Dear Friend and Reader:

Last night the Pisces Full Moon came to exact opposition, though the Moon is still bristling with energy and is still at full phase. The Moon enters Aries at 7:33 pm EDT (23:33 UT) today, so if the Moon leaving Pisces means taking a breath, then it would be the breath of fire.

One interesting feature of the Full Moon and of the Sun’s placement this week is that the Sun is conjunct asteroid (443) Photographica. One of the more literally delineated asteroids available to work with, Photographica (discovered in 1899 with the Sun in Pisces, right around when film was becoming commercially available) really seems to be about the creation of pictures and of imagery.

Photo by Eric Francis.

Photography is a more significant part of our lives than we may recognize. It’s true that in the age of the digital camera, pictures seem to be throwaway items. I would propose that under the influence of this astrology you take it a few steps beyond that, in the direction of intentional use of your camera.

Between the snapshot and ‘serious art’ is a vast space to explore visual language, nonverbal communication, light, color, form and the dreamlike state that photography can evoke.

Because Chiron and the asteroid Child are in the aspect pattern, I suggest you spend some time with childhood photos, perhaps even one of them, and make contact with that kid you once were. If you’re a parent, document your child or children and when you refer back to these photos, remember the astrology that was involved.

Tonight’s edition of Planet Waves FM will be a replay of last night’s live edition. That should appear on the Planet Waves FM homepage before 5 pm EDT. This version will be the studio quality one, so I suggest you listen there.

The Virgo birthday (and Virgo rising) reading is ready and it is magnificent. I went overboard on this one — it consists of three 40-minute segments, with an extended ‘astrology afterthoughts’ section at the end, followed by a tarot reading using the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless.

In the extra astrology section, I cover the influence of the Uranus-Pluto square on Virgo and Virgo rising, which may be the most interesting alignment for experiencing this generational aspect.

I’ve focused the reading on relationships, the more personal kind and also those with mentors, teachers, healers and students. I offer an extended, excellent delineation of Chiron as it relates to Virgo and how it’s coming across to you now at this time in your life, when you are under a long Chiron transit.

Your reading includes a live teleconference about your astrology, as well as access to last year’s reading so that you can review your astrology from the past four seasons, and check my accuracy. Please note that the price for the Virgo reading increases to $49.95 tomorrow, so you’ll want to order it now for the best price. You may listen to a free audio preview here.

Many of our clients have asked whether we have individual signs available for the Good as Gold midyear readings. We do — here is the link.

Later today I’ll be sending out an invitation to our basic subscribers and Core Community members to upgrade to the All-Access Pass at an excellent rate. Please watch for that note.

Catch you tonight at Planet Waves FM, and with your weekly edition Thursday evening.

With love, your astrologer,

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $199/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.

Dear Friend and Reader:

It’s time for September monthly horoscopes. I write two of them — the extended monthly (scheduled for Thursday distribution) and Inner Space, which usually publishes the Tuesday closest to the New Moon. I am running a little late on the Inner Space this month, and plan to have that to you later today or in the morning. These columns look ahead to the equinox and the weeks surrounding it.

Tonight on Planet Waves FM, my musical guest is Tamar Haviv.

In tonight’s Planet Waves FM, I will look at the astrology of the Sun’s trip through Virgo, the last sign of the current season. I’ll also look at the current pattern of Venus square Mars and Saturn. There’s some useful tension in that pattern, though when Venus, Mars and Saturn get together, it’s necessary to apply some caution and really get the message.

I’ll return to the topic of the two charts for the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which I covered in Thursday’s edition. Ferguson’s death and the subsequent protests brought out what my American Studies professor Michael Frisch used to call “the nature of the beast.” Astrologically, I will focus on the phenomenon of when the ‘wrong’ chart works, how that happens and what it says about astrology.

Brown’s funeral services occurred Monday after a long delay and then fell on an unusual astrological day — Mars conjunct Saturn and the Virgo New Moon. I have not seen anything quite like this since the funerals of Yassir Arafat in 2004 and Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

Yesterday, a study about autism, vaccines and African American kids bubbled up onto the alternative news sites. I won’t have a full investigation on that today, but I will introduce the subject, and talk about how data can be manipulated to water down a drug or chemical’s effect.

My musical guest will be Tamar Haviv, featuring two songs from her debut album. I was in a meeting in New York City last night and was handed an iPhone cued to one of her videos. I got hold of her CD, which I would describe a work of pop art — and brilliantly optimistic. It took her 10 years to create, because she paid for the recording sessions “one massage at a time,” according to her friend Dannielle Spencer.

The Good as Gold conference call is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 pm EDT. If you’re curious about my first writing on the “gold standard of self esteem,” here is that article.

Tonight after Planet Waves FM posts there will be a live conference call for people who purchased the Leo birthday reading. You can still get in on that. The call is scheduled for 7 pm EDT.

Wednesday at 7 pm EDT, I will be hosting the live conference call for Good as Gold, my set of readings on creativity, work and money. I am planning this as a community forum on the nature of transitioning into creative work for a living. I have set up those readings for individual sign purchase. You can also get all 12 as a bundle.

We have also put the Virgo birthday reading on pre-order and it’s available for its lowest available price of $24.95. This will make a beautiful, lasting and inexpensive gift for any Virgo in your life.

I think that about covers it for today. I will catch you on tonight’s Planet Waves FM or in one of the two community forums this week.

Lovingly,

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $199/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Right up top so everyone sees it, I am planning to move this week’s edition back to Friday afternoon to make room for my friends at Chronogram, who go to press on Thursday. So you will have your horoscope and other materials about one day later than normal.

Victoria Claflin Woodhull, later Victoria Woodhull Martin (Sept. 23, 1838 — June 9, 1927), was an American leader of the women’s suffrage movement.

As I mentioned in Thursday’s edition, we have been having an unusual experience of small planets making contact with very large ones, which can either be overwhelming or allow you the perspective to get a sense of scale. We have one more such aspect ahead of us — Mars conjunct Saturn on Monday, Aug. 25 — the day of the Virgo New Moon. I’ll be covering both of these in tonight’s Planet Waves FM, which usually posts at about 5 pm EDT.

If you’re one of those people who dare to watch the news, I’m sure it’s been with some concern for what is happening in the world — we are still doing that 2012-era thing of ‘everything, all at once’. This is going to go on for a while — it is a wakeup call, and I suspect it will last till a good few more people are paying attention.

When I cast the chart for the Ferguson, Missouri, scenario — involving the police shooting of an unarmed young man named Michael Brown and the resulting protests — I thought I would see the Uranus-Pluto square front and center. At first look it seems to be hiding behind the scenes. In tonight’s edition of Planet Waves FM I will discuss that chart and what it’s telling us.

I’ll also fill you in on what I learned at the Victoria Woodhull Foundation conference this weekend in Alexandria, Virginia. Woodhull was many things, including the first woman to run for president of the United States —  as founder of the Equal Rights Party in 1872. She was also an advocate of the concept of free love as a fundamental human right. The conference included sex educators, activists, erotic industry businesspeople, sex workers, their advocates, various academics and the occasional astrologer — in all, an interesting scene. Don’t miss my reading of Woodhull’s chart in tonight’s edition of Planet Waves FM.

Yesterday I published a letter called Business Astrology for the Individual Talent, which describes Good as Gold, the 2014 midyear readings. If you’re curious about that, you’re invited to have a look. The audio preview is available at that page.

Phone conferences for the Leo birthday reading and Good as Gold will be scheduled for next week, once I’ve caught up with all the monthly horoscope materials. I also plan to resume core community phone calls and my natal astrology reading class sometime soon, so stay tuned for that. (It has been a very, very busy summer finishing the new website, and we are almost there.)

If you’re born under the sign Virgo or Virgo rising, here is your pre-order link for your birthday reading.

Thanks for reading. I’ll catch you over at Planet Waves FM in a few hours.

Lovingly, your astrologer,

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $199/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.

Dear Friend and Reader:

There are people whose charts we look to for information about them, and people whose charts teach us about the nature of astrology. Robin Williams was both. [See charts here.]

In tonight’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I’ll go over Williams’ charts, focusing on the role of Psyche and Chiron in his career, life and death. And I will consider the nature of suicide, and the message that it sends.

Robin Williams and Pam Dawber as Mork and Mindy.

Williams began his extraordinary acting career playing the role of Mork from Ork, who first appeared on the series Happy Days in 1978 in a dream experienced by Richie Cunningham. While Williams played many more sophisticated roles, the notion that he was akin to a visitor from another planet stands out boldly in his chart.

I’ll be looking at his charts in some depth, considering his Chiron conjunct the Galactic Core, his collection of planets in very late degrees of their respective signs, and the role of asteroid Psyche, which was prominent in the charts of his birth and death. These placements in his chart describe a life-or-death struggle with faith.

Speaking of audio, we have just uploaded the Good as Gold readings to the server, and it should be available to purchasers Wednesday. I will leave the pre-order price of $49.95 in place for another day or so, then we will gradually increase to full fare by the weekend ($79.95 for all 12 readings, 45 minutes to one hour each).

Good as Gold is a set of integrated readings (i.e., they relate to one another) that explores the relationship between creativity, self-esteem and supporting oneself on one’s true talent. This is, of course, a challenging issue, and one that has been a recurring theme of my astrology consulting since the beginning. I’ve brought the best of my talent as an astrologer and business consultant to this question and have done my best to offer something useful.

You can listen to a free audio preview of Good as Gold at this link.

I’ll be preparing a short edition of Planet Waves for Thursday night, consisting mostly of a horoscope and a short letter. This week and weekend I am planning to be at the conference for the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance in Alexandria, Virginia, the only such event of its kind that I know of. I won’t be at the Chronogram block party this year, though I will be in the DC area and will be available by email or reachable through my New York office, (845) 331-0355.

I plan to report back with what I’ve learned in next week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, and elsewhere if appropriate.

See you tonight on Planet Waves FM.

Lovingly,

P.S. A new issue of Planet Waves’ free environmental newsletter, called Monsanto ECO, will be mailed out later today. You can read last week’s issue here, and sign up here to receive the mailings every Tuesday.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $149/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Brendan Merritt, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Aunt Josie Forever!

Dear Friend and Reader:

My last two daily editions have covered the square pattern between Leo and Scorpio, and the Moon passing through the grand fire trine. I will have coverage of the Aquarius Full Moon in Thursday night’s edition.

A Palestinian woman lights a candle for the children of Gaza in the Church of the Annunciation in the West Bank village of Beit Jala.

From today’s post: “Fire is versatile, and it comes in many varieties, and we seem to have an abundance of all of them available to use right now. There is the fire of initiative and originality of Aries, in several forms. There is the physical, materializing fire of Leo waiting to be tapped into. There is the cosmic fire of Sagittarius, expressing itself as Karma, Ixion, Pholus, Orpheus, Hylonome, Eros and many other points.”

Note, we will have the Moonshine horoscope in its own mailing sent before the Aquarius Full Moon on Aug. 10.

Tonight’s edition of Planet Waves FM will focus on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I’ll be speaking with Karen Pardini, who has followed the situation closely, and is experienced in working in the midst of disaster zones.

Our musical guest is Last Good Tooth, whose original members met at the Rhode Island School of Design. But they are not Talking Heads — they offer deep, soulful acoustic folk music. The program usually posts between 5 and 6 pm EDT (about 17:00 UTC).

I’ve completed the Leo birthday reading — that will be available later today to All-Access Pass holders and those who have already pre-ordered the reading. If you have not yet purchased it, I am holding the price at the pre-order (half price) level for a few more days.

This week I am recording the Good as Gold readings. This is a set of 45-minute readings for all 12 signs focused on business, creativity and self-esteem. They are still available at the pre-order price of $49.95.

I’ll see you tonight over at Planet Waves FM.

Lovingly,

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $149/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Aunt Josie Forever!

Dear Friend and Reader:

As the Sun makes its way into Leo (Tuesday at 5:41 pm EDT or 21:41 UTC), we are again confronted with a painful world situation — the loss of another Malaysia Airlines jet in the war zone in Ukraine, the latest recurrence of a vicious war between Hamas and the Israelis and the situation in Iraq and Syria that has temporarily faded into the background.

I sometimes imagine that I’m telling the story of our moment far in the future, perhaps 100 years from now, describing the critical times we live in today — with global warming increasing, manufactured genetics inhabiting the body of every living thing and so many other problems that we need to solve. And what was most of the world community focused on? Nonstop war.

As we enter the Dog Days of summer, this is Icha, a talented four-year-old German shepherd search and rescue dog. She is Pisces (born March 9) certified in underwater search, live scent and cadaver. Photo by Eric.

Not only is this condition taking a psychological toll on every person on the planet, we are wasting precious human life, time and resources on what amount to petty conflicts when we could be solving problems and moving forward.

The question I will be asking on tonight’s Planet Waves FM is, what is the psychology behind this? I will look at the astrology associated with the Sun’s ingress into Leo, the Leo New Moon and Mars about to ingress Scorpio.

Then I will look at the charts associated with the tragedy in Ukraine involving the loss of a civilian airliner, and how the current astrology is influencing the situation in the Middle East.

The program usually goes up between 5 and 6 pm EDT (about 21:00 UTC). The entire archive of Planet Waves FM programs remains available on that website.

I’ve been writing about the Sun’s ingress in two recent daily pieces, which you can scan at this link (that takes you to the Daily Astrology category).

I am currently working on two audio reading projects — the Leo Birthday Reading, which will be available early next week, and Good as Gold, a 12-sign midyear reading that will be available in early August. (Note, both of these are included with an All-Access membership.)

The Cancer reading was our most successful birthday reading in the five-year history of the project, and we had an amazing conference call where we covered the nuances of the project. Birthday readings and Good as Gold both include conference calls, which we will announce about a week before they happen.

I will catch you tonight on Planet Waves FM.

Lovingly,

PS — I have teamed up with Glyde, makers of the world’s only vegan, fair-trade condoms, to create a horoscope called Sex By Sign. This will publish every Wednesday night.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $149/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward. Special thanks to the Fact Checkers List, and to our main astrology fact-checker Alex Miller, and Amanda, who goes over all their suggestions. Aunt Josie Forever!