Dear Friend and Reader:

Recent events have lots of people wanting to retreat into a metaphorical shell of some kind; to protect the tender parts of ourselves with some form of armor, or to turn the hard parts of ourselves toward the world.

Two crabs connecting; photo by Amanda Painter.

Yet what the world needs most is for us to stay present in our sensitivity and our vulnerability. I don’t mean we should offer ourselves to be taken advantage of. Rather, I mean staying in touch with the places within that feel deeply, while still engaging with the world fully, may actually be the strongest way to stay whole.

The world needs our wholeness right now. Even if you feel broken, lost or ‘not quite ready yet’, those feelings are part of the sum of who you are — along with whatever else they might be masking. Your awareness of yourself in whatever form you currently take and your ability to express that awareness are incredibly valuable.

It’s easy to think that only the ‘heroes’ of our world are looked to as shining examples of strength, bravery, problem solving or worth. But if you’ve ever witnessed someone speaking their truth, even if it meant standing in their pain to say, “Here I am, in all my imperfection and unknowingness,” you know how inspiring and empowering that can be to others.

So please, do not retreat into your shell like a crab and hide under a seaweed-covered rock. Yes, the Sun arrives in Cancer for the solstice in less than a week on June 20 (at 6:34 pm EDT / 22:34 UTC), and you might be feeling that urge. But Cancer is also a cardinal sign: a sign of initiative, leadership and taking action in the world.

The first step for action to occur is showing up for yourself, with all of yourself: your dreams, desires and goals, along with the fears, doubts and obstacles that go with them; the places that have been hurt and compromised, and the places that feel beautiful and strong. Who cares if you need to come at things a little sideways sometimes? All that matters is that you are out there, moving, bringing your sensitivity into contact with others.

Together we grieve, and together we are stronger. As we care for others, we show them how to care for us in turn. And when we molt — allowing the softness of a fresh, tender self to meet the world — we are in the moment of greatest potential for growth.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Thursday evening in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Designer: Lizanne Webb. Finance: Victoria Pomante. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Outreach Co-ordinator: Victoria Bodge. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno and Carol van Strum.

Solstice Full Moon, and Preparing for Mars Stationing Direct

You give yourself to this, the longest day You give yourself, you give it all away Two rivers run too deep, the seasons change and so do I

— Bono / U2, Indian Summer

Dear Friend and Reader:

Mars stations direct on Wednesday, June 29. That’s still about two weeks off, though this is one of those events that’s been developing all year. It goes deep and it’s especially significant for a few reasons, which you might be seeing dramatized in the world and feel developing within you.

Remembering Sojourner, the First Mars Rover. Sojourner investigates a rock named “Yogi Bear” in 1997 (NASA/JPL-Caltech).

Lately, in recent news developments, we’ve seen some of the energy of this process. You might think of it as a slow coming to terms with emotional reality, with occasional bursts of emphasis. Yet on another level, reason and rationality continue to melt. The Internet continues to thrust nearly everyone out of body, reason and rationality.

While Mars is hanging out in Scorpio gathering up all that energy for its next jaunt around the Sun, a Full Moon is approaching on Monday morning June 20. [Look for additional coverage of that in Sunday’s Planet Waves TV.]

This is the second Sagittarius Full Moon in a month. We had one previously right as the Sun entered Gemini. This Full Moon happens in the very last degrees of the Gemini/Sagittarius axis, which adds an edgy feeling. It is indeed edgy, as the Moon and Sun change signs immediately after the Moon is Full.

The Moon wastes no time, jumping into Capricorn an hour later. The Sun ingresses Cancer later that day, which is the Northern Solstice (also called summer solstice here up above the equator). This qualifies as an Aries Point event, as the Sun is crossing one of the cardinal points, making an aspect to the first degree of Aries. If the world seems loud, that’s because this sensitive area of the zodiac has an amplifying effect.

And as this happens, Mars is slowing down to a full stop in Scorpio, which adds huge emphasis to our moment. One indicator of our current environment is that Mars is in one of the two signs that it rules. Our society has both Mars issues and Scorpio issues: for example, matters of aggression, desire, sex and death. They are all up for review now.

Religion has tried, over the millennia, to obtain a monopoly over sex and death, though those topics are just too practical to be subjected to some form of mysticism. Where mysticism has failed, moralism has often worked — a factor we see in Saturn currently in Sagittarius. If moralism is wearing thin in place of necessity and desire, count that as progress.

Curiosity Mars Rover crosses rugged plateau. Image: NASA.

Another environmental factor is that Mars is in an exact aspect to the Uranus-Eris conjunction. Mars is about to station direct (that is, the retrograde ends) at 23+ degrees of Scorpio. The Uranus-Eris conjunction just happened at 23+ Aries.

That forms a 150-dgree aspect called a quincunx, which describes the need for mutual adaptation. Something must give on both sides of the equation, and when it does, an interesting balance can be attained. For astrology students, this is halfway between the ease and flow of a trine (120 degrees) and the tension and urgency of an opposition (180 degrees). The quincunx merges two totally different kinds of signs (in this case, a cardinal fire sign with a fixed water sign).

We know that the Uranus-Eris conjunction in Aries — which I’ve been writing about lately in the context of the identity crisis precipitated by the Internet — has broad, sweeping effects, and has been collapsing any sense of rational identity.

In the course of one full Uranus-Eris cycle (1927-28 through 2016-17), electronic media have become the dominant force of our lives; they have, in effect, supplanted both God and self as useful ideas, and seem to have upended and upstaged reason as a useful tool. That’s true, if you don’t mind total vertigo, dyslexia and disorientation.

The quincunx aspect from Mars — slow, powerful and persistent during its process of turning to direct motion — makes Uranus-Eris personal, visceral and restless. Said another way, Mars is demonstrating that the Uranus-Eris conjunction is real, that it’s calling for conscious change, and that the most important change is personal.

This self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the “Big Sky” site, where its drill collected the mission’s fifth taste of Mount Sharp. Image: NASA.

There is nothing more personal, or practical, than matters involving being in the body, and Mars is demanding just that: that you be present in your actual, tangible, sensory, physical and, yes, transient reality.

It’s necessary to remember that humans rarely change, or even pay attention, unless they are forced to. This is the basis of Marshall McLuhan’s idea that violence is a process of identity formation. Most people will not bother to, or even be able to, make up their minds about who they are unless provoked by a confrontation.

This helps explain why someone can be an owl-hating anti-environmentalist, then turns into an activist when fracking lands in their backyard. The confrontation led them to find themselves.

We see this acted out in ineffective ways over and over again, mainly in an unfulfilled appetite for violence. The people who live for their guns have an unrequited love affair: most will never, ever get to confront someone, much less kill them. So that longing goes unfulfilled, which is perhaps why it seems so zombie-like, refusing to die. It’s also why streaming series about the ‘undead’ (where so many of them are shot) are so wildly popular.

Under this theory, Americans tend toward so much violence because they don’t understand who they are, and so often lack the courage to find out. The Internet is providing the most powerful source of disorientation from the physical level. So they live that out trapped in an astral world of imagined confrontation, but not the real thing that would lead to progress.

For that, it’s not necessary to kill anyone. Rather, it’s necessary to allow for abrasion and confrontation in our encounters with others. We need to go past apologizing for getting our toes stepped on (sorry my toe was in the way of your clumsy foot!) and be willing to assert needs, desires and civil rights (to whatever end).

Together, the eminently personal Mars in Scorpio is being conditioned by, and is influencing, the wide, transpersonal influence of Uranus-Eris. Something on the hormonal level (Scorpio) is engaging with something on the level of ego and collective identity (Aries and the planets there). This almost seems like a negotiating process.

Space cadets tittering at the mention of Uranus have a new celestial object to giggle at: A giant penis drawn on the surface of Mars by NASA robots. Credit: NASA.

My approach to preparing for Mars stationing direct is to start the negotiation by being honest with yourself. You might say that’s the ultimate inner confrontation, because it necessarily involves getting over any lies you’ve told yourself about what you do or don’t want. It’s also confrontational because once you admit your truth, you’re not far from telling other people whom it might impact.

When we get down to the nitty gritty of this aspect, it’s about discovering a new level of feeling on matters of sex and death. It will no longer work to be in denial, or to delegate any issues to God or the pope. You must make up your own mind about how you feel, and dare to live that truth.

Remember that you’re doing this in a time in history when the overwhelming presence and abuse of electronic media has shorn you and nearly everyone else of body identification, which would make sex and death meaningful. You can sidestep these things by projecting yourself into the electronic haze, and the hall of mirrors made up of all the profiles you’ve posted, your screen names and handles, your email addresses and your various agendas scattered around the robot of the Internet.

Or you can come down to the maculate, flesh-and-blood level of earthy existence and be a living, breathing, feeling person. In our era, this requires a real decision. And we have a beautiful metaphor in the planetary pattern for considering that decision right now.

It will take some courage, but not as much as you think. That’s because you already know what you want, and who you want. You merely need to admit it to yourself.

Lovingly,

It All Starts with “Hi”

By Amanda Painter

If only the contact we made with each other was always playful — an invitation to creativity and dialogue, even if sometimes an element of competition sneaks in. After all, there’s nothing wrong with having your imagination sparked to try something more complex than what you’ve seen. That’s how discoveries and innovations are made.

And sometimes, along the way, you make others smile and inspire them to join in. Such was the case in a “Post-It war” between advertising and marketing companies in buildings facing across Canal Street in Manhattan.

The whole thing started in early May, when “Hi” appeared in a window in the building on the north side of Canal Street. Across the way, in the offices of the advertising company Havas Worldwide, someone responded with “Sup.”

From there, workers have created Marge Simpson, floor-high superhero logos, a tribute to Prince, the Ghostbusters logo, references to song lyrics and more. All made from various colors of Post-It Notes.

“That’s how simply things can start, with a little ‘Hi,'” Toygar Bazarkaya, the chief creative officer for the Americas at Havas Worldwide, told The New York Times.

Alas, the landlord for one of the buildings said the art had to come down — and one of the ad agencies involved decided to go out with an epic eight-floor-high image you can see in this video by Revelist. Who knows what you might spark the next time you say “Hi”?

This Week on Planet Waves FM
Identity and Violence in the Global Village

Dear Friend and Reader:

The Global Village is where we live. It’s the “space” where the whole world has been drawn together by instantaneous electronic communication. When a violent event happens, the shockwaves go through the village, magnified by hundreds of millions of people who are impacted and thereby become involved.

Violence seems to be a given in our society, which seems perpetually at war; where hundreds of people are shot to death every week; and where carnage is the most compelling thing on TV (whether in ‘fiction’ or ‘nonfiction’ form).

The question is, what function does violence serve? People complain about violence, and then blockbuster films based on death and destruction succeed wildly. The vast majority of people — Republicans and Democrats — favor stricter (as in actual) background checks and a ban on military-grade weapons for civilians. Yet they keep re-electing politicians who do nothing.

Violence serves a purpose, which is to help people forge identity. It’s not the only way, but it’s the one most often chosen. In this case, most of what we have is virtual violence, since I doubt anyone reading this was at the scene. It’s all a media event, transmitted digitally.

What is the impact of this?

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM [play episode here], I look at these issues carefully. I investigate at the astrology of the purported shooter, and of the event, and where the two meet. [See charts here.]

My musical guest is Jimmy Be Free of Portland, Oregon, a gifted musician who plays electric six-string violin.

Planet Waves FM is sponsored by our subscribers and members, and by the generosity of personal contributors to our project. Thank you if you’re one of them, and if you’re not, please consider signing up now. Your options are here.

Lovingly,

PS — I am aware that reports that this incident was staged or false flag are circulating widely, and are being given credence. The video of apparent crisis actors is disturbing, as are obvious problems with how the crime scene is being described. For our purposes, whether this event happened as described, or some other way, the effect is the same. If you’re one of those people who is asking questions, I encourage you to keep going. Plenty is being posted to my personal Facebook page by other readers.

Find Yourself Now, With the Astrology of Now
Class and Discussion with Eric Francis, 12 noon EDT, Saturday, June 18

Dear Planet Waves Friend and Reader:

Do you ever wish you could have a real conversation about life as it is right now? About what you’re feeling and going through? About what the world is going through?

The Astrology of Now, my new class, is just such an opportunity.

We live in a moment of huge astrology, and of rare astrology. The Uranus-Eris conjunction is describing a world in total transition.

What will you see when you lift the veil on the Astrology of Now? Image of the Veil Nebula by ESA/Hubble.

Yet this is related to how we, as individuals, think of ourselves, and the impact of the Internet on consciousness.

Pluto in Capricorn is shredding tradition and the past, and challenging us to find new ways to structure our lives. It’s associated with the financial meltdown of 2008, though it’s having effects every single day.

A wild collection of planets in Pisces is a confrontation with the world of fantasy, be it friendly or mean, dark or light. Neptune is saying it’s OK to go back to sleep. Chiron and Nessus are saying it’s time to wake up.

In The Astrology of Now, we’ll hear more about these transits and you will get to share your direct experiences of them. Share, not as an astrologer, but rather as someone who has encountered these through direct experience.

The class includes a 45-minute introductory video that I’ve just finished, as well as a three-hour discussion (which will be recorded, so you can stay for as little or as much as you like). This will be followed by an email discussion group that will go for as long as people want to participate.

This meeting is an ideal place to share your experiences, to hear those of others, and to ground in your feelings about what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s designed for astrology fans, beginning students or professionals. There will be nearly no technical discussion; this is all about experience.

Enrollment is still open. You may sign up here. If you’re a Backstage Pass holder, write for your special discount sign-up code.

I am looking forward to sharing this space and time with you. See you Saturday at noon EDT.

Lovingly,

Renew Your Self.

That’s right: feel renewed.

(You thought this item was about renewing your membership? It could be, if yours is about to expire — do you know when yours does?)

Crop of photo by Jenny Downing / flickr under Creative Commons.

Really, this is about how Eric’s readings and classes are able to inspire fresh confidence, help you rediscover your curiosity, and release stuck emotions so you can step into a new version of yourself.

“Wow, that was great — thank you for such a clear reading.”
— Frankie Sidhu

The world overwhelms us with violence, fear and the chaos of ‘virtual’ reality 24/7.

Planet Waves has found a way to be responsive to these challenges without losing sight of what really matters: humanity; empathy; creativity; someone to quietly, steadily reacquaint you with your own light and the light that surrounds you — even when it’s hard to see.

Visit the Planet Waves Boutique, and find something to renew your faith in yourself — or look for a gift for that special someone who could use a little astrological help.

“The Planet Waves team is our peeps and the astrological medicine for our generation. Incredible!”
— Barbara Bain

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published your extended monthly horoscope for June on Thursday, May 26. We published your extended monthly horoscope for May on Thursday, April 21. We published your Moonshine horoscope for the Taurus New Moon, by Len Wallick, on Thursday, May 5. 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) — You will look back on this time and see how many things were working in your favor. Whether hindsight reveals that you were one of those things is something you can determine now. Everything you have been through for the last five years or so has prepared you to be your own most serendipitous supporter. By now, you know your needs like the back of your hand — especially when it comes to sustenance. You have also come to learn something of your value to others in relationship. Over the past two years, especially, you have made great strides finding your place in a changing world. Now, the idea is to get everything working together. One fringe benefit of supporting others is that they often feel more inclined to support you in return. While that is not the reason to help people, there is something to be said for remaining open to receiving from others as you evolve and grow. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — To find harmony on the outside, you must first establish it on the inside. Indications are that you have nearly completed your journey towards inner harmony. What’s more, it appears as though you have achieved your current state of personal attunement largely on your own terms. That’s all very good; there are a few steps left for you to take, however. Part of the process will be learning to walk the line between affirming yourself (which is also very good) and over-focusing on congratulating yourself (which can get stuck on the level of ego, rather than healthy self-esteem). Another crucial element in your current state of development would seem to entail tying up some loose ends with one or two close relationships. In order to negotiate any closure you need with a special other (or others), be sure to bring your whole self to deal with them, and do it sincerely — remembering that they, too, are a whole self. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — What success consists of depends on who you are, and what you want. In nearly every case, however, winning has more to do with surpassing yourself than overcoming others. That would appear to be especially true for you now. No matter how well you have achieved your ambitions in the past, the new level of aspirations now within your reach will require you to somehow do and be better than ever before. There should be no doubt about your ability to step up. As a matter of fact, meeting and matching new challenges should be easy as pie for you. What may not be your piece of cake is facing limitations, especially those of your own creation. Acknowledge how you might be holding yourself back, and you will be taking the first and most important step toward propelling yourself beyond your personal best. You’re bound to discover a whole new you on the other side. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Hey Cancer — we’re hurtling toward the Northern Solstice in a moment of rare, exciting astrology. Find out what it means to have the defining aspect of our era in your career house — get your 2016-17 Birthday Reading at the bargain pre-order price of $19.97.

Do you know someone with a Cancer Sun, Cancer rising or a Cancer Moon? With such unusual astrology as the Uranus-Eris conjunction, this is an especially key year for them to have truly accessible, clear and nuanced astrology available. Give your Cancer loved ones Eric’s Cancer Illumination Kit — pre-order today for the best price on the reading’s two audio segments (at least 30 minutes each) and video tarot reading.

“I’m a big fan, and your audioscopes have helped me and my 18-year-old-son immensely.”

— Maggie Curran

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — A great deal of what life has to offer is available to those who simply show up at the right place. Often, however, the very best of what life has to offer is claimed by those who show up at the right time in that right place. You have always understood the value of timing, but it may have been a while since you last practiced its fine art. Has it been eight or nine years or just a matter of days since you were at the top of your temporal game? In the end, how long it’s been does not matter. What matters is that you now become consciously aware of having regained your smooth, natural feel for the moment. Sure, there may be some rust to polish off, and more practice might be needed to be confident of your quips, steps or rhythms. The main thing, however, is to believe in your ability to seize the day. Unless there is a good, solid reason, hesitate no more. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Being comfortable in your own skin is half the game right now. That’s because wherever you choose to go, there you will be. The same principle applies to whatever you choose to do, and whenever you choose to do it. You are the common denominator in your life for every moment you live. Of course, that’s true for everybody. For you, however, your own presence at every occasion in your life is something more than just a pithy precept. It’s a cornerstone waiting to be laid. It’s an epiphany waiting to happen. There are two big reasons for that. First, every day really is the first day of the rest of your life. Additionally, your relationship with the universe really does imply that the majesty and magnanimity humanity has always imagined of lions is implicitly part of who you are. All you have to do is allow that part to live through your every action and you will not only be comfortable but beautiful in your own skin. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — One reliable test of character is what a person does when nobody else is looking. You know good and well that’s one test you can pass with flying colors. Your innate connection with how the Earth constantly changes yet stays consistently itself means that you need never wonder what to do when left to your own devices. What’s potentially at question, especially now, is what you do when others are watching. Recent events may have made you less than confident about your conduct being witnessed. Either that, or you may needlessly be putting pressure on yourself to be perfect. Yet, you have no reason to be anything less than self-assured in the public eye. You know yourself to be the equal of every circumstance you have ever encountered in solitude, and there is no reason to believe that being in the spotlight will reveal you to be anything less than your best. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Think of your life up to now as having been a period of preparation to stake out your place in the world, and you will have an appropriate mindset to deal with both your inner and outer environments. What you lack is not knowledge. You have learned much. Neither are you likely to be wanting for skill. Just being alive at this time means you have, at the very least, successfully completed an apprenticeship of sorts. All that you have taken into yourself is now ready to come back out with a style and flavor uniquely your own. The question you now face is finding the place where what you have to offer will be valued sufficiently to support both personal mastery and public acceptance. That place could be where you already are. If you can bring yourself to at least look elsewhere, however, the odds are you will be very glad you did by this time next year. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Vindication can be yours. That’s true whether you are living through a time of trial or living the proverbial “life of Riley.” Either way, there are some open questions regarding both past choices and present viability. Perhaps paradoxically, the answers to those questions will not matter as much as how you answer them. It will not help your cause to be defensive. Indeed, it is essential for you to know there is nothing that needs defending. Neither will it do for you to conceal anything. As a matter of fact, being absolutely and convincingly transparent will be your best practice for now and the foreseeable future. Most importantly, you need to feel secure enough to understand that the true power of your present position lies in the certainty that you have earned distinctions that cannot be lost and achievements that can never, ever be taken away. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The fact that you can’t control everything does not mean your life is out of control. More than nearly anybody else, you know uncertainty is your friend (and you probably know it now more than ever before in your life). It’s not so much that any other circumstance would be better than yours is now. On the contrary, it appears as though you have at least some enjoyment in direct proportion to how hard you have worked and how much you have evolved since this time last year. Nonetheless, you are very likely now ready to take on anything that comes your way — and to find within yourself not only a way to survive, but also a way to thrive. The degree to which you can be open to what the future will bring is the extent to which you will now be able to begin shaping a future you can gratefully call your own. Let the world watch out: here you come. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — In all likelihood, your life over the last seven or eight years will make a lot more sense if you can look back and see it as a journey. It might be fair to say that your voyage started with a struggle against some things. It might also be accurate to say that sometime along the way you put the struggle against those things behind you, and started striving for something instead. Now, it appears as though the struggle and strife part can be over, but only if you let it go. In large part, your good fight has been won. Just remember, your victory has not brought you to an end. Make peace, not war, in order to remake yourself. If peace means stability at this time, the best way to find it is to be stable within yourself. Settling down need not mean settling for less. Neither is it necessary to confine yourself. Rather, seek to define yourself anew. Then, endeavor to live according to your own, hard-won definition. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — The world can be a serious place, as the most recent public events continually seem to attest. You are very capable of responding by being every bit as serious in turn. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there is another, more private potential within you. It’s an alternative form of response, which you might be inclined keep private because it may rub some people the wrong way. It’s about creating warm, sunny play out of the cold clay that the world can sometimes hand you. Your funny flip side is anything but flippant, however; neither is it crazy. Even so, as you have undoubtedly found from experience, it takes courage to risk showing it. Now could very well be one of those times when your potential to dare making fun out of what’s serious might be thankless but certainly not useless. At the very least, try taking yourself less seriously for your own sake. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — One of the best products of human civilization might very well be the road. Open roads, especially, do more than create a means of connection from one place to another. In practical fact, highways are a place unto themselves. It appears high time for you to consider a road trip so that you can reacquaint yourself with the unintentional potentials to be found while traversing vast stretches of pavement for their own sake. The season beginning with the Sun’s ingress to Cancer this year is all but a written invitation to travel at least far enough to rediscover where the flow of traffic ends and the flow of life begins. Allow yourself to wander, if only to reassure yourself that you are not lost — even after all the detours your life’s aspirations and efforts have taken since the last time you found some privacy on a public thoroughfare. You just might find yourself more at home on the road right now than anyplace else. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.