Dear Friend and Reader:

The great god Mercury, messenger, trickster and the planet of Hermes (one of the founders of astrology) stations direct in Taurus on Saturday, May 30. This occurs while we are in the midst of the triple conjunction that offers us the opportunity to shape and recreate our world. Everyone agrees that things need to change both on the planet and in our personal lives; we are standing in a vortex where that change is not only possible (that's always true) but readily accessible.

Sgt. Forte rides in the Memorial Day parade in Kingston, NY with his mounted machine gun. Photo by Eric Francis/Book of Blue.

An extremely rare, indeed, almost impossible alignment is now taking place in Aquarius, and involves Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune. This once-in-a-lifetime event reaches its first peak through late May and into June, and its energy will be available well into 2010 before it begins to trail off. Dive into the energy while the conjunction is in the flush of its youth. This conjunction is about accessing creative energy on multiple levels, drawing from a deep spiritual source in a way that is real -- not abstract or intellectual (like most of our spiritual stuff).

Because the main activity is in Aquarius (in a close aspect to the Galactic Core), we are experiencing a collective shift that is changing the rules of society as we experience them. We have a cosmic opening to explore who we are in the context of the people around us. The key to this process is visioning, visioning, visioning; then stating your intentions to the world out loud; and then taking action. Delay only as long as it takes to align with your long-term vision and your sincerity.

Yours & truly,

Planet Waves Radio will be webcast tonight, Tuesday, May 26 at 10 PM ET on Blog Talk Radio. We'll talk about the Gemini New Moon and it's connection to the Nuclear Axis chart. Check out the daily page for an introduction to that subject. I'll also be taking some questions about your personal astrology -- if you want to get on the air, please call in early!


Aries (March 20-April 19)
You've been blessed with such unusual social penetrating power, it's as if you had a backstage pass to everywhere -- and if you haven't noticed, you still do. The key now is being selective where you go and what you do with that privilege. The depth of this new power gives you more than you're likely to be noticing. Consider how the patterns of the society around you usually dictate the course of your life, and by 'society' I mean your friends, their friends and the big world. In all these ways you have unusual mobility right now. Yet this applies to levels of your existence that are normally invisible. In truth, a universe of potential is opening up for you. The way to activate that potential is by focusing on specifically what is the most important to you; and by this I mean making a conscious effort to identify your deepest and most meaningful priorities, then sticking to them. It would make no sense to squander these opportunities on something you don't really want, but I must caution you because that's so inherent in human nature. Yet guilt, peer pressure (including in primary relationships), conditioning, fear, shame and lack of awareness, can make focusing on what you want seem like a very big deal. So the question is, given the opportunity to go beyond these things, would you?

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Aries and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
Mars has entered your birth sign, which is putting some fire in your belly. I trust you will give that famous Taurean complacency a run for its money. I know a lot of people born under your sign, and I do mean know and love. They all admit the same thing: it's difficult to make changes. The comfort zone can feel like climbing out of a canyon. On the most basic level, Taurus grounds stability for the whole astrological system. Yet deep beneath the crust of the Earth is a tectonic power that you know you have, but rarely tap into. That strength would enable you to make vast changes as if this were no big deal at all. What I believe entices you to keep things stable, is less about fear of the future and more about an attachment to the past. But fear plays a role you need to address. On and off for the past several months, you've had a tour of what tends to freak you out. There's another aspect to fear, however, which is feeling the emotion but losing touch with what creates it. Here is the key to your astrology this month: use fear as a source of energy. Go right into it and confront it directly; or let it propel you to make the decisions that you need to make. If fear is not an issue for you per se, then make a list of your perceived limits and, one by one, take them out.

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Taurus and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
Often people try to be spiritual without addressing this elusive thing called the unconscious. But since it's unconscious, it's understandable how we might not be conscious of it. At the moment, you seem to be waking up to this level of awareness, which most would regard as deep, dark and too complicated to be much fun. Yet awareness of this dimension is precisely how we grow. It cannot be taken in especially big chunks, though at the moment if the unconscious is a country, you now have access to the equivalent of a major city. Taking this equation in parts, consider that we usually deem spiritual growth being more open to love; and this, most people struggle with. But who in a spiritual process would show reverence for the darker emotions? Usually the first impulse is to get rid of them. So what might you be encountering for the next few weeks? One is attachment. Beneath that breezy personality of yours, you can cling tightly, and that has a way of driving people out of your life. Another is a fear of change that seems to directly contradict the breezy, open-ended way you prefer to live. The two are related, and if you can get sight of that relationship and acknowledge it honestly, a dimension of love will open before you even know what happened.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Gemini and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
In a world where people try to impress others with how many Facebook friends they have, I am here to remind you that popularity is not what you need, and it's not what matters. The only, and I do mean only, thing you need, at least as far as I'm concerned as an astrologer, are clear agreements. An extremely popular New Age philosophy has grown up around the concept of 'sacred contracts'. Your astrological moment now points to an opening for the energy of grace. This quality has the power to dissolve old agreements and help you form new ones that are far more humane in nature. I suggest you look closely at your life and determine who profits based on what you do and what happens to you. Ask yourself, day to day and hour to hour, if what you experience is equitable; if you have enough of what you need; and look at the arrangements where those limits are contained. If you pay attention, you will discover yourself in relationships that contain a kind of infinite potential. You will get a look at how those relationships work at their best, and most significantly, you will see the ways in which you can turn the old-style experiences into something where actual benefits to everyone involved are available not only to the direct participants, but to everyone. Indeed, you would be stunned if you could see the potential -- and I trust that you will.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Cancer and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
Put your highly evolved sense of justice to work, for yourself. Be demonstrative about your firm understanding that mutual respect is the only way that the world is going to function, or work its way out of its current hole. The truth has a way of perpetuating itself. We like to think this is true of lies, but whether a person places their faith in one or the other says just about everything you need to know about who they are. There are the people who cannot tell the difference, and worse yet, those who don't care. Yet integrity is obvious, if you are looking, listening and paying attention to the information sent by your third eye. If certain people who show up seem to have a broken mind be very discerning about how you handle them. Meanwhile, everyone knows the rules are changing, and that the structure of society is being recreated as we speak. For you this translates to relationships. Along with that new model is your coexistence with two factors -- your work and your health. The people admitted to your life must be committed to both, as they apply to you and to themselves. We have come through a time when the decay of integrity and accountability have rarely ever been more severe. You at least are accountable to yourself. Others who share this value are gradually arriving in your life -- notice them.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Leo and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
You have the ability to move mountains, and the way you do this is by being committed to labor and unceasing toil. Your charts say that your real gift is organizing; that is, getting others to work in coordination, to get a large job done. Your only reluctance to put this talent to full use is that it might give you the feeling that you're not working enough. I know you well enough to know that even if you had fifty people coordinated on a project, you would save a slice of the most challenging work for yourself. So you can scratch that off of your list of things to worry about. I consider you one of the social engineers of our planet. You know, and I mean you really do know, that the only way we are going to move through our very serious, dangerous and rich with potential phase of history is to fully embrace the need to cooperate. You are also something of a natural-born psychologist (rivaling only Scorpio in this regard) and you know that many people have their reasons why they think it's better to take an 'every man for himself' approach to existence. Please help lead humanity out of this darkness. Remind the people around you that all we have is each other. Remind yourself often that you are part of something much larger than your own life.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Virgo and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)
Venus has finally worked its way out of the retrograde that had, until lately, dominated the year's astrology, and you have learned one thing: not to live your life based on what you think that others think. This includes your lover or lovers, or any relationship interests; it involves your parents and it involves the way you present yourself to the world at large. Most people spend their lives either trying to impress others by being who they think others want them to be, or by arrogantly being whoever they feel like being without regard for anyone's feelings. There is a vast middle ground, which involves factors like empathy, rapport, respect and authentic individuality. I would guess that by now, you've figured out that unless we make space for all of us to be who we are, there is not much space for anything else. One of the things you appear to have done is to create space for yourself in the context of your relationships. I strongly suggest you keep doing this, that is, pushing open a wider and wider space for yourself to exist within the lives of the people around you. This should not be a problem, but be aware that with your creative powers maturing, the only people who are going to seem spacious are those who are committed to their growth and their own creative process.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Libra and Libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
You must be emotionally grounded to be free; to be emotionally grounded you need to either feel like you belong somewhere, or be consciously, firmly devoted to it not mattering whether you do or don't. Ultimately, most environmental issues relate to some internal factor. The planets are conspiring to help you work out what that factor is, and to align you with a kind of therapy process to get you to where you want to be. You seem to be edging ever-closer to actually anchoring yourself in a measure of creative freedom -- closer, but (so far) never quite getting there. My point is that you most certainly will, and you will sooner than you think. But the territory you are covering now is essential to making sure you are actually stable enough to be freer than you are today. Part of that freedom involves your emotional world. While nobody would doubt that you are an emotional person, the theme of the planets is how you structure your emotions, and the extent to which you try to hold a consistent pattern. To the extent that any lingering old patterns remain, you are now being keyed into the existence of another kind of strength; one that does not require control so much as it requires awareness. This includes awareness of where you will not let your feelings go, and an invitation to enter precisely that space.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Scorpio and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
Stop trying to prove that you exist in theory and get down to practical reality. One attribute of that is about either deciding where you want to be on the planet, or getting yourself to where you know you need to be. There is no distance on the planet that is too great to cross or to cover. No matter where you are, you can get yourself somewhere else, though at this time, that is not about making a random choice; there is an element of precision to the conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune that is so closely related to your sign. If you are finding yourself running ragged, slow down and reassess your priorities. Notice the decision points in your life, and take each one as consciously as a chess move. I suggest that you raise the level of the game above whether you win or lose, and notice whether you are paying attention or not. The current astrology could be so psychically overwhelming that you somehow fail to notice just how amazing it is. There is one other point of potential distraction: you may be looking to others for confirmation of who you are. Most of the people around you think slowly or in reverse compared to yourself, so you don't want to do too much comparing, or seeking advice. The theme of your life now could be summed up in two phrases, "Know what you know," and "Action is the fruit of knowledge."

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
Turn up the passion. I'm not kidding. Turn it up twice as high as you think 'high' is supposed to be; if you play guitar get an amplifier that goes up to 11; make sure people notice you and for Goddess's sake, make sure that if you love someone you tell them about it. Early in the month you get some positively luscious opportunities to make moves, as long as they are driven by something very pure and lusty. To the extent you've been typecast as a calculating, stoic person, the time has arrived to break the mold. I am suggesting this at a time when you are under less pressure rather than more; at the moment you are being delivered a saucy dose of inspiration, gusto and thirst for life, rather than the usual kinds of complications or confrontations with authority that make life on Earth so special. The kinds of steps you want to take will thrive in an atmosphere of free choice rather than mandatory action. This makes a truly interesting and, after about a day, fun psychological exercise. Each time you reach a juncture of choice, decide whether you're doing it because someone says you should be doing it, or because you want to. Sort out desire and necessity -- at times this can be subtle, and at times it can be glaringly obvious. Most of all, really, truly understand what is important to you; then write it on the wall.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
I would not be surprised if you felt your life has been running out of control, or at least if your mind has been. This year has melted from one kind of intensity to another to another, all designed to leave you where you are today: out on the edge, in totally unfamiliar personal territory, and moreover in a place without a map. I think you need this absence of familiarity as much as you need food. However, the map known as astrology reveals several things: one is that you are breaking through the shell of your personality, only to discover that not far beneath the surface is this too-often elusive thing known as soul. This awareness necessarily requires a kind of ego death, where the familiar version of yourself and all its references to the past start to melt like ice in the light of the Sun. The second thing is that while you will be occupying this edge for a while, you are retreating a bit now, and this ever-so-slight pulling back is on time. Last, it is not air or an abyss beyond the edge of what you know, but an ocean; a world of feeling and experience and indeed a whole new cosmos beneath the waves. It may be a while before you sail out on the high seas on your own; for now, some of that energy is coming to you in waves, to acclimate you to this new cosmos you will soon see is your life.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
We've all had these experiences, you've probably had a hundred of them, where the normal rules of life suspend themselves and suddenly something highly unusual seems possible. Or indeed something impossible seems perfectly plausible. It's amazing when it happens and it can be frustrating when you reach for the metaphysical key and cannot find the key or the lock. Yet at the moment, the planets are aligned in a way that is highly auspicious for Pisces, if you can handle the energy, and if you have the nerve to dare. If you are the kind of Fish who gets stuck on the negative emotional bandwidths, this would include the nerve to dare holding a positive wavelength and remembering that of all the signs, yours is the one that knows the only actual purpose humans have is to love. I don't mean to put on the groovy; I mean to state the most basic metaphysical law that there is, and the one that opens up all the other dimensions and potential realities. On the practical level, know what you want and make sure you get it. Don't be afraid that one desire will come at the expense of another; this is time-bound, linear thinking. Be clear what you want to happen in your life and leave the door open. When the people and things you want to attract come to you, welcome them, and let your fears fall away like a tight old shoe.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Pisces and Pisces rising here.