Dear Friend and Reader:

Just a few brief comments on the government shutdown. Like most people, you may be having difficulty tracking this issue; to me it looks like a government shutdown for its own sake. But it’s one that makes most building takeovers that I’ve covered seem mature, since most students know enough to focus on a few demands that can actually be met by the administration.

Donna Rice with her husband Barry after they traveled from Chicago to Zion National Park in Utah, closed due to the government shutdown. Photo by Trent Nelson.

One of the ways you know that this situation is drama for its own sake is that the first demand (defund the Affordable Care Act) was not going to happen. By the time the government was shut down and the creeps behind this protest figured that out, the demands started changing — the current one being the promise of discussion of slashing social programs.

All the Republican talk of “jobs, jobs, jobs” has led to their blocking hundreds of thousands of people from being able to go to work. All the talk about supporting small business has been belied by the thousands of businesses hurt or destroyed by the shutdown.

A few things are bugging me. One is that the original pretense, how bad the ACA allegedly is, is not an issue that warrants this kind of radical intervention. Not, particularly, since it’s the affirmed law of the land. Our extremely conservative Supreme Court already approved it, after Congress voted it into law and the president signed it into law. If a small minority wants to take matters into their own hands, that is one definition of tyranny — and thankfully it’s become obvious.

If a minority of politicians are declaring the ACA unconstitutional, and saying that it’s illegitimate despite being approved by every branch of government, they must be citizens of some other country. The reward they have got, if you believe a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll published in the past 24 hours, is that the Republicans and the Tea Party have never been less favorably thought of, while popularity for Obamacare has never been higher.

That some politicians would take advantage of the disgraceful health-care situation, using it against people, even going so far as to try to convince women not to go for routine gyn exams, is authentically disgusting. Health insurance, at minimum, provides some thin safety net between a routine disease and going bankrupt. In no other advanced country besides the U.S. do people flirt with this fate — and it’s especially propbematic given the unemployment situation, when people have lost their jobs and their health coverage.

Another problem is the involvement of Dominionist religion in this crisis, and that seems to be significant. Personally I don’t have a good feeling about people who preach the end of the world, and they seem to be the ones calling the shots.

The Dominionist position is old hat: you accept our point of view or we will burn you at the stake. I don’t think these people have any proper role in government.

We also have what I will call a spiritual problem involving John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives. He is not who he pretends to be, a dude from Ohio; to see what kind of entity he is one’s third eye needs to be open, and I don’t consider it safe to conduct this kind of inquiry because of the energies involved. In human form, he controls the flow of bills to the floor of the House of Representatives. This one entity has the power to choke off whether progress is possible; he can personally keep this going or let it resolve, and we have no reason whatsoever to trust him.

That this is essentially a spiritual problem means that we might find a spiritual solution. I think that Boehner must be a focal point. The meek integrity that is binding him to the physical plane appears to be weakening, but he still has some thrash and resistance left in him. Holding him in white light will help neutralize him, though he won’t like it as much as the synthetic UV rays his leathery, orange skin seems to devour in his tanning bed.

It’s true that our debt crisis is what has made us subject to this kind of blackmail and other forms of external control. It’s essential to see this for what it is — the debt itself is an intentional construction. At the end of the Clinton administration the U.S. was well on the way to paying down its debt and had eliminated the yearly federal budget deficit. Economically and in many other ways, things were going pretty well at the time.

Then came a stolen election; a false flag terrorist event; a series of tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans; eliminating taxes on many of the largest corporations; a huge, unbudgeted, federally funded drug giveaway; a bloated national security state taking over nearly everything and occupying a billion square feet of office space; several very long, ongoing wars; and then a second 9/11, in financial form, allegedly requiring trillions in bank bailouts.

All these things have at least one common factor — they start under Cheney-Bush, and they got us into this position. And that is where we find ourselves — compromised, and in a sense, possessed.

Colbert takes on the shutdown, proposing games like Not Sorry! and Operation Denied Due to Pre-Existing Condition.

The astrology lurking around is not all that encouraging. The federal shutdown has now been conflated with the debt ceiling issue. The debt ceiling is about the government’s ability to borrow money to make interest payments on funds that it’s already borrowed, and to meet some current obligations as well. Both could be resolved by simple, one-sentence acts of Congress.

Non-political federal budget officials say we hit the debt ceiling on Oct. 17, which is on the eve of a lunar eclipse, and just four days before Mercury stations retrograde. Depending on how you look at it, that combination of factors could represent a breakthrough or it could be a further descent into mire and chaos. We don’t know what would happen if the U.S. defaults on its obligations, since it has never done so.

As I’ve mentioned, the main U.S. chart, the Sibly chart, is under a lot of stress. That comes to a peak next April, when the grand cross including Mars retrograde in Libra, Jupiter in Cancer, Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn, is focused to the degree around the U.S. Sun.

Many have wondered how we are going to wrest our country back from these bizarre interests that have nothing to do with the general welfare of the American people, or even the business community. It is a pressing question; we will be asking it for a while.

There is a simple political analysis here: many Republicans who would vote to get us out of this mess are going along with the mob because they don’t want to be “primaried” — that is, knocked out of their Republican slot by a candidate further to the right. So they put their own self-interest above the collective interest. Their federal job is more important than everyone else’s federal job — or the stability of the world economy.

Here we see the problem with self-interest and why, once again, this is really a spiritual crisis rather than a political one.

Lovingly,

Accelerate, with Precision

Our current astrology is about acceleration. The Moon is now waxing toward a Full Moon eclipse in the sign Aries, which happens Oct. 18. Eclipses often come with the sensation of concentrated experience, events speeding up and a sense of destiny or fate in operation.

Next stop — a lunar eclipse in Aries, followed by a solar eclipse in Scorpio. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

The mid-Libra Sun is applying in a square aspect to Jupiter in Cancer. This looks like some emotional/relational drama, with the principle of balance (via Libra) pushing up against the tendency to over-feel and run in cycles (Cancer). It’s necessary to honor both and to remember that you cannot smooth out the surface of water with a canoe paddle.

Venus, which is often cautious and tends to speak second, is now in Sagittarius, a more freewheeling sign than many others – and Venus is headed for a square to Chiron, which is emotive, given to taking risks, and is anything but cautious. This is a reminder to stick to your values; they are your guiding principles. But if your principles back you into a corner, this is a time to reevaluate rather than overreact.

Venus square Chiron likes to push limits and can have a tendency to be so emotionally driven as to suspend judgment. The quest may be for an emotional high, sexual power or just the need to have fun. Yet where Chiron is involved, it’s necessary to engage the sentient part of one’s mind — the part that actually makes conscious decisions about what you do and do not want to do. If not, the Venus-Chiron square can have a sense of emotional injury. In this case, the opposite of injury would be integrity.

Perhaps most significantly, we are about to experience the fourth of seven Uranus-Pluto squares, the generation-defining aspect involving two of the most potent outer planets. This spans from 2012-2015 with a margin of at least three years on either side of that date range. The fourth event, the epicenter of the whole series, is within range now, and will be exact on Nov. 1. The series of Uranus-Pluto aspects is about acceleration of the historical process, the chaos factor and the drive to change that we are all experiencing so poignantly now.

To sum up, we’re experiencing many energetic, compelling aspects at the moment and, like using a chain saw or a welding torch, this kind of power demands precision, control and focus. If not, there can be mishaps, opportunities lost and time and energy wasted.

Chart for Mars ingress of Virgo on Tuesday, Oct. 15. From there, Mars will oppose both Neptune and Chiron, an interesting combination.

Mars is currently in the last degrees of Leo, which is slippery and a little dangerous. It’s fiery Mars in a fire sign working the edge of the territory. That alone calls for precision and thoughtfulness when it’s more likely to signify bravado, risk-taking and a bit of machismo.

It’s also a comment on subject matter relating to male gender material. For example, there is the question: what is the relationship between sexism and male homophobia? One possible contact point is that male homophobia involves a man’s relationship to his inner feminine, as does his relationship to women. By one analysis, homophobia and sexism are the same thing — with inner and outer manifestations.

Mars will slide through the last degrees of Leo and arrive in Virgo on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Here is where some precision enters the picture, though you don’t want it to be too late. I suggest you get ahead of this transit, and focus on the details early, as annoying as they may be.

This theme is repeated by Mercury, which is slowing down to a retrograde that begins on Oct. 21. Some have noticed that the effect is starting to take hold, now that Mercury is in its first echo phase ahead of the retrograde; that’s happening now, as Mercury crosses the degrees where it will be retrograde (from Oct. 21 through Nov. 11).

Mercury stations retrograde within a couple of days of the Full Moon eclipse in Aries on Oct. 18 (which also happens to be the deadline for the debt ceiling limit). The world may be going crazy, but you don’t have to — or at least you can use a little planning, and just a bit of caution, to prevent mishaps and keep focused on your plan. If you don’t have one of those, I do suggest you make one up, and keep it flexible.

Angry About their Own Idea

It’s clear the far right dreads the possibility that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may actually improve the health care situation for uninsured Americans. What’s amusing is that in 1989, the guts of what’s now called Obamacare — requiring individuals to obtain coverage or face a tax penalty — was proposed by the Heritage Foundation as a way around single-payer health care.

President Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010.

The idea was adopted with a vengeance by Republicans in 1993 as a counter to the Clinton health care reform proposals under the name Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act. (You can view a chart comparing the two here.) Now, it’s what they seem to revile the most. What is in reality corporate medicine is deceptively being called socialized medicine.

As of Thursday, Republicans in Washington had dropped their demand to defund the ACA and were pushing for an agreement to postpone the debt ceiling crisis for six weeks while their proposed negotiations continue over government expenditures. (Those discussions have been happening for a long time.)

Defaulting on the debt, although some on the far right have said it’s no big deal, is widely viewed as a prescription for a worldwide recession that would make 2008 look like a hiccup.

Meanwhile, congressional approval ratings have fallen to 5% in an AP-GFK poll; the evidence is clear that conservative groups have been pushing for this idea since Obama’s re-election.

A “memo to the movement” signed by a long list of right-wing leaders was endorsed last Valentine’s Day by FreedomWorks, a direct offshoot of the Koch-funded Citizens for a Sound Economy. The memo lays out a blueprint for the defunding of Obamacare, “easily done through a series of appropriation riders” attached to a continuing resolution to fund the government. Perhaps it’s not so easy, since Republicans have dropped that as a demand.

Heritage Foundation branch Heritage Action for America is a signatory to the memo, which describes the Affordable Care Act as “an unprecedented attack on life and religious liberty.”

Trans-Pacific Partnership Marches On

Uncle Sam’s shutdown may have placed obstacles in the path of various citizens attempting to access everything from monuments and parks to FHA loan information, but never fear: collusion with multinational corporations continues unobstructed.

Secretary of State John Kerry appeared in place of Pres. Obama at a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) summit in Indonesia this past week, where plans are being finalized for the agreement involving Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

Don’t let the cute monkey mask fool you: the TPP is neither friendly, fair, nor more fun than a barrel of you-know-what. Photo of protester in Japan this spring by Issei Kato/Reuters.

The Citizens’ Trade Campaign has raised serious questions about the trade agreement, which has been in negotiation since 2008 with massive input from corporations and hardly any from legislators of the nations involved.

Writing in 2012, Laurel Sutherlin of Rainforest Action Network foresaw dire consequences for “everything from affordable medicines, Internet freedoms and intellectual property rights to democratically enacted labor laws and environmental protections … a wish list of the 1%.”

Unlike past trade agreements, this one has not been rolled out for public review; what is known about it has come mostly via Wikileaks and includes a provision whereby corporations’ lawsuits against governments will be heard by a tribunal of international trade lawyers.

Past leaks of draft sections include provisions that allow Big Pharma to undermine access to affordable medicine in developing countries, privilege corporate banks over credit unions, favor fossil fuels over alternative energy and establish some provisions of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), already rejected by the U.S. Congress.

In fact, “This is not mainly about trade,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, on Democracy Now! “It is a corporate Trojan horse.”

Right-wingers at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation, to name but two, get all melty and tingly at the idea of greater globalization; the Heritage folks believe it will help neuter state-owned enterprises. Obama is currently seeking a “fast-track” authorization process that would allow him to sign off on the agreement without Congressional approval.

Political Wrangling Holds Up Hawaii Pesticide Bill

One of the Kauai County (Hawaii) councilmen who earlier this year introduced a bill that would increase the county’s oversight of the heaviest agricultural users of restricted-use pesticides on the island — Dow, Syngenta, BASF, Pioneer — is accusing the county administration of dragging its feet on a vote.

Monsanto is not subject to the bill because Roundup is classified by the EPA as a general-use pesticide, not a restricted-use pesticide, according to activist group Stoppoisoningparadise.org.

Supporters urging the Kauai County Council to stand up for the island’s children by supporting the public’s right to know what chemicals are being applied, plus when and where. Photo: www.StopPoisoningParadise.org — Pass Kauai Bill 2491.

Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. asked Tuesday during a full council hearing for a two-month extension so his administration can work with the state and county government on the issue.

But Councilman Gary Hooser believes severe budget cuts to the state Department of Agriculture’s pesticide oversight function make it crucial that local authorities take it over immediately, to prevent more harm to people and the environment.

For instance, 150 residents on the west side of Kauai, where most of the biotech operations are situated, filed a lawsuit in 2011 against DuPont-Pioneer, alleging their products were making them ill and driving down property values.

Included in the measure would be restrictions around schoolyards. Studies cited by Stoppoisoningparadise.org have proven neurotoxic pesticides contribute to the “rising rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, widespread declines in IQ and other measures of cognitive function” and that “evidence of links to certain childhood cancers is particularly strong.”

“We need to do something. We can’t count on the state. In our particular situation, I believe there is urgency. The doctors we talked to in those committee hearings believe there is urgency and we can’t sit around and wait for the state to get its act together,” he said.

Yet county officials know that pesticide oversight is not cheap — Kauai County Council Chair Jay Furfaro initially put the price at $4.4 million for the first two years and $911,000 every year after that. Supporters of the bill would like to see the biotech companies responsible for the pesticides absorb the cost.

Last month, days before the Kauai council committee voted on Bill 2491, Gov. Neil Abercrombie promised that he would work with the Hawaii legislature to restore funding and positions for pesticide regulation within the health and agriculture departments.

He also suggested that agricultural companies would voluntarily comply with new safety and health guidelines that would be put in place while the legislature and department heads deliberated on stricter controls. Supporters are skeptical of the governor’s promises, saying he is trying to derail the county’s efforts for stricter controls.

Planet Waves reported in August on this bill, the original version of which included extensive regulations of both pesticides and genetically modified organisms.

Last month, however, the Kauai County Council’s Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee amended the measure to focus more closely on pesticide use. The committee passed it 4-1 on Sept. 27, and the council will reconvene next Tuesday to address it again.

Judge Set to Determine Fines Against BP in Deepwater Horizon Case

Phase two of the civil trial against BP for its role in the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster began last week. The focus this time will be on determining how much oil actually spilled — and if government attorneys succeed in proving their number, 4.2 million barrels, it could mean the demise of BP.

Marine reef ecologist Scott Porter works to remove oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill off his hands in June 2010, south of Venice, Louisiana. Photo: Eric Gay/AP.

The first phase of the trial about two months ago centered on whether BP was grossly negligent or not, and in this Judge Carl J. Barbier has not made a ruling.
But if he agrees with the government’s position that there was gross negligence and that 4.2 million barrels were spilled, the fines could amount to more than $18 billion, according to a New York Times article.

“They would have to sell assets to keep the company afloat,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “It would wipe out all of their cash.”

BP is arguing that it was simple negligence and that only 2.45 million barrels were spilled. If the judge finds in its favor, it will pay fines of no more than $2.7 billion. Legal experts believe the actual fine will fall between the two extremes, according to the article.

This phase of the trial will also determine if BP prepared adequately for a blowout and if it responded properly once the oil started flowing.

Update: The director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, has offered to exchange his own freedom for the release of 28 environmentalists and two journalists facing piracy charges in Russia after they allegedly climbed aboard a Russian Arctic oil platform from their ship last month. In addition, Russia is charging them with possession of illegal drugs reportedly found on the seized Greenpeace vessel.

A Women’s Health Win in California

Amidst the near-constant onslaught of states passing ever-tighter restrictions on abortions (68 passed by states so far this year), California is bucking the trend. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Wednesday that allows nurse practitioners and other non-physicians to perform abortions via “vacuum aspiration” during the first trimester.

California isn’t just L.A., San Fran and San Diego; 52% of California counties lack an accessible abortion provider. Image: thisispersonal.org.

Critics accuse the governor of putting abortion-industry profits above the well-being of women and children and argue the bill will lower the standard of medical care for women.

Asked for commentary, Planet Waves member and medical consultant Hal J. Cohen D.O., remarked that as long as non-physicians are “well trained and credentialed,” the system should work fine.

He added, “The key to having this function smoothly is appropriate backup.

“For instance, NP anesthesiologists have backup in the hospital. Relatively quick, nearby access to a hospital is needed here as well. If these above safeguards are in place, I think it’s a reasonable and relatively safe way to expand much needed services.”

California joins Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Hampshire in allowing nurse practitioners to perform this type of abortion, which uses a tube and suction. California and several other states already allow non-physicians to prescribe drugs for pregnancy termination.

According to The New York Times, at least 8,000 such abortions have been provided safely by nurse practitioners, certified midwife nurses and physician assistants since 2007, as part of a University of California, San Francisco, pilot program. Complication rates for non-physicians were comparable to those for surgeons (below 2%).

What Are We Modeling? One in Ten Youth Commit Sexual Violence

If the title alone does not disturb you, perhaps this will: according to The Los Angeles Times, “One in seven believed that he or she was ‘not at all responsible for what happened,’ and almost 4 in 10 said they considered the victim somewhat or completely responsible for the reported incident.”

The numbers come from the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, a non-profit organization based in San Clemente, Calif., that surveyed 1,058 teens and young adults. Nearly one in ten reported having been a perpetrator of sexual violence. The numbers are supported by bi-annual stats compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Image by Katherine Streeter for NPR.

Survey respondents ranged from 14-21 years old, with slightly less than half aged 14-17. One in four respondents answered that their last victim was not a dating partner; previous research in this area has focused mainly on violence among dating partners and in college-aged individuals acting outside the need for parental consent.

The research, published by JAMA Pediatrics earlier this week, focused on participants in the center’s ongoing Growing up with Media study, which began in 2006. Among its findings is that 17% of the perpetrators had looked at violent or X-rated material in the past year; only 3% of the non-perpetrators had done so.

Michele Ybarra, the center’s president and director of research, cautions that the “findings should be interpreted cautiously” and that the study should be replicated — but warns even more urgently of the need to emphasize “bystander” training and intervention in the nation’s secondary schools and colleges. “Such training emphasizes the responsibility of peers not only to discourage and prevent negative behavior within their group or community, but also to recognize, stop or report such behavior when they witness it,” according to the Times article.

It also underscores the need for adults to be aware of the attitudes, behavior and speech they are modeling for youth when it comes to sex and relationships — both in terms of what we do, what forms of media we bring into our homes or support with our consumer dollars, and what we say to teens directly.

“We absolutely need to have conversations with our kids about what healthy sex is and what unhealthy sex is,” says Ybarra. Parents could say, “‘If you have to convince your partner, maybe that’s not the right way to have sex.’ Even simple messages like that are important.”

 

Drunk-Dialing Congress

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade — or, in this case, lemonade spiked with vodka while you call up members of Congress with your free hand.

A group called Revolution Messaging has designed a website for the purpose — drunkdialcongress.org — complete with talking points, drink recipes and an embedded calling platform so that all you have to do is type in your own phone number to be connected to a random member of Congress. The idea is based on the time-honored (or dishonored) ‘tradition’ for people under the influence to dial (or misdial) a friend, lover, ex or random stranger and weep, babble or rant embarrassingly into the receiver.

Why do this? The site notes, “As Members of Congress quickly returned from their final symbolic, non-effective and otherwise useless votes to avert a government shutdown, the heavy drinking began. Reports of our representatives getting plastered on the government’s dime — the one we have left — have come streaming in from witnesses all over Capitol Hill. Now’s your chance to tell your Representative what you really think of their actions.”

We are happy to offer once again one of our most popular products: the Planet Waves All-Access Pass for 2014. The All-Access Pass is for members who want access to everything we offer in a calendar year. In recent years our product line has grown considerably, and the response from our All-Access subscribers has been overwhelmingly positive. You can read about everything that’s included with an All-Access pass here. For those who can’t get enough Planet Waves astrology, it’s an unbeatable value. Plus, if you order now, we’ll include the rest of the readings that come out in 2013, and you’ll save $100.

 

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published the extended monthly horoscopes for October on Friday, Sept. 27. Inner Space for October was published Friday, Sept. 20. We published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Pisces Full Moon Tuesday, Sept. 16. Moonshine for the Libra New Moon published on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscopes on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space usually publishes the following Tuesday but for now it’s substituting for one Friday horoscope a month.

 

As mentioned, I’ve taken a week off from the horoscope. However, I’ve tried something I’ve considered for a long time — allowing the Oracle to choose interpretations from the vast database of prior horoscopes. The Oracle is a bit spooky responding to individual queries to individual questions; it works beautifully as a daily feature. So I thought I would try sign-by-sign. I made the queries myself on Thursday, asking for a weekly horoscope for each of the signs, one at a time. The returns are absolutely random, with about a 1 in 10,000 chance of any one entry being chosen. Some themes recur — the idea of ‘ethics’ shows up twice. There seems to be an emphasis on professional activities. I am curious how they work for you. Please let me know. — Eric Francis

The Oracle Horoscope, standing in for Weekly Horoscope 970, Oct. 11, 2013

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Reassurance has not come in quite the form you expected, but it has arrived and it’s here to stay. There is more news to come, in both personal and professional relationships, and the sometimes strange territory where they meet. It’s true that mixing personal involvement with work, or daring to allow a relationship to take on a purpose, are considered risky by many people, and often threaten to have sloppy results if things go wrong. The actual problem is people having no real sense of what others are thinking and feeling, and not bothering to ask. I suggest you take this opportunity to reveal yourself, and to make any long-overdue inquiries that could give you an excellent change of perspective.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Not everyone has to agree with you. Not even you have to agree with yourself all the time, but, sooner or later, you eventually work it out. What you may soon discover is just how prophetic you’ve been at predicting your own life, despite the mental and emotional challenges you’ve been through lately. On one level it may seem like you’ve been getting accurate images of your future. Looked at another way, you’ve been taking your visions and, by some mysterious process you may not understand, you’ve been making those images real. There’s a word for it: imagination.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — About six weeks ago, around the Virgo New Moon, you learned something about yourself. I reckon you had a revelation that gave you permission to take a certain risk, and your thoughts quite likely pointed to why that risk was the logical step to take. I want to remind you of that thought process, and let you know that you stand in the spot where the choice or action is possible. This may involve a relationship, one which you are ready to approach directly and with a level head. And it, too, is ready to approach you. Remember, though, that the true meeting is within yourself.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — I can see you writing in your notebook, or on a napkin, “Okay, this time I’m actually going nuts.” Well, okay, I hear you, but it’s not quite for sure. What’s happening is that a lot of internal energy is getting liberated (associated with Mars) at the same time a marvelously complicated situation is unfolding in your mental world. Conditions are such that the increased energy is amplifying your perception of what is happening, though the situation does warrant a close look. It is dangerous to be too invested in your own personal value system; that’s one message of this crisis. There are a lot of ways to accomplish the same goal, or meet the same need. One message of your current chart is to strive for diversity in your thinking, including what you learn from other cultures and people from other countries.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — If the astonishing run of luck, activity and inspiration the past few weeks has eased off, all that’s happened has indeed left you a different person. I would propose you figured out the importance of being grounded and building your dreams on solid foundations. Yet in truth, nothing has left the neighborhood or passed you by. Its form has changed, and in many respects, it’s become more accessible to thought (as inspiration sometimes is not). Also, you are starting to ask the important financial questions about the idea, and they do indeed have answers. Remember, if something doesn’t have a solution, it may not be a problem.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Close partners seem to be of two minds — or perhaps two bodies, in that people who usually vehemently disagree seem to be singing from the same book of hymns. It may be that the passing of yesterday’s lunar eclipse has released the tension in the air like a good thunderstorm, or that people went so far into polarized directions on their opinions that they have finally started to meet on the other side of the house. Everything that seemed so incredibly important yesterday can now fade happily into memory. So don’t focus so much on the details that you miss the surreal nature of the moment, when the cat lays down with the mouse. Resist fits of jealousy as well — these people all love you.

 

Attention Libras (and those with Libra rising or Moon): We’ve got big news for you if you’re a Libra, or were born with Libra as your rising or Moon sign: Your 2013-2014 birthday reading by Eric Francis is ready!

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Not all problems can be solved by money. Money can be very useful, but it is utterly useless without ideas to back it up. Isn’t it amazing that virtually any crisis, difficulty, struggle or puzzle can be solved with a single thought? In case you are trying to work something like this out (and people may be depending upon you to do so) here is the formula that will work for any difficulty this month. Consider your problem, any problem, and imagine that a mom and a small child (about five years old) are working on solving it together. There are some suggestions the mom has, and others that the child has, but between them they see the whole situation, and poof, the solution appears.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — People treat you fairly but that’s partly because you stand up for yourself. It’s also because you’ve long ago figured out that this elusive little thing in the world called ‘ethics’ is alive and well in your mind. You live in a world where there is actual right and wrong. This week may present you with an ethical dilemma that comes in various shades of gray. At the time it may not seem like there is a correct answer or solution. You may in the end have to make a decision that’s based on your intuition or do what feels right. You can trust yourself. With you the chances are that if it feels right it is.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — When seeking money, remember your ethics. When working for advancement in your career, remember your ethics. I say these things knowing we live in a world where the concept of ethics seems outmoded and even useless. I assure you, it’s not. Whatever the current trend in thought, no matter how popular, useful and effective it may be to forego questions of authenticity, or matters of right and wrong, there is such a thing as karma. We are all subject to it. I don’t think you’re an unethical person; rather, I see a spell of astrology where the ends might seem to justify the means. They do not. How you go about something, from the specific methods you use, to the motivation that drives you, is every bit as meaningful as what you accomplish. Indeed, the two are so closely related as to be the same thing: if you notice you’re being driven by some form of ambition, you might want to check your goal and make sure that it’s really something you want. For an extended phase of your life, you are being granted a mantle of power. You have an aura of authority, and that connotes responsibility. I suggest you live like your telephone is tapped and like you’re being followed around by a television crew. Live as if you are actually accountable for your actions. You are. You are also accountable for the constructive, creative and sincere deeds to your credit, but on that particular theme, I suggest you let others do the talking.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — A variety of unusual factors are conspiring to push your professional life ahead by light years. These are recent developments and they’re impossible to miss. You may at times feel like you’re losing control of the process, but that’s part of what happens at times of big change, and part of how you know you’re actually there. Within the experience, you have a lot of room to make several very specific decisions about what you want to be doing and how. You may need to negotiate with certain people a little bit — but you’re in the perfect position to do so.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Things seem to be going well. But how well is well enough? Usually we have no idea how good life is until we express our wealth, personal gifts or success in some tangible way. Misers are miserable simply because they withhold themselves. The prevailing logic of the world says that to give something is to give it up. I would propose that in this case, to give what you have is to keep it. And it gets better yet. The accompanying discovery is that you have far more than you ever imagined. Take this on the most private level (rather than business or social) and you’re more likely to see what I mean. Your instincts are telling you that you need to express an emotional reality of some kind, and express it from the deepest and most generous place within you. It may feel like a tremendous personal risk. More good will come of it than you think.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Apply creativity to everything you touch, thought you think and person you know. That’s how to access the miracle no matter what situation you find yourself in. Living is an art; loving is a science; emotion is a craft in which we sail the waters of feeling and passion. You can afford to take absolutely any chance you want as long as you keep your mind in the most alert state available. This may seem like a great responsibility but the alternative is far too dull to seriously consider.