Here is feast of solitude
A fiddler grim and tall
Plays to dancing kings and wives
Assembled in the hall
— R.H.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Once again, we’re being confronted with a mass casualty incident involving firearms. This is on the heels of every other kind of disaster, or the threat of one, in rapid sequence since the Aug. 21 eclipse. By now every American has heard the story: someone set up a position on the 32nd floor of a resort hotel in Las Vegas, and opened fire on a country music festival across the street. According to the police, and press reports, there were more than 500 casualties, including 59 dead.

Security checkpoint set up outside a Chanel store in Las Vegas after Sunday’s shooting. Now all hotels and casinos on the strip are screening everyone on the way in. This is the wave of the future. Security checkpoints, including sophisticated X-ray scans, will soon go from being many places to being everyplace. This will be a massive boon for the national security state and everyone in that business, dwarfing the expansion after 9/11. Photo by Melja Nanucci for Planet Waves.

Remember that nearly all of us are experiencing this through the internet, and at the same time, few are considering the impact of the internet on events and our perception of them. The internet influences the speed that the news travels, as well as its impact. The internet also means that videos of the crime and the crime scene were available almost instantly.

Straight away, as always happens these days, the “false flag” theories have come up: that is, ideas about how actual events fail to match up with the official story that’s being repeated with absolute unanimity by all media from Fox to The New York Times to MSNBC to Democracy Now!

They are all taking different positions on the gun issue itself, and perhaps asking different questions, though the core narrative is remarkably consistent no matter what the position of the outlet: a lone shooter, with no known motive, did this all by himself. (To be fair, Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC had one guest for about five minutes Monday night, who was present at the scene and who described his perception of multiple shooters.)

For anyone spreading fear, Las Vegas was the perfect setting for such an incident: it’s one of the unofficial capitals of the United States. Almost everyone has been there, and even if you hate the place you love the place. Everyone can relate. It’s pure Americana, as is country music. Between the internet and Las Vegas, it’s easy to write yourself into the story.

Ultimately, the idea of any false flag theory is that the government did it. There are many plausible versions of this. But we don’t need any theory or potential false flag operation to see that: this is about the true flag, the stars and stripes of the United States government. Our government allows, and encourages, people to possess weapons of war, where those weapons are used routinely on the people.

The effect is a proxy war on the people, waged on behalf of the people who arm the population. Armed citizens take their own guns and do the bidding of those (for example, in Congress, and in state governments) who allow them to have those guns.

The effect is the same as that of any terrorism: to inflict shock and horror, and to keep the people in a helpless state. When you hear guys with guns talk about uprising and revolution, this is what they mean.

It’s also essential to remember that the 2nd Amendment, or Article 2 of the Bill of Rights, was a compromise with the South, particularly Virginia, so that their slave patrols could be armed. That’s another way to say: the point of the 2nd Amendment was to preserve slavery, at gunpoint, for the states that had it and planned to keep it.

The slave patrols are the historical basis of the 2nd Amendment and its right to keep and bear arms. This was a compromise with Virginia and other southern states who planned to keep forcibly emigrated Africans as slaves in perpetuity. This particular badge is from the Carolinas.

The inherently racist nature of the 2nd Amendment must be kept in mind at all times as this debate roars on. You can read about this in an article on Truthout, or in this law review article written by the professor quoted in Truthout.

As it turns out, the 2nd Amendment is doing its job rather well, keeping people enslaved by fear and the specter of death. Yet the 2nd Amendment contains the language “well-ordered militia” and “security of a free state.” There’s nothing especially well-ordered about what we see going on, and it’s certainly not contributing to the security of a free state. Interpretations of the 2nd Amendment that allow people in general to be armed always ignore those two phrases, the ones that establish the rationale.

The 2nd Amendment was also written in the day of the musket. To politicians writing in the 1780s, today’s automatic weapons, laser gun-sights, night vision and silencers would seem like something from an alien civilization or the Book of Revelation.

Earlier this week, I read something actually shocking in The New York Times: “Since 1970, more Americans have died from guns (including suicides, murders and accidents) than the sum total of all the Americans who died in all the wars in American history, back to the American Revolution. Every day, some 92 Americans die from guns, and American kids are 14 times as likely to die from guns as children in other developed countries, according to David Hemenway of Harvard.” Let’s see, if that many people died from chewing gum or TV dinners, how long would it take to ban those things?

The American death toll of the Vietnam War, from 1955 to 1975, stands at 58,220. Every 633 days, that many Americans die of gunshot wounds. The guns are allowed and widely available, and their purchase is facilitated by the United States government, and by extremely lax state governments such as Nevada.

In a courageous Op-Ed piece, again in the Times, Rosanne Cash, an old friend of Planet Waves, wrote this week: “Last year, I performed at the Concert Across America to End Gun Violence with Jackson Browne, Eddie Vedder, Marc Cohn and the Harlem Gospel Choir, and we got death threats. People wanted to kill us because we wanted to end gun violence. That’s where we are: America, 2017.”

Performers at the Concert Across America to end Gun Violence received death threats. This poster is for one local version of the concert. There were many.

Where guns are concerned, the government is, in many ways, under the seeming control of an organization called the National Rifle Association (NRA), which pretends to be a popular grassroots organization but which is really a lobby group fighting for the profits of gun manufacturers.

Here’s a list of the top congressional recipients of political donations from the NRA. There’s a vast disparity between Republican recipients and Democratic ones; this is a dirty deal between the Republicans and the NRA.

Rosanne wrote, “There is no other way to say this: The NRA funds domestic terrorism.” But we must remember that the NRA, as a registered charity and tax-exempt corporation, is really a creature of government power, and it’s influencing the government itself. The two are functioning as one entity, playing a shell game when it comes to facilitating the death toll of a Vietnam War every two years.

When you look at the astrology chart for the event, whether in traditional format or using modern planets as well, the government’s fingerprints are all over this event. It all comes back to the government [see both formats displayed here]. This could easily be misread as “false flag,” though that’s not what the chart says; or at least not on its face.

Everything in the chart comes back to the 10th house and its ruler Jupiter, to Capricorn and to Saturn. This is not a case of a “secret enemy” such as with the Sept. 11 incident. There’s nothing covert about it. This chart is menacing because everything is out in the open. Due to the denial factor, it’s a kind of open secret.

What is the motive for this open war on the people? Well, using an approach I learned from Gestalt therapy, we can look at the effect to see the motive. It would seem to be fomenting a new civil war, the flames of which are rising from the embers of the last one (which I believe the South won, or we would not be having this discussion).

Remember that the United States is headed for its Pluto return. This is just one element in a complex pattern that involves Saturn, Pluto, Eris and other significant planets, and develops rapidly between now and the exact Pluto return, on Feb. 20, 2022.

Religious huckster or good guy with a gun? Wayne LaPierre, vice president of the NRA. It’s difficult to believe he actually exists.

The United States is deeply divided, only now the division is between the people with guns and those without them. Or perhaps more properly said, those with guns who advance them as an end unto themselves, rather than as a potentially useful tool of rural life or tasks such as transporting large quantities of diamonds on a regular basis.

This is a different purpose from gun nuts who stockpile weapons in support of some fantasy of revolution or free-for-all, or of defending themselves against some Black people’s uprising that, from their mental framework, they have reason to fear. Yes, in the minds of many of our fellow Americans, the thing to really, really worry about is a “slave revolt” by the very people they have held down for centuries of American history. This is most likely a sick projection of their own minds, though we are all living with the results of that.

There are many ways to begin to get a grasp on this problem. The country could require guns to be licensed, registered and insured like cars are — a DMV of guns. We could dial back the proliferation of assault weapons, which could be defined as any weapon convertible to fully automatic (that seems to be what happened in Las Vegas).

Then again, there may be a bigger problem. After prying into this story for the past four days, my belief, based on the available facts, witness reports and video evidence, is that there was at least one person shooting from the lower floors of the hotel. And if that is true, I would ask: what are the implications of that? Many things happened in Las Vegas on Monday and in the days after that we did not hear about, and for which there’s no room in the discussion. Why is that?

In the article below, I’ll look more closely at the chart of the incident, and see what we learn. Thanks for tuning in, and for carrying on.

Oh, one last thing: if you’ve never listened to Planet Waves FM, this is a good week to check out my analysis of these events and their implications, spiritual and social.

With love,

— Additional research by Cindy Ragusa

The Charts for the 10/1 Incident in Las Vegas

In this article, I’ll look at two versions of the same chart for the Las Vegas mass shooting, and describe how the astrology implicates the government. This is true whether you think it’s “true flag” (average Joe with guns goes nuts and shoots everyone) or “false flag” (some wider effort involving more than one actor). The only difference between the charts is what planets are included in the set.

The charts are based on the same data, which is an updated time reported by the Las Vegas police. Originally the first charts were for 10:07 pm or 10:08 pm, the first reports of shots fired. The police now say that the first shots were fired at 10:05 pm and that the shooting ended at 10:15 pm.

Astrologers use the charts for the beginning of an incident, which is the point of no return. Note that between 10:05 pm and 10:08 pm is within tolerance range for the exact same degrees on the angles. In other words, they are as close to the same chart as one can get, with a different time.

Though police had pegged the location of the shooter within minutes, per news reports, it was not until about 11:20 pm that an explosive device was used to blow open the door to the alleged sole shooter’s hotel suite. 

The chart above is set for 10:05 pm, and includes only the traditional, visible planets, the lunar nodes and the part of fortune. This is the chart that a practitioner of astrology would have seen in the 17th century, at the height of horary astrology and at the time the first book on the subject was published in English. It’s a go-to method when trying to suss out a complex event. Generally, the story will be clearly visible in the traditional chart, and elaborated by the addition of modern planets.

Please note that I will be using whole-sign houses for most of this discussion. All of Gemini is the 1st house, all of Cancer is the 2nd house, etc. The house cusps — that is the visible lines — are like peaks of activity within the whole-sign house. I explain that in detail in this recent article on the houses from The Mountain Astrologer.

Gemini Rising: Two Versions of the Story

This chart has Gemini rising. When you see Gemini rising in the chart of an event, you know to be on the lookout for two parallel versions of the story. Those two versions are the official version, which seems credible enough; and then the unofficial version, which includes multiple shooters, and incidents elsewhere along the strip that night that are not being reported by the mainstream media.

With Gemini rising, your eye should also be taken to Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, which we find in Libra, the 5th house. The plane that rules the ascendant represents 1) the question itself and 2) the perpetrator. Even though there’s just one Mercury, there may be two of whatever Mercury represents. Still, the placement of Gemini fits the story well: we are told that the perpetrator was an avid gambler; the 5th house covers gambling, and casinos, and is a neat fit for a crime allegedly perpetrated by a gambler (and gamer) in a place like Las Vegas.

The perp is described as a nice guy who liked the finer things in life, who sent his mother cookies, and bought his girlfriend an airplane ticket and sent her money — and who had excellent taste in quality weapons of war. In true Libra fashion, this event looks good from the outside — that is, it looks plausible; and it’s associated with luxury: the best suite in the best hotel.

The 8th House: Nature and Cause of Death

In a death chart, the nature and cause of death is often described by the 8th house and its ruler. This chart has Capricorn on the 8th house; Capricorn in a chart like this points to the government and corporate responsibility. The ruling planet of Capricorn is Saturn. Saturn is on the far right side of the chart, about to set, in what is called the 7th house. Placed on the horizon, Saturn has extraordinary influence in this chart.

The 7th house is the one that covers “open enemies” in traditional astrology, and there is Saturn. Saturn is a universal symbol for the government and, in our time, for corporate authority. We could stop the reading right here.

As mentioned, Saturn is in Sagittarius, so for our next clue, we look at the location of the Sagittarius planet, Jupiter. We find that in Libra in the 5th house. Jupiter also rules the 10th house (because Pisces is there), which is one of the most significant places to look for information about the government. In this chart, nothing occupies the 10th, but its ruler is Jupiter. We find Jupiter right in the 5th, along with the alleged perp — in a place where lots of gambling happense. That is Las Vegas, and the symbols also point to a daring, risky operation.

The Moon is like the pointer in a chart. The Moon’s previous aspect to a planet was a sextile to Saturn (government, open enemy) and the next (and last) aspect before it changes signs is a trine to Jupiter. So the Moon is being bounced from a sextile to Saturn to a trine to Jupiter, both significators of government; and that’s all she wrote before the Moon ingresses Pisces and a new story begins.

The 4th House: All Things Domestic

One last detail. There’s an unusual Venus-Mars conjunction in this chart, located in the 4th house. After much work on the Sept. 11 chart over the years, and other terrorist incidents, I recognize the 4th house as that of domestic affairs, domestic causes of terrorism, and of the shadow government — or “deep state” as it’s sometimes called. Venus is the ruler of the 12th house of secret enemies; Mars is the ruler of the 6th house of the military. The two are having a little get-together; a quiet evening at home.

This chart is all about that which is domestic, in every sense of the word: not international; the familiar, all-American, domestic quality of Las Vegas itself; domestic strife; a homegrown problem.

One last thing: it’s important to scan these charts for mutual receptions, or for planets in one another’s signs. Here’s something interesting: Mercury is in Libra, which is the sign of Venus; and Venus is in Virgo, one of Mercury’s signs. That means that everything represented by one planet is represented by the other. They are locked into an orbit and function as one entity: the shooter and the secret enemy. It would seem that the alleged perp is an agent of something larger than himself. And if there were two or more shooters, well, you get the implications of that. If this is as we’re being told it is, there should, under no circumstances, be even the faintest possibility of another shooter.

I’ve just noticed a second mutual reception, technically called a mixed reception: Jupiter is in a sign where Saturn is exalted, and Saturn is in a sign that Jupiter rules. This is getting werry werry slippery. Nothing is staying the same; major influences change places and alternate roles. That, to me, is one marker of “false flag.” It is the very essence of the 9/11 chart (wherein Mercury and Saturn are in mixed reception).

This version of the chart adds the following points: the three modern planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto; the first three centaurs (Chiron, Pholus and Nessus); and Eris, the distant, slow-moving object orbiting the Sun, which was named amidst much fuss in the summer of 2006.

Centaur Planets: Nessus and Pholus

The first thing that stands out is that Nessus and Pholus are angular. Angular means near one of those darker lines, either close to the horizon or the meridian. It’s common to see Nessus and Pholus angular in charts where many people have died. The first time I saw this was in the chart for the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords in 2011. My colleague Alex Miller, a student of Nessus and Pholus, has also confirmed this pattern in his research.

Pholus is placed next to Saturn, one representative of the government. Pholus represents the uncontrollable release, in a fashion similar to what was witnessed Sunday. Once that lid was opened, this event was not coming back; the genie, once released, does not go back inside the bottle. That many bullets, that fast, is pure Pholus.

Next is Nessus, which is right on the 10th cusp, standing for the cruelty of the government for allowing this to happen. Nessus is also the planet of consequences, and of ‘one thing leads to another’. Also in the 10th is Neptune, which is about illusions, delusions and deceptions — in the house of government; there is a haze over this incident, like the fog of war. Chiron for its part is up there too, begging for clarity and a spiritual approach; and crying out for healing and trust, which seem to be way out of reach.

Pluto in the 8th House

Now that we’ve added Pluto to the chart, we can see that it’s placed in the 8th house (nature and cause of death). So here we have a traditional agent of death (from Roman mythology) in the house of death in the sign of government. The motive of this shooting was death for its own sake; for the sake of fear of death. This was a massacre, and it was also a threat. Las Vegas is one of those “this is everywhere” kinds of places.

Finally, we have the Uranus-Eris conjunction. This appears in Aries, in the 11th house. The 11th is the house of groups, and the “small public” such as might be at a concert. However, it’s Aries, and we can expand the group to anyone who identifies with this event or experience. Uranus (revolts, uprisings, unexpected developments) plus Eris (chaos and the love of warfare) in a public place is perfect for a mass panic event: total chaos in a public place. The fact that this event is one and the same as the internet describes how this has expanded into everyone’s pocket, and everyone’s mind, and it did so in a matter of minutes or hours.

I’ve written extensively about how the Uranus-Eris conjunction represents the changes in society that have been brought on as a result of the internet and digital consciousness. This whole event is being processed, described and documented on the internet. It is therefore subject to all the distortions of the internet, and it’s shaping consciousness and identity.

We need to look carefully at how this event is doing just that. We are defining who we are, who we are to one another, and how we live, based on this incident and, moreover, how it’s portrayed. We are making up the stories of our lives, and constructing our self-concept, based on this and every incident like it.

— By Eric, with additional research by Cindy Ragusa.

Astrology Impacting the World is Influencing You

“The truth is I rely on what Eric says. I have always been a follower of astrology, but listening to Eric has been a learning, growing, enlightening experience.”

— Annie Parisella

Dear Friend and Reader:

News events the past month have demonstrated that the Great American Eclipse has had a global effect, and a profound impact on the United States — and that’s apparently not over. This same astrology is having many personal effects as well, shaping your life and presenting you with challenges and options.

We have an easy-to-use tool that will help you suss out what those influences are about: this includes both the eclipse and forthcoming transits extending well past 2018.

Eric sharing his wisdom in the Capricorn Midyear reading.

Astrology happens.

When you have an understanding of its meaning, you’re at a distinct advantage.

When you don’t know, information that could help you is not available. That’s why Eric works so diligently to make astrology clear, easy to follow and easy to apply to your life.

If you have not yet purchased Eric’s Midyear Reading for 2017 — In the Shadow of the Moon — you may find that it’s exactly what you’re looking for. It may even be just the thing you had no idea you needed — especially if you thought this set of readings for the 12 signs was only about the recent eclipse. It is not.

Yes, Eric uses the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse as a starting point. But the 2017 Midyear Reading looks into the next few months and even into 2018 — outlining the major planetary sign changes coming up and what that means for you.

Chiron will be exiting Pisces and entering Aries; Saturn bids adieu to Sagittarius and comes ‘home’ to Capricorn; and Uranus will leave Aries behind and light up Taurus for a few years. No matter what your Sun, Moon or rising sign might be, these shifts to the astrological landscape will have a specific impact in your life.

So what are you waiting for? Louis Pasteur wrote that fortune favors the prepared mind; when you prepare your heart and soul at the same time with the 2017 Midyear Reading by Eric Francis, the door of opportunity tends to open that much wider.

“I purchased the midyear reading for my sign, and it is right on point, especially with both eclipses in August.”

— Gayook Wong

And if things have been rocky for you lately — or if you still feel upended by whatever the recent pair of eclipses brought — a little spiritual centering and grounding and perspective-shifting a la Planet Waves could very well help you to make sense of it all. I hope you’ll give it a try; individual signs are available here — or, you can still order all 12 as a complete package here.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

Planet Waves Astrology Editor

What’s Underneath It All

Dear Friend and Reader:

Recent news events have a lot of people either feeling activated to fight for change, or overwhelmed and seeking emotional refuge. It may seem like there’s not a lot of room in the middle for things like connecting with others, making art, making love or integrating everything that’s rushing at us. And yet, today’s astrology is suggesting some of these very things through two major aspects.

The February 2015 conjunction of Venus and Mars, with a crescent Moon mimicking this week’s Full Moon thanks to a phenomenon known as “Earthshine.” Photo by Amanda Painter.

These aspects happen nearly simultaneously, essentially making them one event: Venus conjunct Mars in Virgo at 12:53 pm EDT; and the Aries Full Moon, exact at 2:40 pm EDT.

Eric Francis, in covering this week’s astrology, wrote on Planet Waves about the ways that conjunctions (two planets coming together in the same degree of a sign) differ from oppositions (the Full Moon being an opposition between the Moon in one sign and the Sun in the opposite sign).

For example, he notes that Full Moons not only represent a peak of heightened emotional energy, but also “distinguish between the energies of the signs involved, in this case Aries and Libra. They pull the picture into high contrast.” With Aries and Libra, that can mean the contrast between individual needs and balance in a relationship.

He also writes, “Conjunctions guide us to blend, morph and merge the energies involved; in this case Mars, which rules Aries, and Venus, which rules Libra.” There’s the idea here of integrating female and male, receptive and active. And since this conjunction occurs in Virgo, that integration would seem to be mental and yet manifesting physically somehow.

Yet, you might be reading this and thinking, “Ok, but what do I do with all of that?” The Venus-Mars conjunction and the Aries Full Moon seem to have opposite agendas — at least on the surface. And while the Full Moon might be more obviously palpable, Venus and Mars are not exactly background players; our inner female and male are core energies that directly influence how we see ourselves and how we move through our daily lives.

Interestingly, one of the heavyweights of the solar system is in contact with both aspects: Pluto in Capricorn. Although the contact is not exact, Pluto is definitely involved: making a T-square with the Sun and Moon (tension), and making a trine to Venus and Mars (harmony).

Simplified chart for today’s Aries Full Moon and the Venus-Mars conjunction. Clockwise from the top: the Sun in Libra; Venus and Mars in Virgo; the Moon in Aries; Chiron and Neptune in Pisces (opposite Venus-Mars); Pluto in Capricorn; Saturn in Sagittarius (square Venus-Mars). View a glyph key here.

Pluto seems to be suggesting you go deeper with everything that is coming up for you this week. Be willing to look beneath the surface of any apparent conflict, disagreement or stalemate you’re caught up in. How deep are those roots, and what’s truly at stake?

Perhaps go beyond how you dress and what pronouns you use for yourself to allow your receptive and active sides to work in clearer harmony in everything you do. That is, regardless of what society says ‘gender balance’ is, what feels balanced, integrated and aligned to you?

In other words, I think Pluto’s contact with both the Aries Full Moon and the Venus-Mars conjunction is about intensifying the transformational power of these two aspects in tandem.

Do you feel like some kind of subterranean pressure is pushing you from within to release what’s not working in your relationships (specifically how you are in your relationships) and to create something better? Is the desire to merge disparate facets of yourself (or even to merge with another person, or with your creative process) compelling to the point of almost feeling like lust?

Pluto is a strong force; handled well, it can be an incredible catalyst for growth — though that growth is rarely simple, and is not a one-way process. It asks you to listen to your deeper needs honestly; and those deeper needs might not look much like the needs you’re used to articulating, if you’ve gotten too focused on symptoms and surface reactions. Particularly with this Full Moon, Pluto seems to be a reminder to be accountable for your actions, and to beware of falling into any kind of victim/perpetrator dynamic or compulsive behavior.

Trine the Venus-Mars conjunction in Virgo, Pluto would seem to add extra body (and all that physical bodies imply) to what might otherwise be a fairly intellectual or detached exercise in gender integration. I’m talking about: meaningful emotional expression (especially of love or lust); making emotionally deep art (especially if your preferred forms of creativity are physically active — think sculpture, dance, acting, etc.); the ambition to walk your talk in terms of how your own aims and the social good align.

Finally, today’s astrology is a reminder that there are conscious and subconscious (or unconscious, or semi-conscious) facets to just about everything that we do and feel. Sometimes we’re more aware of those dynamics than others. When we are, it opens us up to a whole new set of tools, a whole new level of being present in the world. With that deeper presence, your choices have more potential influence. Use it well, and use it consciously.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

Planet Waves Astrology Editor

The Latest from the Yes Men & Partners: RefuGreenErgy

By Amanda Painter

With an Aries Full Moon today spanning the individual action / social justice axis, and a beautiful Venus-Mars conjunction in Virgo (the sign of service), I thought I’d feature the latest press release from social justice pranksters (and friends of Planet Waves) the Yes Men.

Hundreds of spectators witnessed a bizarre spectacle Saturday, when a slick new tech startup called RefuGreenErgy held a three-hour launch event in central Brussels. The event featured four “RefuGreens” (actual refugees) happily pedaling battery-filling bikes while “company representatives” (actually activists) described to tourists and others how the refugees were producing “green” electricity they could buy; the refugees, in exchange, would get 24-hour periods of amnesty and 1.60 euros per day. “It’s a guilt-free way to help others,” explained one representative.

Igor Vamos (left) and Jacques Servin — aka Yes Men characters Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum — in Brussels this past weekend speaking about the RefuGreenErgy action and the connection between global warming and the increasing refugee crises around the globe. Image: video still.

Reactions ranged from quiet approval to horror. The hoax was finally exposed when, after two “company officials” explained the concept to an assembled crowd, a member of the public, a man who works with refugees, spoke up emotionally against the concept, and the “officials” admitted it was a hoax. (See footage here.)

At that point, Saïd Elouizi, a member of Brussels collective Voix des Sans-Papiers (Voice of the Undocumented), spoke of the importance of taking action as citizens: “We need to react to every speech and act, and not remain passive consumers…. Solidarity is our power.”

The hoax, by WAAR (We Are All Refugees, a group of “artivists” from Belgium and abroad, working in cahoots with refugee groups and the Yes Men) was carried out in the capital city of Europe in part because refugees are constantly threatened, deported, and locked up by many European states, including Belgium. One Belgian politician, Theo Francken, has even brought agents from Sudan–whose president is under an international arrest warrant –to identify Sudanese refugees so that they can be deported back to the danger they fled.

The hoax was designed to call attention to the moral responsibility of countries like Belgium for the so-called “refugee crisis.”

“There are increasing numbers of climate refugees — perhaps 250 million by 2050,” said WAAR member Zelda, referring to a United Nations report. “Climate change is caused by the industrial countries, and they bear responsibility for it.”

The RefuGreenErgy logo.

“If we want to look at deeper causes of the wars and violence that force refugees to flee, it’s not a big stretch to see our colonial history as a root cause,” said WAAR member Hélène.

Another WAAR member noted that European colonial history continues as companies cause large-scale conflicts that force citizens to flee, as in the case of Areva in Mali.

“Our objective was to highlight the logic by which capitalism deals with and takes advantage of crises–even those that it’s caused,” the activist explained. “Faced with the ecological crisis of climate change, many companies respond with solutions that serve the objective of profit, without having any concrete effect on the problem itself. A horrible idea like RefuGreenErgy is sadly plausible, thanks to the ‘Uberization’ of society, ‘greenwashing,’ and the utopian view that the unregulated market can fix the world.”

The hoax has so far received coverage in several Belgian media outlets. WAAR also launched a website, a promotional video, and Facebook and Twitter accounts. The hoax was developed during a week-long workshop with The Yes Lab at La Fabrique de Théâtre as part of the Brussels SIGNAL festival, and was carried out with the participation of refugee-activists from several organizations.

WAAR requests that you:

• Support collectives and organizations that help the undocumented in their quest for work and legal status.
• Support airplane passengers who oppose the deportation of refugees by air, who are now being prosecuted by the Belgian justice system.
• If you are in Belgium, welcome a refugee from Maximilian Park (Brussels) into your home to allow him/her to rest, and to protect him/her from police raids.
• Visit asylum seekers in Belgian refugee centers

This week on Planet Waves FM

What To Do When You Feel Like You Can’t Do Anything

Dear Friend and Reader:

Sunday’s massacre in Las Vegas is leaving many people feeling shocked, helpless and despondent. The question I take up in this week’s program is, what do you do when you feel like you cannot do anything? [Play program here.]

I look at the impact of mass shootings in the context of so much other difficult news, and consider this in the context of the extended nervous system known as the internet. We hear from Marshall McLuhan, who debunked the idea that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” The program also includes a reading of the event chart [view chart here].

My musical guest is Tom Petty, who died unexpectedly on Monday of heart failure. I play several of his songs and go out with a pair by the Traveling Wilburys.

Among the resources I promise is a link to interviews with investigators Carol van Strum and Peter von Stackelberg on a recent edition of Planet Waves FM, and an article called Here at the Edge of the World.

Planet Waves FM is part of the Pacifica Radio Network and published by Chiron Return, Inc. We’re sponsored by your contributions to Chiron Return, and indirectly by your subscriptions to Planet Waves, our only corporate sponsor.

Thanks for tuning in. Take it easy.

With love,

Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes

We published your extended monthly horoscopes for October on Thursday, Sept. 21. Your extended monthly horoscopes for September were published on Thursday, Aug. 24. Your Moonshine Horoscopes for the Aquarius Full Moon were published on Thursday, Aug. 3. Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Amidst much other exciting astrology, including the Full Moon in your birth sign, Venus and Mars form a conjunction in Virgo, the house in your solar chart addressing healing, work and wellbeing. One easy-to-spot theme here is that your intimate relationships are finding their way to a useful place: the improvement of your life. The 6th is the house that describes the process of mindfulness. The image, therefore, is of being fully conscious in your encounters with the other, particularly of the other sex. Notice when you’re projecting your ideas and your values onto the people close to you, and call those projections back in. They don’t help you. Stay in the moment, rather than letting your mind run into the future. Whether you’re in an intimate partnership or not, the completion attribute of the conjunction is about understanding that you contain male, female and everything in between. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — This week’s Full Moon in the most sensitive angle of your solar chart is a setup for feeling like you’re under pressure that you don’t understand, and cannot identify the source of. It’s an inner pressure, and it’s ultimately about self-discovery. Yet it might not feel that way, until you experience the breakthrough and the dust settles. That’s all likely to develop between Tuesday and early Friday evening, at which point the Moon enters your birth sign (or your rising sign) and suddenly everything makes perfect sense. Until then, you will need to monitor the reactive side of your nature. It takes a lot to get a Taurus fired up, though it’s possible; and this is the kind of astrology that can symbolize such feelings. Make a conscious choice to direct your energy creatively. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Much of what we call love is described and indeed predicted by early childhood patterns. Some authors describe this as the “love map.” Others describe it as the childhood constellation or family pattern. We see this come up repeatedly in our relationships, which often take the form of parent-child encounters. It’s possible to outgrow this, though it takes considerable mindfulness. The good thing for you is that perhaps more than any other sign, you can actually integrate your emotions using your mind, and that’s what you have the opportunity to do. It helps that the Aries Full Moon (which, incredibly, occurs within moments of Venus conjunct Mars) is across the most expressive axis of your solar chart. If you have any mode of creative expression — and everyone needs at least one — that will feed your spiritual and psychological process. Put your work where others can see it. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — One of those things you don’t read in astrology textbooks is how career-oriented the sign Cancer is. This is not just about personal aspiration, but also about taking the initiative to change the world with the work you do. That might mean innovating new dimensions in the field you work in: for example, not just becoming a programmer, but inventing a programming language; not just being a director but opening a theater. Cancer is one of the signs we count on for its natives to change the world, so that everyone else can experience the new dimension of reality that you open up. This week’s Aries New Moon describes you at your most original and energetic. You are already doing something with an influence and potentially even an impact. The thing about Aries is that it’s great at turning the ignition and getting things started. You’re the one who brings them to completion. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — What we call the spiritual dimension of existence is not all love and light. Much of it is about learning methods of handling the darker emotions such as fear and guilt, living with deep questions, and resolving troubling aspects of the past. What we call spiritual is an approach to existence, which begins with being aware, and which continues with asking for help — whether of other people, or of your inner teacher. Over the next few days, you may go through a journey wherein you get to apply the skills you’ve learned. Think of this as a test or experiment. Do you respond lovingly, and mindfully? To what extent are you able to consider the needs and desires of others, and to perceive them as being related to your own? Are you willing to offer yourself entirely in the service of others, with no thought of what’s in it for you? For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Venus and Mars, the planets that represent sexual and emotional polarities, are about to form a conjunction in your birth sign, which is a relatively rare event. This happens within moments of a Full Moon across the angle of your solar chart that addresses the kinds of commitments that emerge in intimate relationships, which often involve money, and others of which involve commitments associated with sex. There are two things going on in this pattern. One is the self-completion attribute of Venus and Mars getting together in your sign. The other is the potential tension, controversy or mirroring that happens when we form deep bonds with other people. This is all a reminder that whoever you relate to, and however you relate to them, your inner experience of yourself is what sets the tone. If you feel whole, you’re more likely to have whole relationships. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Libra Birthdays 2017:

Fire Up Your Potential, Become Your Own Safe Harbor

“I am absolutely impressed with my Libra birthday reading! It’s like Eric was talking directly to me. Everything he said is what has been happening. The last year has been a tremendous challenge in pretty much all areas of my life, but the birthday reading gives me hope that I really am on the right track. Thank you for such a great birthday reading Eric! Longtime Planet Waves fan.”

— S.R.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Your sign is known for its ‘balance’ — but how do you find anything like that when the world around you is so out of whack, frightening, confusing and painful? It seems to come down to cultivating an inner sense of equilibrium you can return to no matter what throws you off — and which enables you to engage with the world in meaningful, helpful ways.

Eric just recorded the two astrology sections of your 2017-18 Libra Birthday Reading (the tarot segment will be ready shortly). Timed to pave the way for Today’s Full Moon in Aries — your opposite sign and relationship house — this reading will be carrying the signature of that building energy.

More importantly, Eric designs these readings to highlight and activate your potential; to offer you a safe harbor in this storm we call ‘life on planet Earth’; and to help you consider both your challenges and recent lessons from a new, creative and empowering perspective. What you get is practical motivation and inspiration you can use right away — in your most intimate relationships, your career, your community and your healing process.

With Jupiter soon entering your house of what you value (including your self-esteem), you’ll be well-positioned to access and integrate two other major planet sign-changes that direct affect Libra: Saturn entering Capricorn in December of this year, and Chiron entering Aries in April 2018. With these planets ringing the bells of your home-work axis and your self-partner axis, the next 12 months of your life (and beyond) are sure to be dynamic.

It’s up to you to navigate the upcoming shifts, but you can do so with an expert guide by your side when you pre-order your 2017-18 Libra Birthday Reading here.

“Eric, thank you. Your service has reached farther and deeper than you know. Turn up the flame on the human blowtorch, baby. Yeah!!!!”

— Eryca Willinger

Eric once famously called Libra “the human blowtorch.” Whether you see yourself that way yet or not, I’d like to invite you to try out this reading and see what it brings out of you.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

P.S. The Libra Birthday Reading is ideal for anyone with Libra rising or a Libra Moon, too! It also makes a fantastic gift.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — If a relationship seems to be manifesting in some exaggerated form, it’s probable that the seeming issue has nothing to do with what’s actually going on. It will certainly be convincing that what you think you see, or think you feel, is the real thing. There will be clues that something else is going on, including the projection of gender roles. You might hear yourself describe the way that women act generally, or that men act; you might in some other way see these qualities as being outside of yourself. What you are being called to do is experience them as inside yourself, and own your own perceptions, ideas and judgments as interior realities, and not project them onto anyone or anything. This may be one of the greatest challenges of consciousness, since so much seems to exist outside of ourselves. As A Course in Miracles suggests, perception makes projection. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — What people reveal about themselves to their peers, or how they present themselves, is different from what they imagine that they are, particularly in their erotic lives. Have you ever considered this little disparity? It’s often chalked up to there being a difference between fantasy and reality; or, ‘I would think that but I would never do that’. Yet these seeming fantasies are often more than just that, especially if people secretly identify with their unspoken desires. The question of the week is, what about yourself do you know privately, and what do you reveal openly? To whom do you reveal it? You might start with those closest to you, who you know would take an interest in the real you, rather than the official presentation. There is a matter of integrity involved. You will feel better when you treat your whole self as a whole person. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — It’s probably been an interesting week or two. Your official planet, Jupiter, and Uranus, are still in their rare 180-degree face-off. This is awakening you to your potential, and prompting certain long-overdue changes in your life. In a word, Jupiter-Uranus is about progress. The key to Jupiter and indeed to Sagittarius is about going beyond optimism. Uranus is squeezing the potential out of Jupiter like the new, improved electric orange-juice machine. That jolt of current coming from Uranus is updating your brain and reminding you to actually do something with all the skills and resources you’ve accumulated or developed. You may find yourself making fast decisions this week as the Moon and Sun approach their opposition aspect, in the form of the Aries Full Moon, which is Wednesday. Whoever you are and whatever you may do, your creative prowess is at an all-time high. Indulge your talent, your passion, or your pleasure, as you will. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — The Sun and several helpful planets are now in Libra, your house of career. This will feel good to any Capricorn who wants to rise up and make their way in the world. Yet to make the most of this astrology, you must be decisive. Two aspects involving Libra — the opposition of Jupiter in Libra to Uranus in Aries, and the Aries Full Moon — are granting you the confidence to make the kinds of professional decisions you need to make. If there’s any extra hint of hesitation, it may be coming from the idea that there’s some kind of sacrifice involved: that to succeed, you must give something up. Yes, it’s true that professional writers get used to spending many beautiful, sunny days indoors, completing their work. To master one musical instrument, you may need to give up learning another. Everything comes at a price. The question to ask is: is it worth it? For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — It can take a long time to get the details of a relationship right. It’s easier, though, when you come from a spirit of generosity, and when you don’t keep score. Everything does not have to be even-steven, and as a person who has a lot (you do), you can afford to be gracious and forgiving. You can afford to set aside your expectations and observe who a person really is, and how you feel about them. It helps to receive what is offered to you and, as a gift to someone you care about, help them feel like they are a generous and abundant person. Let this be especially true in the most local aspects of your life. Rather than thinking about what’s going on at a distance, or what might happen far in the future, focus on your immediate environment, the people who surround you, and the needs that they have. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The theme of finances, and of being true to your values, persists at full strength this week. Let’s take the second one first. You are someone who must live your truth. It seems optional for many people you know; for Pisces, it’s a specific life calling. There would seem to be an issue in that so much of what you hold dear does not seem to be in demand, or to sell for a high price. Yet that’s true of almost anything that is, today, considered precious and is in demand. You must use your intelligence, your creativity and your charm to make sure that you do what you value, and that others value what you do. This may be the second most important skill of any artist or talented person, after the primary work itself. You must have fuel to burn, a roof over your head, and a sandwich in your hand. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You are entitled to change your mind, even if this shakes up some of the people around you. What you’re likely to discover is that they can handle your decision-making just fine, and appreciate your ability to stand up for yourself and do what is right for you. Just tell people what you’re up to. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You may be feeling like a house on fire, or a fire spinner, or a fire-breather. Your mind is bursting, and you have the ability to focus your energy and do something really, truly original with it. You may wonder whether anything gets lost in translation, though the true essence will come through. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You will surprise people today with how bold you’re willing to be. Yet you can trust that your intelligence and awareness are running the show, even if people around you think you’re being weird for its own sake. Shake things up a little, especially among your friends. They need it. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Career turns come in the most unexpected ways. One’s professional life is rarely an even stairway to the top. More often, it’s a trip along catwalks, fire escapes, and going in through the out door. Let the unusual events of today and the next few days guide you to your next great success. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — If a long-term plan seems to get worked over by forces beyond your control, it probably was not such a good plan — though you’ll discover something in the process. You may end up with a far better vision for your life, and a deeper idea of what you really want and need. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — There’s no predicting what will happen in an intimate partnership, though what comes to light today will help you understand the true nature of the contact. You’ll also see how far you’ve come in recent years at handling being thrown a curve. Be grateful for every drop of your maturity. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Monitor carefully the connection between your emotional state, your environment, and how you feel physically. These relationships are especially close now; and if you make any progress understanding this, you’ve taken a step toward mastering an important life lesson. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — As a wise person once said, “By their works you will know them.” What are you working on? What do you make, and what do you express? If this is how you’re known, what does that say about you? Remember, you can make whatever you want; so be sure to choose consciously. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You may experience a breakthrough or some drive for personal liberation that feels so bold you are tempted to back off. However, these kinds of mental awakenings happen so rarely that they’re worth following up on, and allowing to develop. You never, ever, need to be afraid of yourself. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Many of the most successful people burn their insecurity as fuel. They’re not stopped by it, nor even deterred. Rather, it’s a bold occasion to take a chance, because you have nothing to lose. And heck, even if you have plenty to lose, you still must take risks in order to get to the next place. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Did either of your parents instill doubts in you related to your life mission? Were you ever derailed from a career due to their insecurities? If you were, now is the time to look carefully at that, and to claim your right to take up your vocation. Be brave, and cast off their fears. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Make sure that you’re good for your commitments, or gracefully back out of them. When dealing with others, make sure that they are good for their commitments, or ask them to take a step back and give you space. What is called for right now is either full engagement, or genuine individuality. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.