events. I then present a retrospective of writing describing events that fit the pattern, either historic or philosophical, of how we approach the topic of irrevocable change. Even if you’ve read some of this writing before, the pieces will now come together when you see the ideas in context.

I have consistently treated the concept of 2012 as something we are creating now, even as time accelerates and we race toward the future. Different articles offer perspectives on the Mayan day count as well as the Western astrology associated with 2012. I am not making predictions; rather, my intent for all of these articles has been to focus our minds on the present moment and enter the future through immediate awareness. I am describing the process of opening up to the moment.

The book is beautifully illustrated with Mayan-inspired glyphs created by Carol McCloud.
These are like no artwork you’ve ever seen before. Light Bridge: The 25-Year Span comes with a separate file of historic charts. We have done our best to leave links to other sources embedded in the text.

As you may have read, Jose Arguelles, who created the Harmonic Convergence and first called attention to 2012, died Wednesday. According to his website, before he departed he said to his apprentice, Stephanie South, “I have done all that I could on this planet. I am being called to assist in the closing of the cycle from the Other Side.”

Arguelles was the author of The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology, which became a kind of platform for creating the Harmonic Convergence. He was also author of Dreamspell: The Journey of Timeship Earth 2013 which was a book and a game that came out in 1990. Dreamspell is an interpretation of Mayan daykeeping that teaches one to use the Mayan calendar in a practical, accessible way. Arguelles was the father of the current movement to adapt Meso-American calendar systems and other alternative models for considering time. In a sense, what we think of as time is really a prison that locks us into a time/money orientation of consciousness.

I was never Jose’s student, but his ideas have touched my life and informed my astrology through different teachers, friends and colleagues. We think it’s an intriguing synchronicity to be making this work available when so much attention is being given to Jose’s ideas.

Here is ordering information. Delivery is instant. The format is a downloadable PDF with images solid enough that they will print nicely.

Thank you for your interest. I think you’ll love this project. It’s been a lot of fun to create.

It’s only change —

Mercury Stations Direct Overnight Wednesday

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Dear Planet Waves Reader:

First, in case you missed Friday’s edition because you were traveling, I posted a year in review horoscope. The January monthly horoscope, called “How to Cross an Ocean,” will be posted Friday morning. This is an extended edition, previewing Light Bridge, the 2011 annual edition of Planet Waves. Until Light Bridge publishes in January, I’ll keep Planet Waves on a slightly slower schedule.

Accretion Disk Simulation by Michael Owen, John Blondin.

As suggested, this turned out to be the weekend to avoid travel. Hopefully you’re not reading this on your iPad or Droid camped out on the floor of Heathrow. If you’re in a position to decide whether to call off making a move for a few days, or making the move immediately, I suggest you delay if you can, particularly if there are lingering questions or the possibility of additional delays. Things are likely to go smoother with Mercury direct, which is the topic of my letter today.

Mercury will station direct in Sagittarius at 2:20 am EST on Thurs., Dec. 30. In effect that means overnight Wednesday to Thursday in most of our time zones, and Thursday later in the day in Australia. Mercury has been retrograde since Dec. 10, starting in Capricorn and now stationing direct in late Sagittarius. It made a series of fancy moves, such as taking part in a weird, exact triple conjunction on Dec. 13.

If there is any cleanup work or recovery necessary from this retrograde phase, I suggest you do that incrementally until the eclipse arrives on Jan. 4. Don’t rush; work in layers and be gentle and deliberate.

The days surrounding when Mercury changes apparent directions can be a time when the retrograde effect is the most pronounced. Here are my top five hints for easing through this transition:

1. This is not a time to push, it’s a time to move with the energy. Granted, it may never really be time to push (okay sometimes!), but especially not during a Mercury station. Allow things to go at a slower pace and be conscious in your communication with others. In case of a misunderstanding, get off email and try the phone, or in person. Email has lost little of its reputation for communication snafu. If something seems unnecessarily tangled, give it a week or two.

2. It’s better not to commence activities or commitments prior to the station, as they can have a tendency to reverse themselves. If possible I suggest waiting anywhere from three days to three weeks depending on how meaningful it is to you. Remember, we are in the extreme waning phase of the Moon, headed for a solar eclipse. That will bring out additional information and start a new phase. This is a time to wrap up old business.

White Dwarf Star Spiral.

3. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and if it seems broke, it may not be. Wait to fix it, because ‘solutions’ can cause more problems than they solve in the midst of Mercury stationing. If you must solve a problem, break out the scientific method — or any logical method. Take notes and test your theories carefully. Don’t let impatience get a grip. Remind Mercury you love him/her and are thankful for all these cool gadgets.

4. One interesting property of Mercury stationing is that the truth can come out, as if from behind a veil. If there are situations that are puzzling you or for which you are seeking answers, listen carefully and gently work the data and you just may get a revelation or two. As Mercury changes directions, the same information can look different from day to day; you might see things you missed the first time; you may understand something that you could not quite grasp. However, this business of ‘the truth revealed’ can be uncanny. Listen to what people say to you; listen to what you say to them.

5. Drive consciously, and leave extra time to get anyplace you’re going. If you’re flying home from a holiday, listen to those expert travel tips. Pack some food, your toothbrush and extra undies in your carry-on (always a good idea), and use the toilet before boarding a flight. I don’t suggest you depend on a digitized flight-checker app. Some of these things are disconnected from reality. Call the airline and talk to a human person.

Now as for the creative part.

Mercury is stationing direct close to the core of our galaxy, and will pass over the core on Jan. 9-10. Think of Mercury as condensing whatever is emanating from the core — the center of our spiral island in space (which is a defining feature of Sagittarius). Mercury is about ideas, but they come from somewhere, and at the moment, if you can tune in, they are being accessed from the heart of the galaxy. The core has the property of fleeting insights that we then forget. It’s as if they’re too sublime for our dimension, but if we get them into tangible form (a sticky note will do) we can have something precious and worthwhile.

This Sagittarian dimension may be less about practical solutions and more about insights into existence, which has a practicality all its own. See if you can tune in and listen, remembering as a poet once scribbled on the back of an envelope, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you listen just right.

Lovingly,

PS — Thank you Dani Voirin for this beautiful red, gray and black page design — which will be the look of the 2010 archives and of course Cosmic Confidential, the 2010 annual. Dani created the horoscope icons we’ve used this year by layering in content from horoscopes that match the sign illustrated. We were going for a look that emulated newspaper horoscopes, where I got my inspiration to learn astrology. In retrospect these are the colors of The New York Post, where I first bumped into the work of Patric Walker.

Let’s keep an eye on this one — or better yet, both eyes

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Confess your passion, your secret fear
Prepare to meet the challenge of the new frontier
— Donald Fagen

Dear Planet Waves Reader:

Normally we distribute the early-week edition on Tuesday, but there’s an intriguing astrological event that takes place starting today. This extends overnight and into tomorrow afternoon, so I’ve decided to run this edition today. It’s based on a blog post from over the weekend though please note that there are some reinterpretations of the astrology in this version. Monthly horoscopes for January will be distributed after the solstice, schedule to be announced.

Mercury stationed retrograde in Capricorn Friday morning, close to a number of other planets and points. Monday night and into Tuesday, there is an unusual triple conjunction of Mercury, Mars and Pluto, all conjunct within one arc minute (that’s 1/60th of a degree). Perhaps you have to know a little astrology to appreciate this, but imagine three moving points of this potency just happening to be aligned with the Earth at the same time, with the added spin or influence of Mercury retrograde.

Planet Waves

Chart for 11:15 pm EST on Dec. 13, 2010, set for Kingston, NY — an exact Mercury, Mars, Pluto conjunction. The other points from left to right are Vesta, Pholus, Sun, Pallas, and the North Node; then to the far right is the largest asteroid, Ceres.

In case you’re new to charts, you’re looking at the three bodies with the bold 4 next to them. That’s the degree value; the arc minutes, or fractions of a degree, are the small numbers, and look how close they are as well. Mars and Pluto are in an exact conjunction, to the arc minute. And just as that’s happening, Mercury backs over them both within a few minutes of one another. I have to say, that is laser-like precision. Just consider that these planets are millions of miles from Earth, all moving at different speeds, and there are not three bodies aligned but four of them — that precise conjunction means they align not just with one another but with the Earth.

There is a message involved; that’s the nature of Mercury. Whatever this chart is about, there is a message. In personal matters, this is a day to either stay silent or if you want to speak, to choose your words carefully. That would include listening, a skill rare enough to find. Listening would include to yourself and to others. The retrograde advises introspection, thinking before you act, and focusing on psychology and motives, especially your own. The theme of ‘motives’ comes from Pluto, the prime mover, the unstoppable force, and the scent and sensation of hormones. The ‘think carefully’ theme comes from Mercury conjunct Mars, which says thinking fast, but Mercury may not be perceiving accurately: I am not suggesting you ‘second guess’ yourself but that you not be overconfident. A little conscious humility will suffice.

Mix this up with Capricorn and, in one dimension, you get the astrological incarnation of kinky. This would be kink in the form of wordplay and power exchange. On the most basic level, it could be a moment to speak softly and slowly with intimate partners and tell the truth about sex, something we need to do if we plan to reclaim the sensation of being alive. Capricorn adds the predisposition to guilt (or an inquiry into the topic), which is a response to perceived authority. The retrograde suggests you may be able to get beyond the sensation of guilt as a restrictive force, and allow your truth to come out. Once it does, you will begin a process of working that reality through the rest of your mental field, like kneading dough.

Though it’s not shown in the chart sample above, the Moon is also in the neighborhood — by aspect. In astrology planets can be grouped by being together, or being in the same degree range. Tuesday at 2:14 am EST, the Moon enters Aries and thus crosses the Aries Point, and soon after squares its own nodes; then Tuesday at 10:57 am EST it makes a square to Mercury, then to Pluto, then to Mars in rapid succession (in about the space of one hour). This is the Moon ‘setting off’ the aspect. A square is shorthand for ‘something happens’ and there is added emphasis in that the Moon is making a 90-degree aspect to its own nodes, which are hot and vibrating in anticipation of an eclipse on the solstice. And of course we are in Aries Point country — never left, we’ve been here since Pluto first touched Capricorn in 2008, though thanks to eclipses and other planets showing up lately, we are going through a series of peaks.

While this setup has some dark shades, I suggest that there is something to be learned about the current circumstances of the world. We are seeing some unprecedented things going on, as I described last week. There are mainly two groups of people who know what is in the rest of those 250,000 cables that WikiLeaks has not yet released — the Obama administration, and the WikiLeaks crew. (So do a bunch of Bushistas.)

Has everyone heard that Anna Ardin moved to the West Bank? I got this news a bit late. It was reported by the Australian website Crikey on Thursday and republished in The Huffington Post. She was the older of the two women who claimed that something inappropriate happened between her and Assange. She has stopped cooperating with prosecutors and has headed to do missionary work in the Holy Land. That sounds like a true calling.

According to Crikey, in a recent tweet she said, “CIA agent, rabid feminist / Muslim lover, a Christian fundamentalist, frigid & fatally in love with a man, can you be all that at the same time…” Yes, this woman sounds like she knows exactly what she wants out of life. Wait — she’s admitting to being a CIA agent? She seems to be kidding, but she makes a convincing case — and disappearing to a remote corner of the world when she’s become a star in this global crisis only emphasizes the point.

That leaves the stalker/groupie in the pink jump suit. Oops, that would be jumper, a sweater in England — my fantasies were running away with me. Is she a CIA agent too? She was recently seen in a police station collaborating with one.

I just read that Assange’s first extradition hearing is scheduled for Wednesday — right in the wake of this planetary alignment. You can be sure that there will be some interesting negotiations going on during the next 48 hours.

The Swedish sex case (such as it was) is unraveling, and the Brits and Yanks are going to be falling all over one another to figure out a way to keep Assange in jail. So far, no charges have been filed by Sweden for the alleged sexual misconduct, and no charges have been filed by the United States relating to the leaked documents. The Espionage Act was considered, but apparently that didn’t work when the US government tried to prosecute Daniel Ellsberg for releasing the Pentagon Papers. Instead, Nixon went after The New York Times — and that, too, failed; the Supreme Court would have no part of banning the newspaper’s coverage of the secret Vietnam War file that Ellsberg released. Besides all of which, Assange is a direct collaborator with the news entities of the world — not the leaker with security clearance as was Ellsberg.

Minor planets, 90-degree sort, at Mercury-Mars-Pluto conjunct. Calculations by Serennu.com.

So, back to the astrology. Let’s look at some minor planets. Here is what’s called a 90-degree sort, looking only at the early cardinal signs. That’s another way of saying this is a list of planets and points that make conjunctions, squares or oppositions to the triple conjunction of Mercury, Mars and Pluto. A few stand out.

One is Hermes, an asteroid — that is right in the conjunction with Mercury, Mars and Pluto, to the degree. The Sabian symbol for this degree is: “Indians on the warpath; while some men row a well-filled canoe, others perform a war dance. Wait, didn’t this one turn up in the WikiLeaks cables?”

Hermes tossed into the mix adds a touch of the miraculous, or pertains to some secret matter. He is a rather meaningful figure in the history of astrology and other forms of magick, alchemy and science. (In the ancient astrological literature being translated by Project Hindsight, he is referred to as one of the ‘founders’ of astrology).

Across the dial in Cancer is Cyllarus. This is a centaur (Chiron-like body) that is exactly opposite the triple (quad, if you count Hermes) conjunction. One key phrase for Cyllarus is ‘out of the blue’. That is conjunct Kronos, a very slow-moving point (not a planet) that involves authority. Think of Kronos as a super-Saturn. This is not a day to cuss out a cop or to get pissed off at an IRS operator. It does seem like a great day to make some choices and take authority over your affairs.

Asteroid Amor is square the arrangement in Aries; that can represent “the conditions on unconditional love,” in the words of Martha Wescott, and this is conjunct Pelion — a centaur planet named for a mountain in Greece — but not just any old mountain. We are climbing the mountain of unconditional love. But it’s perilous, dark and shadowy. According to Ovid, Pelion is a remnant of the original creation of the world. It is prominent in the charts of Marilyn Monroe and Hitler, seeming to have a flare for drama and revenge.

Ophelia, an asteroid, is in Libra, also square the big conjunction; she is a character from Hamlet, the one who is “‘incapable of her own distress,” a reference to her being dead. With all this Mercury-Pluto going on, let’s give a big cancel-clear on that kind of message.

So what’s this all about? I don’t know really, except that we’re in the mix of it all right now; and I know that we’re likely to see the story of the ‘man from Mars’ advance this week, one way or another. We have an extremely angry, nervous political establishment in Washington, and we have a lot of banks on the brink of making a large investment in canned sardines seem sensible.

We also have a lot to learn — about knowledge, gaining knowledge and what to do with it once we have it. Mercury conjunct Hermes certainly emphasizes that point.

So, let’s keep an eye on this one. Pay attention to what you say, what you write and what you hear, and for sure, don’t text, or for that matter sext, while you’re driving. Especially in Buffalo.

Keep an eye on the Planet Waves daily blog for realtime updates, and remember to tune into my weekly podcast on Wednesday morning.

Yours & truly,