Dear Friend and Reader:
I’m taking a week off from a big article to focus my efforts on The Book of Your Life annual readings. Thank you to all the people who have pre-ordered.
I want to alert you to one vital issue developing in the news: the North Dakota governor has threatened to forcibly remove the Standing Rock protest camp, the one that’s there to block the Dakota Access Pipeline.
I suggest we take this threat seriously. I do not like the chart. It looks like a massacre. You’ve never heard me refer to a potential future event in this way.
I am not making a prediction. I am saying what I see in the chart, and understand is politically possible. And it’s something that we can take the power to prevent.
The single most important thing to do is to focus awareness on what’s happening — make sure that people know. Pay attention to the news. Listen for updates each day on our affiliate Democracy Now!.
This is a real standoff, and both corporate and public officials are angered that the movement has gone on this long, or become as big as it is.
This, despite the fact that it’s getting next to no coverage anywhere but places like Planet Waves, Democracy Now! and other ‘alternative’ news sources. I cover it extensively in the newest edition of Planet Waves FM.
There are several key features to the astrology of 2017, though we’re currently living with the most significant of them: the rare conjunction of slow-moving planets Uranus and Eris.
If you’re still feeling mystified by this, please take a few minutes and read up about it. This article from June is short and succinct; it’s called Uranus, Eris and the Riddle of the Internet.
The upshot of Uranus conjunct Eris is that all bets are off; everything is subject to change; we can no longer rely on past precedent. There is some liberation in this idea, and there’s obviously some challenge. How little can we depend on the past as a guide to the future?
The protest camp at Standing Rock now looks more like this.
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I ask you: did you expect Donald Trump to be the president-elect right now? Did you think it highly unlikely, improbable or impossible? We can no longer count on the right thing happening, just because it’s the right thing.
This involves taking extra care to make our decisions carefully, and to stay in ongoing contact with feedback coming from your environment.
If you can do that, you not only mitigate the worst possible effects, you begin to tap into the truly unusual potential for self-development and corresponding cultural evolution that the Uranus-Eric conjunction represents.
Self-knowledge can no longer be considered dangerous, nor can freedom be considered something it’s appropriate to run from. The times we’re living in did not sneak up on us. The signs have been here all along. What we’re seeing manifest has been the topic of discussion week after week on every Planet Waves channel and many, many other places.
At this stage, nothing should surprise anyone.
Meanwhile, remember: Monday morning, at a minute past midnight, is when the State of North Dakota has threatened to move against the water protectors. Please, pay attention.
Catch you soon.
with love,
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. Special Project Designer: Lizanne Webb. Finance: Jonathan McCarthy. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Eric’s Assistant: Gale Jazylo. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Ellis Marshall McLuhan. Music Director: Daniel Sternstein. Additional Research, Writing and Opinions: Amy Jacobs, Cindy Ragusa and Carol van Strum.
Standing Up to Excessive Force
Water protectors from the Standing Rock camp filed a class action lawsuit Monday against Morton County, North Dakota, and various law enforcement bodies.
The suit was filed on behalf of water protectors who were injured in recent attacks by militarized police in an ongoing struggle over the Dakota Access Pipeline. It calls for a restraining order and a ban on excessive force, with specific prohibitions against certain weapons such as grenades, chemical agents and water cannons, all of which have lately been used against the unarmed protectors.
These actions by the state and its police against the activists at Standing Rock are deeply disturbing, yet also entirely consistent with the mistreatment of Native Americans over centuries of invasion, power struggles and racially biased government — that is, a program of genocide. What is developing at the camp is yet another attempt to trample over indigenous land rights in favor of the local wealthy white population and the corporate oil machine.
The battle over the contested pipeline may very well culminate on Dec. 5, the deadline set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, supported by ND Governor Jack Dalrymple, for the eviction of the encampment. We list a number of ways to support the campaign on this post, for anyone unable to travel to Standing Rock. Don’t forget also to follow Democracy Now! for updates.
— Amy Elliott
Beyond the Internet: Your Future is Real
The Book of Your Life 2017 Readings
Dear Friend and Reader:
This has been a challenging year. Everyone is feeling it. We all need a break.
Change is catching up with us fast — with each of us as individuals, and with the grand experiment of modern society: that is, of freedom and of responsibility.
Astrology describes this beautifully — for those who are interested. Astrology is big enough to encompass anything, particularly if contemporary methods and planets are used. Best of all, astrology reaches into who you are as a person, and helps you see your options.
iMac selfie of me in Blue Studio, my creative shop.
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What led to the strange phenomenon of the election of 2016 — whether you’re horrified or think the outcome was just fabulous — is still developing rapidly.
Using a past era as a comparison: were this the 1960s, we would be in December 1965. So much seems to have happened; very nearly everything has yet to happen.
Where will you be positioned as these radical transformations take hold? You have things you want to do with your life. You want to keep your peace of mind and deepen your inner relationship. You want to do your bit to take care of the world — the world that the young people in your life will inherit from us.
I’m right here with you. My goal is to prepare you for the passage of time, so that you can make the most of your life.
Each year (going back to 1999), I write an annual extended reading for all 12 Sun, Moon and rising signs. This year, that reading will be called The Book of Your Life (or What The Astrologer Said). Unlike past years, this will be exclusively in writing; I am striving for simplicity and clarity.
Making Values Count in the Face of Chaos
By Amanda Painter
You might be feeling a push to put your money where your mouth is, whether literally or figuratively — and I see an astrological correlation for that. I’ve been more aware than usual this week of people around me picking up the phone to make calls to state and local members of government and the White House, and to other bodies of authority. Friends seem to be committing to donating to causes with new urgency.
Photo by Amanda Painter.
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Both donating money and taking other action come down to values, and specific ways to demonstrate them: what is important to you, and how can you show that tangibly? While Mars is considered the ‘action planet’, Venus is the planet we look to regarding questions of values, as well as material objects of value (money being a stand-in for something more tangible like gold).
Venus is currently in Capricorn: one of the cardinal signs known for initiating seasons, and therefore symbolic of other forms of initiative. So that seems to be where the ‘taking action’ piece comes in, on one level. Capricorn also emphasizes the material or financial angle.
Yet the urge to express one’s values is being further pressed by Venus making a square to Eris in Aries, exact today at 3:08 am EST (8:08 UTC). (Uranus is still close to Eris; Venus was square Uranus on Tuesday; so really, Venus is effectively square Uranus and Eris.) What this brings into the equation is all the chaos, confusion and surprise of the election season — indeed, of the last year.
The question Venus square Eris seems to be asking is, “How will you demonstrate, with tangible action, your core foundation of values in the face of the current turmoil we’re living through?” Your answer will be unique to you, though it may overlap with how others choose to answer. You may even find yourself taking similar actions compared with others, yet in support of directly opposite values.
Viewing the Invisible
By Amanda Painter
Has 24-year-old artist Nickolay Lamm read Eric’s Planet Waves issues about noticing the invisible environment? Probably not. But Lamm has created a series of illustrations of what wi-fi would look like if we could see it — bringing this invisible and often-taken-for-granted element of our daily lives into consciousness a new way.
“I feel that by showing what wi-fi would look like if we could see it, we’d appreciate the technology that we use everyday,” Lamm told Motherboard’s Meghan Neal in an email. “A lot of us use technology without appreciating the complexity behind making it work.”
Lamm worked with an astrobiologist (and former employee at NASA’s Ames Research Center) named M. Browning Vogel, Ph.D., to get a feel for the science behind wireless technology. Vogel also provides detailed captions for each of Lamm’s visualizations, which use Washington, D.C., as a backdrop. Lamm accessed a publically available map of the National Mall to estimate the shapes and sizes of wi-fi networks there.
View more of Lamm’s images and Vogel’s captions in this Motherboard article, or on Lamm’s website. Lamm focuses on bringing to light topics that are often overlooked — such as visualizing financial inequality geographically, or the difference between how cats and humans see. He tends to involve research, art and collaboration in his process.
— Additional research: Jon McCarthy.
This Week on Planet Waves FM
Standing With Standing Rock
Dear Friend and Listener:
In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM [play episode here], we visit the Standing Rock protest in Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
The governor of that state has set a deadline of Dec. 5 for the camp to be evicted, and I read that chart. It’s not pretty. If we want to avoid a bloodbath, we’re going to need to join forces and get involved.
We’ve included a list of phone numbers (in a message by Graham Nash) where you can take action.
In addition, I would urge you to donate to the cause, and to keep the issue active in the ears and news feeds of your friends.
I also look at the chart for the Electoral College meeting on Dec. 19, the day that Mercury stations retrograde. This is a strange synchronicity: Mercury reversing directions on the day that the actual electors conduct the actual election. Notably, the “loser” is ahead by more than 2.2 million votes.
My musical guest is the incomparable Phish, from their 1994 album Hoist. This is Phish in their mode as top-rate writers and studio musicians rather than the “jam band” sound that you might have heard previously.
Planet Waves FM is sponsored by your memberships and subscriptions to Planet Waves. Thank you for your business and your ongoing support.
With love,
Additional Research: Barbara Salvador. To read Planet Waves coverage of Standing Rock, please see this article by Amy E. Jacobs.
Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes
We published your extended monthly horoscope for December on Wednesday, Nov. 23. Your extended monthly horoscope for November was published on Thursday, Oct. 27.
We published the Moonshine horoscope for the Scorpio New Moon, by Len Wallick, on Thursday, Nov. 3. Your Moonshine horoscope for the Aries Full Moon was published Thursday, Oct. 13. 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) — It’s possible you will want to solve a mystery over the next several weeks. More likely you will need to accomplish an entirely different task: developing your discernment and applying it to problems in the world. To be clear on the distinction, envision yourself sorting and matching a pile of socks as opposed to taking the same amount of energy and time to search for a single lost stocking. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Even the simplest partnerships consist of more than two parties. Every relationship — business, creative, romantic or other — takes on a life of its own. Often, collaborations go even further to produce something beyond the relationship. Assuming your affiliation with another has recently resulted in something or somebody special for both of you, now would be a good time to initiate discussions aimed at coming to agreements about how to nurture what you have mutually brought forth. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Nearly everybody has had at least one occasion to understand how opposites do indeed attract. Just such an experience seems to be on your horizon. To help assure that any such encounter will be a positive experience on the whole, all you have to do is remember just one thing: two perfectly complementary personalities might not always be in perfect agreement. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — The talented and versatile performer Chris Rock once asserted that the best way to prepare for a night of improvisational stand-up comedy is to spend the entire day before “basically doing nothing.” You might want to take Mr. Rock’s advice to heart. Relax and recharge so as to thrive when it comes time to stand in the spotlight. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — There is likely something new in your life. It might be a big change. Or maybe you simply purchased some replacement underwear. No matter how apparently important or seemingly insignificant your own personal ‘new’ is, enjoy the feel for its own sake. The sooner you acquire a taste for the unfamiliar, the better you will be prepared for a newer than usual year. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — If your abode is not where your heart currently is, think on how that came about. If, on the other hand, being in your place of residence makes you feel whole and complete, remember what you did to make it so. In one sense or another, you will probably want to retrace your steps home soon. Start with conscious intent now and you will avoid getting lost. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — If you want to finish this year with flying colors, simply remember the immortal words of Navy Admiral and computing pioneer Grace Hopper: “The most dangerous phrase in the language is, `We’ve always done it this way.'” If anything is keeping you from being as amazing as Admiral Hopper was, it’s probably a cherished habit that can now safely be jettisoned. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Further your aptitude for both giving and receiving to improve your life. Focus on acts of assistance. Work on making it just as easy for you to ask for or offer practical help as it has been for you to accept or share spoken affirmations. If you can do just that, the desires you have been chasing just might surprise you by turning up unannounced. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
A Gift for You — and Your 2016-17 Sagittarius 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:
As we enter the last month of 2016, it would be understandable if you feel like you’ve been put through the wringer. It’s been quite a year on the global stage. Hopefully you’ve had some satisfying accomplishments, points of growth and personal joys to celebrate and learn from along the way.
To help you take stock of your individual journey these last 12 months, I’m inviting you to listen (or re-listen) to your birthday reading from last year, as a gift from Planet Waves.
Check Eric’s accuracy, refresh your memory and position yourself to fine-tune your trajectory. Then pre-order your 2016-17 Sagittarius Birthday Reading.
The current price is still only $19.97 for two segments of nuanced, yet accessible, audio astrology and a vibrant, intuitive tarot reading — but it will be increasing.
“I’m looking forward to the Sag birthday reading as well as the annual. I always appreciate your advice and unique point of view.”
— Josh
Note that as Josh indicates in his comment above, Eric strives to make the birthday readings and the Planet Waves annual edition distinctly different readings. This means that people with birthdays or rising signs this time of year get experiences of a breadth and depth equal to that of the signs in other seasons.
This reading works for Sagittarius Sun, Moon and rising folks, and makes an amazing gift. You may pre-order it here.
Yours & truly,
Amanda Painter
Planet Waves Astrology Editor
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — It may not have been easy, but it’s likely you have learned at least one lasting and valuable lesson from another person this year. Interestingly, it’s just as probable you will be somebody’s equally influential teacher next year. In order to prepare for your new and more responsible role as an instructor in the future, work on what would have made you a better student in the past. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You should probably receive a college degree simply for living your life over the last eight years or so. Just as with a university education, everything you’ve experienced since late 2008 will probably boil down to one thing. What you now know better than before has less to do with what you were tested on, and more to do with what you were tested by. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — If you got through last month without doing anything to apologize for, give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. If things did not go quite so smoothly, let it slide off your back. Either way, and so long as you apply all you have recently learned, you will now have every reason to believe that those who care about you will henceforth have your back as never before. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — What you’ve lived through is not unknown. There is no question about that. What is subject to examination is how busy you’ve been, especially over the last decade and a half. Time to catch up. If you can, dig out some photos taken of you back in the 20th century. Tell those images about who you are now, and imagine what they would say in reply. — by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.
On Dec 29, 1890 at a campground on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek near Pine Ridge, SD one of the most intentionally heinous acts of outright genocide ever committed on the North American continent took place. Mercury was occupying the 28th degree of Capricorn as First Nations men, women and children were mercilessly slaughtered by U.S. military personnel.
At 12:01 am on Monday Venus will be occupying precisely the same spot on the zodiac.
The 28th degree of Capricorn is the precise degree of Mars’ exaltation.
The implications of this precise and striking correlation are not comforting. In context with the rest of Monday’s chart, and in holistic comparison with the Wounded Knee chart, the picture is no less disturbing. Astrology is not destiny. Human beings can choose their fate, especially people who choose to be governed by conscience. Still, tonight I cry.
A terrifying time to be alive. Although, naive, I can’t help wonder how much worse things will need to get before they can get better…in all aspects of the world.
praying.
There’s an expression, “God helps those who help themselves.” What does it mean? Really? The people at Standing Rock know what it means. It means speaking up and speaking out and taking action to change your life, to change the world. It means making that choice again and again and again, day-in, day-out. Prayer, meditation, yoga, chant…texting, tweeting, etc., they can all serve to support. But they never, ever replace what you must do with your voice and your actions.
Whether your God is a Caucasian white bearded man, Jesus, the Buddha, Elohim, a metaphysical energy force, a Universal source…God can only come to you, and through you, when you open the door through your physical body…your voice and your actions.
We are physical beings in a physical body, in a physical world, in a physical reality for a purpose. What we do, and what we allow in this physical world…matters.
Kelly Grace Smith
Here is additional info. for contact off of the Veterans for Standing Rock Website…
1) White House comment line: 202.456.1111 or 202-456-1414
2) White House Situation Room 202-456-9431
3) Army Corp of Engineers Chief of Public Affairs 202-761-0014
4) Army Corp of Engineers Main Number 202-761-0011
5) Army Corps of Engineers and tell them to rescind the permit for the Dakota
Access Pipeline. (202) 761-5903
6) Dept of Justice comment line 202-353-1555
7) Dept of Justice switchboard 202-514-2000
8) National Guard Public Affairs 701-333-2006
9) ND Governor Jack Dalrymple 701-328-2200
10) Sheriff’s office in charge of the police on site 701-667-3330
11) ND Attorney General. 701-328-2210 Object to the illegal sale of farmland to a corporation
12) Call or email Congress and Senate https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
13) A) Tell execs of Energy Transfer Partners to stop the pipeline
Lee Hanse, EVP Lee.Hanse@energtytransfer.com
13) B) Glenn Emery, VP (210) 403-6762 Glenn.Emery@energytransfer.com
13) C) Michael (Cliff) Waters, Lead Analyst (713) 989-2404
13) D) Energy Transfer Partners office 214-981-0700Dear Friend and Reader:
Thank you!!
Often, when one has exhausted all other possibilities for what oneself can do in the physical realm, prayer (or mode thereof) offers a method of quiet participation that can move mountains.
I hereby “Cancel Clear” all personal tension related to Standing Rock. May Light shine upon us all.
and thank you, Eric. I’m grateful for your updates on the situation esp on FB.
There are some, who will stand by the People of Standing Rock, please see the following link and comments:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/02/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-support-investment#comment-88711737 page two especially. I saw a comment where 2000 veterans were on their way to Dakota to stand side by side for their rights.
If we are to use an analogy here, let’s borrow from homeopathy or naturopathic, both work on the principle of ‘like for like’ and that means that the boil must be lanced, cleansed and cauterised (medically speaking).
Prayer can and will act as a shield for all, and whilst that may be unthinkable, re-balancing will take some time, unfortunately the rhetoric that has been grist for the mill is about to take The White House, a heart full of anger. It’s the Yin/Yang of life and a lesson once again for the learning.
Here’s a BBC news item about US veterans joining the protest:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38188624
My thoughts are with the Standing Rock community at this time. May their courage and dignity be rewarded.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/army-corps-will-halt-dakota-access-pipeline-work/ar-AAl8x1g?li=BBnb7Kz
Crisis averted. Army Corp of Engineers have halted construction at Standing Rock and will be looking at possible alternatives. Yay! Keep speaking up & speaking out, it really can change the world.
Kelly Grace Smith
P.S. Thousands of veterans have taken up the cause at Standing Rock, God Bless.
For the time being only, perhaps, Kelly. It would seem Obama is throwing this particular hot potato into the hands of Donald Trump. Can’t say I blame him, either. Here’s the BBC report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38203131
If Trump really is clever, as Putin suggests, he’ll write this one off. With the native Americans on his side, who will complain? Only the fundamental Christians, and this is an ancestral burial site, for heaven’s sake. They can complete the pipeline after Trump has been and gone.
But for the moment, no heads broken, so it’s good news.
Heather, Geoff & Kelly — yes, we covered the Veterans heading to Standing Rock on Friday afternoon, though we did not “stick” the post to the top of the blog, so you may have missed it:
http://members.planetwaves.net/veterans-human-shield-heading-to-standing-rock/
We’re tracking Obama’s rescinding of the permit, too; Eric has a short update about it in the Four Winds and Monday Horoscope mailings for tomorrow.
Both have been good news, though it’s true that the game might change once Trump takes office (assuming the Electoral College votes go the way they’ve been pledged). For now, hopefully the momentum of this movement can continue to build.
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At our local ecstatic dance this morning, it had been announced the today’s DJ was dedicating the dance to the Standing Rock water protectors. At 11 am, we joined in a global moment of silence in support and solidarity; a few minutes later, we joined in another five minutes of silence dedicated to community. It was a powerful, beautiful way to join with others — both those in the room, and those thousands of miles away protecting the water.
Yes, good news – for now. I agree, Geoff, that this isn’t over, not at all. As for Trump, one source says he has personally invested about two million dollars in the company involved. Surely, he could, as you say, “write this one off” – but he also seems to have a lot of ego invested in being a clever business-deal-maker. We shall see.
The courageous souls who have stood their (sacred) ground may need to continue to do so. The chess game is on, but hopefully with no more violence.
As for the fundamentalists, it’s been my observation that only their own burial grounds are sacred.