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Cartoon by Lizanne Webb. 
Mars conjunct Saturn in Scorpio: irritation or inspiration
You know people are getting itchy when someone writes in and objects to mentioning in a blog post that I ate lunch. I've been seeing this all day. I know what it is -- Mars is making a conjunction with Saturn in Scorpio. That is exact Monday, but as you can see, it's close and it's closing in. We are all feeling it now. The sensation is amplified by the Sun opposite Nessus in Aquarius, about to change signs. Then the New Moon happens. Quite a moment.
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Mars conjunct Saturn as of Thursday. |
Mars conjunct Saturn is a challenging aspect. It also bestows strength of character, or at least persistence and the ability to stay on-message. It has many manifestations, showing up in the natal charts of Lucille Ball, David Gilmour, Mel Gibson, Ellen DeGeneres, Umberto Eco, Goldie Hawn, Carole King and J. Z. Night, the voice of Ramtha. So be it!
Then there's Neil Young, Venus Williams and David Lynch. And one of my closest colleagues at Planet Waves. Oh, and Martin Luther. Not Martin Luther King -- the actual Martin Luther, the guy with the 99 Theses, who singlehandedly took on the Roman Catholic Church and founded the Protestant faith.
If you have this aspect in your natal chart, you have to master it, or it will eat you for lunch -- probably once a day. Speaking of lunch, that is.
Now we get to live with it for a few days. You may notice that some people are acting strangely. You may notice that some around you cannot keep a grip on themselves; you may be noticing this yourself. Take a breath. Don't let anyone get under your skin -- and don't get under your own skin. That is to say, leave yourself alone. There is plenty of self-torture going on in the world; I know many who participate. It's not necessary. It's not a form of self-improvement. It is merely what it is, self-torture. If you shift to the space of self-pleasure, you will free up some energy and give yourself a break.
Many people who are experiencing this aspect have no idea what's bugging them. For some, anything will suffice. It seems to be a general irritant. And that is what makes it so provocative. Mars-Saturn is like an internal combustion engine. It is loaded with horsepower and traction. It's a power tool.
If you cannot handle it, then it can be dangerous, and if you can handle it, you have enormous influence available.
I suggest you get onto the drive side of this aspect rather than the irritated side. That may need to be a conscious choice. This is certainly the kind of astrology where you can get a lot done. True, you may annoy some people while you're doing that, but try not to let that get to you. If ever there was "let them own their stuff" astrology, this is it.
Then there is the stuff that we can own as individuals. I could see this astrology manifesting as some intense sexual passion, including jealousy. I consider jealousy a form of erotic impulse by the way. There are other factors involved, but by one analysis, the heart of the matter is desire. Remember that if you're jealous -- it may well be about how hot you are for that person, even though it's manifesting as a form of obsessive control, which in the end controls nothing.
Nessus in the Air
It seems timely to mention a current aspect -- the Sun opposite Nessus, exact Friday. As you can see from the ephemeris below, Nessus is making a transition from Aquarius to Pisces. It spent much of 2014 in Pisces, and has now retrograded into the last degree of Aquarius. By this time next year, Nessus will be in Pisces to stay.
What we get today is the last, and indeed only, iteration of Sun opposite Nessus in the last degrees of Leo and Aquarius. There have been many oppositions between these two points during the past 10 years. Events in the last degrees of signs carry special emphasis because they relate to what happens at the end of the cycle, which is the seed of the new cycle.
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Position of Nessus every 45 days, cast on the True-Node ephemeris. |
Nessus is considered the third-discovered centaur. (That is now in question, because a point called (944) Hidalgo, which crosses the orbit of Jupiter, was discovered on Oct. 31, 1920, and is now considered a centaur. I will be opening up this discussion more fully soon.) Nessus is one of the most interesting points I've ever worked with -- every bit as intriguing as Chiron, and every bit as useful in astrology as a healing practice.
On the surface, Nessus carries a theme of abuse and the response to abuse. At its heart, Nessus is about accountability. This is not a popular topic right now. Indeed, one of the defining themes of our time in history is the lack of accountability, and what often seems like a vast struggle to avoid any responsibility at all.
We see this from the highest levels of corporate and government structure to the denial trips that seem to provide all the lubrication of modern life. There is such a stunning effort to avoid the conversation that it takes nothing less than murder to spark the discussion -- and even then, it rarely happens and only lasts for a few days. For the past two weeks, we've had some semblance of a national discussion of how the police treat people of color, and we've even noticed that there are standing militias in small towns, ready to come at us with automatic weapons.
Let's see where this discussion goes. I think it's about to vanish for a while.
Today we get a proving moment for Nessus. If you're interested in how these new planets are developed, and how they come to mean what they mean, observe the news, observe your personal interactions with others, and most of all, pay attention to what's going on within you. Nessus aspects can seem to trigger all the unresolved material of the past, as if it happened yesterday. It's necessary to work with this phenomenon in a balanced way, and to go beyond blame.
Blame is not accountability. It is a mock of accountability, a ruse that goes nowhere. Take it slowly and work with as many viewpoints (inner and outer) as you can muster.
My weekly horoscope today covers this aspect.
Individual Sign Purchase Now Available for Good as Gold Midyear Readings.
Join Live Community Conference Call with Eric Francis on Wednesday.
Dear Friend and Reader:
By now you've read about the Good as Gold midyear readings for all 12 signs and rising signs, created to help you ride the learning curve that connects self-esteem, creativity and money.
You may now purchase individual sign readings for $14.95 each. The package rate of $79 for all 12 signs is still available too -- a great deal for those of you who want readings for your rising and Moon sign plus readings for colleagues and collaborators.
If you'd like to know more, you may listen to a free audio preview here. And check out what listeners are saying -- we've had some excellent feedback so far:
"Thank you once again. You are as 'good as gold' and totally brilliant. I have a profound sense of gratitude and wonder at the accuracy of how you describe the unfolding of my life this year."
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"Oh my goodness, I just listened to the Gemini Good as Gold. Right on! I was listening AS I was working on a painting! Creative ambition has certainly experienced a huge boost in recent weeks after months of not quite actually getting at the DOING of it except very sporadically."
"Thanks for the great insights. I don't measure success with money, though I always seem to have just enough to get by. I got a lot of affirmation from this reading. Can't wait for the breakthrough. As always, the very best astrology."
These are unusual astrology readings, wading into some of the most challenging territory that we face in ordinary life: giving ourselves permission to do what we were told could not, or should not, be done. Connecting one's true individuality with one's work is a special achievement, and these readings provide many ideas designed to help you get there.
Your readings include ideas, strategies, and motivational tools Eric has learned in therapy to get the blocks out of the way, access your courage, and invoke your vision for yourself. He brings into these readings his many years of consulting experience with artists, healers and professionals striking off on their own.
The backbone of these readings is Jupiter in Leo. Sometimes Jupiter grants gifts, and sometimes it points to where we can reach for more. In Leo it will be doing a little of both.
The live community conference call for Good as Gold purchasers is this Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 7 pm EDT. This is your chance to ask Eric questions directly about your midyear readings.
If you have not already ordered Good as Gold, you're invited to order your sign reading now. If you've already started listening to your readings, please let us know what you think.
Yours,
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The Ferguson, Missouri Crisis Astrology
Planet Waves FM is presented without commercial interruption, sponsored exclusively by our subscribers and our Core Community members -- that would be you.
In this week's edition of Planet Waves FM, I look at the chart for the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. I describe how the chart seems to gather something vast and far-reaching and then deliver it to one local place, which is really everyplace. The Uranus-Pluto square is in the background of this chart -- though it expresses itself through many other points, including the Sun, Saturn and Chiron.
I report on my observations of the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance Conference. In my letter to subscribers on Tuesday and also early in the program, I mentioned that I will do Victoria Woodhull's chart, but spaced that in the discussion of the conference and associated issues -- though I promise to get back to the extraordinary 19th century historical character, whose birthday is coming up in about one month.
Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes
Your extended monthly horoscopes for August were published Thursday, July 24. We published your extended monthly horoscopes for July on Thursday, June 26. We also published an Inner Space horoscope for August Tuesday, July 29. Moonshine horoscopes for the Aquarius Full Moon published Saturday, Aug. 9.
Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.
Weekly Horoscope for Friday, August 22, 2014, #1012 | By Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19) -- There's no point holding on, or stuffing your feelings down, and there is no point pushing another person. There are what seem to be competing forces in your psyche right now -- one is saying you must break free, or get control. Another is saying that you must devote yourself to healing. Either way, you need to vent some energy. You need to express your life force. And it's vital that you not allow what you perceive as the constraints of a relationship to stop you from doing that. Nobody owns you, nobody can and they never will. It's possible to convince yourself that they do, and that you don't really have any choices, and that may be a core belief that you need to address. Equally, if you feel blocked by not having anyone to share with, it'll help if you go beyond that perceived obstacle and get real about sharing with yourself.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) -- Push could come to shove in a relationship, though I suggest you consider the possibility that none of this is about you. In other words, what is happening with a partner or love interest is all about them, and not about you. I don't mean to imply that they don't care, or that you don't matter. I do mean to say that you are not really the subject of their situation, no matter what it may seem. However, because so much of relating to other humans involves projecting onto others, and introjecting what others send our way, the boundary between what is mine and what is yours can get extremely fuzzy. You can try to sort things out, or you can refer to astrology, which says: don't take on what is not yours -- and at the moment most of what you're witnessing fits that category.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) -- Don't panic. I mean, OK, you can if you want. If you insist. If you think it would be fun. But would it? If there is a crux of your fear, it's an especially harsh level of criticism that you may be inflicting on yourself. However, you don't look like the original source of the data. It looks like you're carrying around the self-inflicted emotional torture gene, and it's acting up. While you don't have to blame anyone, it might help to notice where this is coming from. To you it may seem as natural as holding a spoon, and it may indeed have been passed along to you from the person who also taught you how to eat. You seem to be burning up so much energy that you could make yourself unwell. I suggest you commit to expressing every drop of your energy in a positive and creative way. Don't ask how, just do it.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- If you've been experiencing some kind of emotional or sexual blockage, you may be feeling a drive to work it out and open up. If you have not identified the theme as sexual, it's worth considering, because the astrology illustrates that vividly. It may, however, be something on a level deeper than you're accustomed to going. That is the nature of healing -- it happens in layers. We are all, as in all of us, the inheritors of the sexual pain, mistrust and frustration of the ages. For many centuries, sex has been used against the human race, as everything from a weapon of war to a tool for social control. Society's current insistence that sex be a commodity is not much of an improvement; it's the same old drama. Know that you're unraveling something larger than yourself, but that at your core, you are yourself, with your feelings and your desires -- and that is all you need to be.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) -- Life is a game of truth or dare, or rather, truth and dare. When you admit the truth, you're more likely to dare. This is an emotional level of alchemy. The reason the truth is so daring is because it demands action. The way this shows up in your chart, the first bold step is admitting how you feel. That will take a lot of pressure off of you, especially if you feel like the walls are closing in, or if you have no space to admit to your desire. It seems as if decisions made long ago, especially those related to your home life, are confining you. And that alone may be frightening. Yet it would be less frightening if you would practice some emotional flexibility. Here is a clue -- that would feel like losing control. It's not, exactly; what you would be losing is the illusion of control, and gaining access to a connection to flow and movement that allows you to actually steer your boat down the river.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) -- Self-critique is not the answer to everything, nor is endless mental rationalization. You are entitled to feel how you feel. It's neither right nor wrong. If you don't like how you feel, you have two choices -- one is to understand the cause and do something about it; another is to change your mind. You can do the second without doing the first, though I would say that's unlikely. In the end, you will just have to change your mind. The problem with the analysis of cause is that it can be biased, and in this scenario, the bias is likely to be against you. The thing to remember is that you were not born in a vacuum. You entered the world through multiple strands of DNA, into one or more pre-existing family situations, and with your own personal karma. While it's true that things were done to you, in order to get to the next level, you will have to go beyond blame. Accountability is another thing, and that requires documentation, multiple viewpoints and a balanced analysis. Mostly it involves owning what is yours, and letting go of what is not yours.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) -- When people are afraid to look within themselves, usually this is associated with the darkness they expect to be there. Sometimes it seems like the whole world is in reaction to this one perceived fear -- that the inner world is a kind of nightmare. But what if the opposite is true? If you feel any aversion to looking inward, consider that what you're afraid to see is the light that's within you. It may be that the veil of self-blame is just that, a scrim that blocks your inner view, onto which all kinds of scary imagery is projected. You may find that obstacle especially frustrating over the next few days, to the point where you're ready to tear it down and see what's actually on the other side. You can trust one thing, at least -- there is another side, and what's there is different from the movie projected onto the screen.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) -- You know you want to let go. You seem to be holding on as a matter of will, but deeper down you know that what you need to do is let go of all the resistance in your body. This is not about letting go of your commitments, or of your desire for some consistency in your life. Rather, it's an invitation to honor the truth that life not only involves change, it is based on change. This is true for everything from the development of an individual fetus to the evolution of a species to how we will respond to the biosphere crisis. Perhaps the single most useful, most beautiful and most potent human attribute is adaptation. You don't want to give up this power; you want to work with it as closely as you can. Change is imminent, and the truth is it can serve you very well, if you participate as its creative partner.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) -- You may be wondering when your luck will run out. You're not there yet, and you have a long way to go. What I suggest you consider is when your fear will run out. You seem to have reached a limit of how much you can worry, how concerned you can be, how averse you are to taking the kinds of chances that you really want to take. It would seem that your even greater fear is allowing yourself to actually feel. This story is older than you, and it may be as old as civilization, so you don't have to take it so personally. For sure there is a family story involved, and I suggest you note the relatives whose emotions either ran below the freezing point or never seemed to drop below the boiling point. Yet what is indeed personal is that your own need to feel is exceeding your resistance. And in one burst, you may experience anything from pain to guilt to raw desire of a kind that you are often reluctant to admit to. Start with yourself. Then consider the virtue of living out loud.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) -- You may find yourself in a position where you need to take an unpopular position. That may be the right thing to do. I suggest however that you consider what, exactly, you're pushing back against. Do you really need to assert yourself against anyone or anything outside yourself, or do you just need to do your thing? It depends on what your goal is, which is partly about your circumstances. For example, in order to make a statement, you don't need to defend your right to free speech; you just need to say what's on your mind. That strongly implies that you have a right to do so, and you don't need to make that extra point. It seems that you want to find your distinct place in society. Therefore, do what you must, do what you want, and don't explain yourself until someone tries to stop you.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Others seem to repeatedly make the same mistakes, and there's nothing you can really do about it. You cannot get control over them. What you can do is take charge of your life. But rather than do this in an abrupt or aggressive way, I suggest you take the motivation you're feeling now and convey it into a longterm commitment. You know what you have to do. You know that ultimately you are responsible for your own existence. Even if there are outside factors influencing you, the quest of individual consciousness and volition seems to be about relating to them in a tangible way. That, in turn, requires a high level of awareness, and the willingness to stand up for yourself. Yet where that happens first is in your own life. It may involve a revolt against those who conditioned you to be submissive to them, at the expense of your own intentions. But remember -- this is an inner revolution, not one conducted on the phone or in the streets.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You must have faith in yourself no matter how much your confidence annoys other people. Yet for that to work, you must maintain an unusual level of self-awareness. For many people that is tricky enough. yet there's one more element involved. You need to observe your environment with precision, while not taking on the burdens of others, or the issues they try to lay on you. And one more. It's essential not to project your material onto others. The way to accomplish all of this is to maintain a high level of inner focus while you maintain a circumspect view of the world around you. Account for your viewpoint, then notice how many other viewpoints there are. Don't confuse the two. Just because you're correct does not mean that someone else has to be wrong. Just because something appears to be true does not make you wrong. True confidence goes beyond all of that, which is why it can be such a source of aggravation to those who cannot go there. You know you can. You know it's time. And you know that faith trumps hope any day.
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