Dear Friend and Reader:

We’re in the midst of one of the most full-on Pisces alignments so far this century. Planets are rapidly gathering in the last sign of the zodiac, the one that people don’t necessarily recognize is their favorite.

Fractal with Teal Waves, by Dev Moore.

Whatever you may think of Pisces people, the subjects of Pisces include music, movies, romance, fantasies, your favorite beverages, photography and your favorite art. What’s not to love?

For the next few weeks, everyone is an honorary Pisces, especially with the Sun close to the Pisces-related planet Neptune right now. This is opening up what you might call the ‘psychic field’ and we’re all being invited to tune into the sixth sense, to notice beauty and to feel some of the comfort of being in a body.

Indulge in the pleasures of your choice. Use your imagination; it’s longing for your attention. Take some time away from the grind, even if it’s just a few hours. Pisces energy tends to put people in a good mood, and the world is a little softer.

The currents in the direction of the ocean of the zodiac are growing stronger. Soon Mercury will enter Pisces, and then the Moon, and there will be a total eclipse of the Sun. The eclipse won’t be visible in North America, though it will have its effect on the energetic level.

Here’s my reading: Trade things that are not true for ones that are. Give up some form of deception, in exchange for some form of revelation. Look at the inner reality of things and make your decision based on how you really feel, rather than what’s expected of you.

Your horoscope for the week is below.

Lovingly,

Miracle Hour Episode 4: Everyone Teaches, All the Time

In today’s edition of The Miracle Hour [play episode here], I provide an introduction to the teacher’s manual in A Course In Miracles. Here is an excerpt from the opening passage of that document:

The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you want to learn. You cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself, and this you learn through teaching. Teaching is but a call to witnesses to attest to what you believe.

Music is by Vision Quest. The program is 59 minutes.

Here is the interview with Kenneth Wapnik that I linked to last week — it’s so good that I felt compelled to share it again. Note that even Wapnik does not endorse uncritical acceptance of the text.

How Do You Read These Things, Anyway?

That is the question, isn’t it? No matter how many books about the tarot you read, that does not assure being able to read them. Then people who have never read a book can come up with amazing interpretations.

The tarot is a visual language. But reading the cards is a ritual, whether you’re doing it for yourself or for someone else. In my first online tarot class, this coming Saturday, I will introduce that ritual and how to work with it. Information is being conveyed long before the first card is read. Merely sitting with the client begins to address their question; if you’re working alone, the choice to make an inquiry begins to invoke the response you need.

This class will cover three main topics: one is the setup, which we call “divination.” That’s the ritual of considering what you want to know, and of making the space to get your response.

Second, we will learn a method for understanding a card. We will compare several of the same cards from different decks, and learn the visual language of the tarot. This will be applicable to any deck.

Last, we will learn how to read the cards in the context of one another. This is the real art of interpreting. You bounce the cards off of one another and get new ideas. This is the thing I’ve never seen covered in a book.

The class will be three hours, from noon EST to 3pm EST on Saturday, March 5. Access will be by teleseminar. It’s easy to use; you can dial in, use Skype or listen from a website.

Materials will be distributed by email. This is important — if you plan to participate, please be attentive to your email so you get the materials in good time.

Then we will have an email list discussion that goes on for as long as people are interested in participating.

The class will be available for review as a recording, and will also include a one-hour interview with Sarah Taylor, the Planet Waves tarot writer, on the subject of how to handle sensitive material about sex and relationships using the tarot.

I look forward to seeing you there! Here is the link to sign up.

Moon jellyfish photo by Alexander Vasenin.

For Pisces, an Excellent Time to Know Your Astrology

The Sun is now in Pisces, and if you’re born with this as your Sun or rising sign, this is an excellent time to check in with your astrology. I was born with the Sun in Pisces, and I’ve been reading charts a long time — and this year’s Pisces charts are impressive on a lifetime scale.

That’s quite a cluster you have there. Chart section of the forthcoming solar eclipse in Pisces, showing Venus in late Aquarius; then (in order) Nessus, Mercury, Neptune, the Moon, the Sun, Chiron, the South Node, and then Uranus and Eris in Aries. When the South Node (the orange horseshoe) or its opposite is close to a New or Full Moon, that means it’s eclipse time.

Said simply, this is a potentially brilliant moment for you, one where you can make up for lost time, retrieve things from your past, and clear old goals out of the way.

All those planets with the little pink Pisces glyph next to them are in your sign or rising sign, or will be any moment now.

They include fast-movers like Mercury, the Moon and the Sun; as well as slow movers that set the feeling tone of a generation or era in history: Neptune, Nessus, Chiron and several others not shown here.

At the center of this alignment is a total solar eclipse in Pisces, on March 8.

Eclipses translate to acceleration, concentration of events, and a sense of being transported from one place in your life to another. You might say eclipses are before and after moments.

Yet how you think of “before” is vital, as is the way you think of where you want to be, where you’re going and who you are becoming. Eclipses are magnifiers of experience. They set patterns.

So that miraculous effect of taking you somewhere else is dependent on how you think of where you are now. Said another way, to get anywhere you must start from your present location — and that includes how you feel about that place.

This eclipse is conjunct Chiron, the planet of awareness, healing and teaching. Chiron has been in your sign since 2010; though this event is a kind of checkpoint, which will help you see your progress and show you how much remains on your current agenda of wholeness, personhood and spiritual growth.

Before this event, I’ll be recording your Pisces reading. This is your solar return or birthday reading for Pisces Sun, and a rising sign reading for Pisces rising (similar to how natal charts are read).

Bringing two decades of work on Chiron to the reading, I will help clarify the healing themes of this planet, as they influence you today. Chiron’s presence is distinctive in one’s life, and it helps to have experienced information available. Chiron transits are some of the most meaningful and helpful a person can experience, ever.

I’ll be doing your reading before the eclipse, so you have it to work with, for the purpose of setting intentions. Think of this reading as a one-hour meditation on your life, complete with custom music. Then I’ll add a half-hour tarot reading that looks at the themes from another viewpoint.

You can get your reading now for just $19.97 — an hour of astrology, half an hour of tarot, Pisces music and additional resources.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — If you’re feeling anxiety, especially at night, you can rest easier. While the pressure you’re experiencing isn’t quite imaginary, your causes for concern are not as real as they seem. You need an emotional vent, or some way to let off psychic pressure. Dancing would work well, where you can break a sweat, flood your senses and get your mind out of the mental realm. Anything where you experience physical and emotional passion but without emotional entanglement would be perfect. That said, there are many factors calling you inward — toward the world of your deepest feelings, your dreams and your imagination. The more you honor that subtle space, the better you will feel. Your dreams may be especially revealing now, describing your concerns, your desires and your understanding of your life in symbolic form. Do not be intimidated. Watch the movie and notice how you feel.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Keep your focus on your actual goals — the ones you keep coming back to consistently. It will be easy to get distracted, whether by social invitations, the opinions of your friends or a world around you that has never been a more extravagant entertainment center. By all means have fun. Yet don’t sacrifice what seems to be a vital, and beautiful, mission that you’re on. You are in a position of leadership, which means keeping your focus, setting daily goals and most of all being the person who is deciding on points of strategy. Others may insist they know more than you, or that their agenda is more important than yours. I would call that distraction. You possess a plan to get yourself from where you are now to where you want to be. Others are depending on your clarity and devotion to intelligence.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Personal development is usually a quantum process. You might work for a long time, focusing on issues, guiding yourself toward important goals, and nothing special happens. Then all of a sudden everything happens at once. You feel yourself advance both emotionally and in worldly affairs. Multiple opportunities emerge at the same time. That’s what your charts look like now. You will need to prioritize. You will need to make choices. Yet that’s not really about what to give up or delay. If you are observant, you will find ways to combine your goals, your talents and your ideas such that you can accomplish several things in one gesture. Look for the opportunities that demand the most of your talents and present the greatest challenges. Select an occasion that you have no choice but to rise to. And when you do, that will feel like success.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — What exactly does it mean to plan? I would say that it’s a process of envisioning. If you can imagine yourself going somewhere, or doing something, or meeting someone, you can describe it into existence. Your solar chart is particularly creative in that way now. The imagery that your mind conjures has a particularly fertile quality now. It’s so potent that you might pause and watch what your thoughts are showing you about your own potential. Don’t worry about the practicalities of how you might make something happen. That’s not the point at all. This experience is more about seeing the impossible and taking the hint that it might be real. Experiment with feeling the reality of what you want to become or where you want to be. If you want to go to Vienna, imagine yourself strolling around there.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Does strategy have a place in relationships? Usually it’s a sign of someone wanting to control the flow of events. Planning and creating the setups for things to happen can be a signal that you feel like you have no power. Yet there’s a deeper layer to this, which is about everyone having their agenda out on the table. If you or someone close to you says you don’t have an agenda, that would be the first misunderstanding. Your agenda is what you want to happen. I suggest you be familiar with just what that is. And if you notice that you don’t fully understand someone else’s agenda, this would be an excellent time to ask about it. Events over the next two weeks will have the quality of signing you up for a new plan that will last for months to come. Make sure this is 100% fully conscious.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — See your part in everything. Notice your influence and feel the way that you affect people and events around you, whether in subtle or obvious ways. If you are observant, you may be surprised at the influence you have. Also notice how your environment influences you. You might be doing a lot of processing for people around you: feeling for them, thinking for them, or in some way taking on their responsibilities. This is often a role you play, though it’s especially potent right now. You may want to set some boundaries. Choose with awareness what you’re willing to take on. Decide if something is too much for you. Don’t be afraid to suggest that someone think through the issue on their own. You have your own plans and your own desires. Save some of your bandwidth for yourself.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Keep the conversation moving. You have a lot to say, as do the people around you. This is not about gossip in any form, but rather diving into actual ideas. The effect of the group mind, in its best expression, is at full strength right now. Yet you are the one who will guide things to the next level, which is the actual physical world. You know you’re on the earthly plane of reality when you have to do something with your body, such as make something, go somewhere, or physically do something. If an idea seems like it would be fun, helpful or in some way interesting, take the step and test it out. Skip the part about anything being in the future, and try it right now, or on the very next available day. See who brings their body and shows up with you — that’s the one sure sign of commitment.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Keep your cool. What may seem like an offense, some urgent matter or a wildly pressing need will have faded into obscurity by the end of the day. Therefore, use your ninja psychological skills and direct your mind to think about what you want; then give yourself some of it. You aren’t helping yourself, or anyone, by being rigid or demanding. You’ll have the most positive influence on your own life and on your environment by flowing with the tides of life and choosing to have fun. Imagine how great your life would be if you had nobody to impress, if you didn’t care about your image or what people think of you, and if you lived in the way that feels best rather than ‘right’. That’s what you have open to you in this truly creative, spiritual and — best of all — sexually rich time in your life.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Let your emotions inspire rather than drain you. You are feeling a lot, and it will be easy to get overwhelmed. Think of yourself as the sailor who stays on the boat rather than falling into the water. Certain family or household matters may be giving you the feeling that you’re going to go overboard, though that’s not necessary. Allow the facts to come out. Notice the way that many different scenarios add up to one environment that’s affecting you. If you commit yourself to truth, by which I mean accepting what is so, you will see the ways in which certain other people are in denial; and you’ll see how others are more interested in the actual facts and what is truly relevant rather than what pushes their buttons or those of others. How you feel is the most important feedback you have at any time.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Your ideas are not as controversial as you may think. That works at least two ways. You don’t need to worry about how shocking you are to mainstream sensibilities. It’s unlikely anyone will think you’re going off the rails or have lost your mind. Which leads to the other side of the equation: you can afford to invest yourself in something edgier, something that stretches your capacity to learn and grow. You can afford to take greater risks than you’re taking, especially in your ideas and your creative process. It will help if you don’t obsess over what’s appropriate, or how others might perceive you. That’s a trap. Nothing worth much of anything is acceptable in the moment it’s thought up or proposed; that’s the whole idea of change and progress. You might even strive to be unacceptable or outrageous, as long as you’re being true to yourself.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You seem to be in some kind of mind/body dilemma. Something that seems as if it might be fun or productive in theory might appear too strange to do in reality. One theme of our times is that certain activities are best left for the Internet. Yet the theme of getting physically involved in one’s own life is raining from the sky right now, though it’s especially strong for Aquarius this week. You don’t want pictures of water; you want the real thing. Rather than video games, you might try an actual round of backgammon, chess or kicking a soccer ball. Rather than the fantasy or video of that intriguing thing, you might figure out how to actually have it happen, sooner rather than later. Tell the universe what you want and what you want to do by in fact indulging yourself in that very thing.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — In about one week, there is a total eclipse of the Sun in your sign. This is a real moment of transition for you. Vast energy is moving — many planets are gathering in your sign for the occasion. You have your options wide open right now. It’s always good to know that in advance, so you can scope out the possibilities. I would say that anything is viable right now, more so than usual. Part of what you need to access that potential is to get outdated ideas out of the way. This includes plans you’re no longer interested in, goals that no longer match your values, and most of all, ideas about yourself that are no longer true. When you discover these things, be consciously willing to let them go. Liberate yourself from the past and point your heart and soul toward the future.