Planet Waves :: Beneath the Frozen Waters

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Beneath the Frozen Waters

Dear Friend and Reader:

Thursday morning I woke up thinking about the chart of George Lucas. His chart is distinctive because the Moon is his most elevated planet, and most of his other points are either below the horizon or in the 12th house, residing mostly in the dreamtime.

Moon waxing toward Full phase. Photo by Amanda Painter.

His Moon is also in an opposition to several planets, including Jupiter and Pluto, and square several planets. But it's floating up there high in the sky, on its own. I think of that Moon as his 'silver screen', onto which he projects the ideas in his fantasy films.

In Aquarius and in his 10th house, his Moon also illustrates how he became not just one of the best-known and best-loved filmmakers of our lifetimes, but also how he was also able to create an anti-Hollywood in the San Francisco Bay area -- a vast creative and business cosmos called Industrial Light & Magic that has accomplished many things that Hollywood, being what it is, could not have done.

His Moon also illustrates the drama that explodes out of his films in various shades of good and evil. Yet one theme we get from Lucas is how ultimately, everything and everyone are interwoven in a finer mesh than most people ever imagined.

The Moon, Opposite Many Planets in Scorpio

The chart for today's Full Moon in Taurus, exact Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, at 5:23 pm EST (22:23 UTC) resembles Lucas's chart because the Moon presides in its own part of the sky, and has oppositions to many planets.

The Full Moon is always a polarity of the Moon and the Sun. There is always a stretch and there is always some emotional intensity or drama. Any cop, ER nurse or the server in your local diner can tell you that. Yet in today's lunation, the sensitive but powerful Taurus Moon stands far apart from other planets, and is opposed by Venus, the Sun, and Saturn, as well as many asteroids in Scorpio.

Chart for the Taurus Full Moon, set for Kingston, NY. The Moon is just above the horizon line to the left. The Sun is exactly opposite the Moon. You can see Mars and Pluto, both in red, on the upper right.

It's a polarity, yet one that seems way out of balance. On first look, it really seems like that grants all the power to the Scorpio side of the equation.

But looking more closely at the chart, you can see that the Sun is exactly conjunct an asteroid called Atropos (one of the fates, which determines endings), Kassandra (who spoke the truth but was not believed), Ceto (a sea monster) and Hybris (the root of the modern word hubris).

There's also Deucalion, the Greek equivalent of Noah, survivor of a big flood (and he's certainly in the midst of one). All of these points are within two degrees of the Sun making this a tight, potent combination of energies.

Notably with conjunctions this complex, it can be difficult to sort out the energies, and with a transit chart like this, we may never quite do it. If you have a cluster in your natal chart similar to this, give yourself a good few years to figure out what it's talking about, then a few years more.

And right now the Moon is in Taurus, sweeping through an opposition to them all. If you're having powerful reactions to events of the past few days, or just feeling out of balance, or like you're of two entirely different minds about something, this is an illustration of that sensation. It's helpful that the Moon is so strong and stable in Taurus, the sign where it's considered exalted (a kind of rulership).

The way to remember that is that the glyph for Taurus is a circle with a crescent above it. That crescent is the Moon. Yet this grouping of planets opposite the Moon is a real stretch. It describes some kind of struggle between what is ordinary and earthy (the Taurus Moon), and what is deep, mysterious, emotional, psychic, complex and distant (the grouping in Scorpio).

My take is that the Moon opposite all of that Scorpio has some sexual control drama to it, on the political level (but the political is always personal). I won't get into that today but I do plan to cover it in Tuesday's Planet Waves FM. I will say that legalizing pot is a step in the right direction for sex. Betty Dodson's theory of why pot is illegal is that once they smoke, people feel how horny they are. I would second that observation.

Saturn Opposite Sedna

There's just one other planetary point in Taurus supporting the Moon in its opposition: Sedna, the strangest planet known to be orbiting our Sun, is exactly opposite Saturn, to the degree. Sedna, discovered in 2003, orbits the Sun in approximately 11,400 years -- the longest-known orbit of any planet in our solar system. (By contrast, Pluto, considered slow moving, takes 250 years to go around the Sun. So for every orbit of Sedna, Pluto makes more than 45 trips around our Sun.)

Close-up look at planets aspecting the Full Moon, in Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Data is from Serennu.com.

Named for the undersea creation goddess of the Inuit people, Sedna has a long, tragic and amazing myth. Her home is deep beneath the sea at the North Pole. In an opposition to Saturn in Scorpio, that ice cap imagery is rich; for many, Saturn in this sign has indeed felt like something was frozen. Now that we're nearing the end of the Saturn in Scorpio experience, that something frozen seems to be thawing out.

Minor planet pioneer Melanie Reinhart, in her article "The Goddess of the Frozen Waters," said of Sedna, "The encounter with what has been lost, drowned out, or frozen long ago is her theme, which can be taken most fruitfully on the inner levels. In other words, our own 'Ice Age' is being highlighted here: the wounds in the soul caused by the impatience, condemnation, dismissal or anger of the father; the living hell of unresolved outrage; the violence of hardship where we cut off from what is desperate and vulnerable in ourselves or others in order to survive. And how this harshness is internalized."

She continues, "Even in the face of unrelenting trauma and suffering, we can, indeed must, beat our drum and sing to life. This is not a plea for escapism, but rather an acknowledgment that the work is about keeping our heart open in hell. Sedna's story is about acknowledging just how bad things really feel, and starting from there. Radical acceptance is demanded. Allowing love and harmony into our lives (symbolized by the Star of David) may mean opening to the frozen places inside where we are conflicted and feel unloving.”

This sure sounds like a meaningful description of the times that we are living in -- in Melanie's words, “The living hell of unresolved outrage; the violence of hardship where we cut off from what is desperate and vulnerable in ourselves or others in order to survive. And how this harshness is internalized."

You may read a more complete delineation of Sedna here, from Small World Stories, the 2008 annual edition of Planet Waves.

One interesting image from the Moon-Sun polarity is that the opposition is square Psyche, one of the most profound and interesting asteroids. In my experience, Psyche describes the experience of thinking we cannot heal what ails us. It's the sensation of the impossible situation, particularly mental or emotional. In one sense Psyche represents a loss of faith, but the real feeling is of that faith being unrecoverable.

Artistic representation of Sedna, undersea goddess of the Inuit people. Photo courtesy of European Journal of Psychology. Psychologists find Sedna a very interesting tale, relevant to modern questions.

I think of this as the illusion of Psyche, since the most basic principle of healing is that everything can be healed. There is no order of difficulty of miracles.

We find Psyche in Aquarius. This experience of loss of faith is somehow collective. But being in Aquarius, it's collective within a smaller sphere than the whole population. Aquarius represents groups, factions, movements and organizations.

For the whole population it's better to look to Pisces. For subsets of the population, Aquarius is the place to look. And there are certainly plenty of groups who are acting in this desperate way, often attempting to seize the rights of others, or to dominate them. I think we have to be clear with ourselves how anyone's ability to do this, that is, to take our power, is related to the tendency to give away our power, individually and collectively.

The Conjunction of Mars, Pluto and Narcissus

As Taurus-Scorpio drama is happening, there's another aspect brewing -- Mars conjunct Pluto. You may recognize those two planets as the traditional and modern rulers of Scorpio. Both are in Capricorn.

Pluto is on a long trip through that sign, and symbolizes the tectonic forces that are deconstructing and rearranging our society and its institutions. It also has inner implications, which involve how our relationship to society and to tradition is changing. I covered this in detail in an article this past March.

Echo and Narcissus painted by John William Waterhouse. Narcissus fell in love with himself, but what makes him distinct is that he was not interested in anyone else, and there were some beautiful nymphs around.

Pluto of course is traveling along with Uranus -- that's the Uranus-Pluto square. So over the next few days, Mars will make a conjunction to Pluto and a square to Uranus, which you can think of as putting those distant planets in close reach (Mars is our neighbor), and stirring the pot.

We got a taste of that with Tuesday's election, which put the Republicans in charge of the Senate. They now control both houses of the legislature and the Supreme Court. In an odd twist of events, Republican politicians were elected in states where cannabis was legalized. Clearly those voters know what they need.

I would rather observe than make predictions about the Mars-Pluto conjunction, square Uranus. One observation I have now is that it's focusing awareness of how much change is happening how fast.

Saturn in Scorpio is presenting a mask of stability, but it's a mask that is slowly melting away. Beneath the mask is acknowledgment of an obvious need -- the need to be flexible and to change, in ways that are non-cataclysmic. Way too many people associate change with disaster, which makes it hard to slip in those little improvements that require just a tad of adaptation.

From a mundane astrology standpoint, I will say that while Mars is aspecting these unusually powerful planets, take it easy, drive within range of speed limits, and try to get beneath your anger. This holds true over the next five or six days, as Mars passes through the aspect pattern.

The 'selfie' is a modern visual rendering of the Narcissus myth.

There is one last point, which I'm going to leave open -- that is something called Narcissus, which is in a conjunction to Pluto. This is a Saturn-crossing centaur discovered in 2000, obviously not named for one of the mythological centaurs. It has an orbit of 18 years, so this is a pretty long conjunction. Many have noted the narcissism that holds together many political institutions.

In many ways narcissism is what grips our culture, that is, the inability of people to actually recognize that others exist. It's not merely non-self-aware self-centeredness, though that is a close cousin. With narcissism, you are the center of the world, the world be damned -- and it's frightening how this factor acts up, particularly in Wall Street-type scenarios, and in politics. It would be great if we could get beneath the frozen waters of this obviously limited and limiting cosmology and self-concept.

All in all this certainly is an evocative pattern -- one of the most interesting Full Moon charts I've seen in a while. I'm curious to observe the world and myself over the next few days as this passes through our collective mind.

Lovingly,

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $99/year. Core community membership: $199/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Copy Editor: Jessica Keet. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Brendan Merritt, Amy Elliott, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Casey Smith, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.

In this week's environmental newsletter from Planet Waves, we start out with some good news in the animal world: the recovery of Galapagos tortoises on Espanola, and the discovery of a distinct species of leopard frog along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. This issue also covers: the destabilization of the Amazon's climate-balancing abilities; a nuclear fuel chemical leak in Illinois; health effects of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq categorized as genocide; Sen. Jon Tester getting the Governmental Accountability Office to review the USDA and FDA's recent approval of new GMO crops -- and more.

You can read this week's full edition here, and sign up here to receive Monsanto Eco every Tuesday.

About to suck down some clouds: Hombre McSteeze holds his animated critter against a real background of sky. Keep your eyes peeled for the techno-dancing frog, too. Image: video still.

Yet Somehow Reality Seems Even Stranger Sometimes…

By Amanda Painter

Ever wished you could inhabit a cartoon? Already feel like you do? (To wit: Tuesday’s midterm elections in the U.S.) Imagine if you could embellish your surroundings with just a magic marker.

Animation artist Hombre McSteeze (real name: Marty Cooper) basically does just that, using traditional animation cells and his iPhone5 to turn “everyday life into an odd creature-infested cartoon universe.” Each of his Aug(de)mented Reality videos takes about a day to create, and you can see new compilations weekly via his Tumblr site.

Eric Francis on Beyond the Ordinary Show With John Burgos

In this special edition of Planet Waves FM, I am interviewed by John Burgos on Beyond the Ordinary Show. The interview took place last Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014. I was in New York and John was in Santa Barbara.

Eric Interviewed by Sue Fellows on Our Inner Awakenings

Here is a quick and dirty web presentation of my interview with Sue Fellows on Tuesday afternoon. The interview covers reading natal charts, locational astrology and the odd connections between newspaper reporting and astrology.

Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscopes for November published Friday, Oct. 24. We published your extended monthly horoscopes for October Thursday, Sept. 25. Your Inner Space horoscopes for November published Thursday, Oct. 30. Moonshine horoscopes for the Taurus Full Moon published Tuesday, Nov. 4. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Weekly Horoscope for Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, #1023 | By Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19) -- Curb your ambition. Think for the long haul. This involves your plans, and it also involves your partnerships. Every one of them is calling for attention. Each is calling for a practical approach, and where money is concerned, a sober and realistic approach. You need all of this more than you need any idealistic vision of how the world should be, and more than you need to worry about your appearances. Well, except for one little facet of experience: making sure that everything you do is impeccable, follows the rules to the letter, and that you present yourself to the public as a solid citizen. Many eyes are on you, though that is not the time to act up. It's the time to play a tight, short set.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) -- You would be more inclined to think that faith has the power to move mountains, had you seen it happen. But then it would not be the same thing. You have, however, seen what the power of absolute trust can do. I would add here that the most help you can be to yourself is to stay out of your own way, and the second most important thing is to know what you want; to know what outcome you truly desire. Given the current astrology, it's vital that you think in a timeframe of years, not days, weeks or months. Yes, the present moment is meaningful, and in one respect it's all there is. Yet there is also something else -- the future as a resource, one that is both personal and connected to any endeavor you lay your hands on.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) -- Your intuition is strong right now, and you have the ability to see the invisible (including into yourself). You may be able to see around corners or into the future. Yet you must not let yourself be carried off by your emotions, particularly fear. When distinguishing what is intuitive from what is noise or static, there are two necessary metrics. First, what is the very first thing your mind said back to you when you considered a particular issue or question? Second, what is merely speaking the language of fear? It’s true that intuition can warn you, though it will more often be in a calm form rather than a panicky one. You will just know something, though then of course you must verify that thing. Verification is investigating whether there is solid evidence, which you would then look into carefully. Other times you will get instructions. The question to ask is, “Could following that cause any harm?” If not, then perhaps give it a try.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Go where people can see you, where you can socialize, and where you can relax and be yourself. Better still, be yourself wherever you happen to be. Then make one-on-one time and hang out with someone who really counts. The current sky is illustrating the perfect balance between those two modes. I know you have plenty to do, and plenty else you want to do. I suggest you set work aside as soon as you can and step into the light of the glorious astrology that is shining on you right now. There will be time and opportunity to accomplish everything that is necessary. If you need a lure into pleasure, giving your mind and personality some room to spread out will provide the benefit of some fresh ideas, which can save plenty of needless work.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) -- Clearly you must take charge, which means mustering your confidence and making intelligent decisions. But it also means coming from a place of oversight -- a place with a view, where you can take in the whole scene, and also consider what is going on under the ground. Now and for the foreseeable future, you will need to have this perspective, which translates to the ability to see into the distance and to pay attention to what you observe. It will then be necessary to communicate what you know to others, particularly under the influence of astrology that may have you inclined to keep secrets or at least keep quiet. From many standpoints this would be unadvisable. Your position is specifically that of making sure key people know what you know, and making sure they understand your interpretation of circumstances and events. Think that through carefully.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) -- You may experience flashes of insight into aspects of yourself that are usually difficult to penetrate or even see. However, I suggest you not succumb to the temptation to go mental or spiritual on yourself, and get locked into your mind or concepts. What you are seeing and feeling is calling for a physical response, driven by passion and curiosity. It's calling for an emotional response, driven by the desire to feel whatever it is you need to feel. There is a deep undercurrent of subverting guilt, propriety, purity and any other form of self-denial or self-repression. I am sure you know all of this. You can feel how deeply you are being called to allow yourself to be, to feel and to call out your own name to existence.

Free Audio Preview of Scorpio Birthday Reading

Listen to a free audio preview of your reading.

Hello Scorpio Sun, Moon and Rising:

The Scorpio reading is done and ready -- and it's as Get Real as astrology gets. If you have the Sun in Scorpio, this is your solar return (birthday) reading. If you have other major factors there, this is the ideal time to check in with your astrology. In this reading I cover the extraordinary astrology consisting of Saturn in your sign, joined by many other planets. You may listen to a free, 10-minute preview here.

The Guardian card from the Voyager deck by James Wanless, which is prominent in your tarot spread.

I discuss the impact of Saturn (currently in Scorpio) on your life in an informed and enlightened way, and give detailed ideas about the transition of Saturn into Sagittarius between this coming December and next September -- a real study in self-esteem.

I cover the Mars-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn in detail, focusing on the mental power of this aspect for you, as well as the anger and desire factors. This conjunction is big news because the two ruling planets of your sign are exactly aligned.

Your reading is delivered as two 30+ minute, studio-quality audio sessions of astrology and then a third 30+ minute session of astrology follow-up and a reading using the Voyager deck by James Wanless. Your reading includes a live Talk To Me conference call, as well as access to last year's reading. I include the charts I use, photos of the tarot spread and other excellent features.

Order the Scorpio reading here for $29.95. This price is valid until Friday evening EST, then it will go up to full price, which is $39.95.

Lovingly,

PS -- We have a current reading for you (or a loved one) no matter what sign or rising sign you were born under. Remember, the Scorpio reading makes a fantastic birthday gift.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) -- Don't struggle for self-esteem. Offer it to yourself. You do seem to be experiencing some kind of inner conflict, rooted in whether you really approve of yourself or are acceptable to others. Yet if that language resonates, I suggest you go deeper, to that level that you might be inclined to describe as raw, real, emotional or controversial. There is another layer to this self-esteem thing, and that is about cracking out of a shell that you were put in when you were very young. If you've kept yourself in that shell, it's likely been to make sure that you have the approval of others (particularly if they controlled your supply of food and access to shelter). At this point, the thing to do is everything you want to do that you think would be shocking to all those people. You are not doing it to prove how shocking it will be. You would be doing it to demonstrate that they really don't care, and you really are free to make your choices.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) -- Your chart is urging you to mind your politics, which means finding a means of working with the established power structure that's around you. Said another way, your chart is urging practicality. Yet there is some passion burning in your mind, some idea, something that you must say, do or revolt against. Saturn in your sign is protecting you from cutting loose inappropriately. Saturn is reminding you of your responsibilities and of your own need to be accountable. Yet there is this sensation inside of you. What to do? Let's use some astrology. Thursday is the Full Moon in your opposite sign Taurus, something of an emotional high tide for you. In two weeks there will be a New Moon in Sagittarius. Whatever you're feeling, whatever you want to say or do, take those two weeks and check back in with yourself.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) -- There's a storm blowing somewhere in your soul. It's shaking your windows and rattling your walls, though it's inside you, not outside. Other astrology suggests you are feeling like time is closing in on your desires and your plans for your life. Your chart describes the sensation of approaching some kind of last chance or final opportunity. This is a feeling more than a reality, though it can be a useful feeling indeed. One message of your charts is that time is not infinite, when counted on a human scale. Indeed, our time on Earth is rather finite, and we are dealing with an unknown. One reading of your chart is to respect every unknown in your life. As part of that you are being called upon to respect time, and the passage of time.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) -- Looked at one way, the paradox of existence is that existence begins within and extends without. Yet at the same time we are demanded not to be so self-centered. We must be relational and responsive to others, and yet we all know that all those others are in some way secondary to the fact that we can be fully self-conscious -- aware that all consciousness, including of the other, happens within oneself. Rather than fight this, I suggest you experiment boldly with it. Ask yourself how much of your experience is relational and how much is projection. How much of the love you feel is love of the other, or love of yourself extended to the other? You may feel like you're going to explode these days, and this question, asked now at this stunning moment in your astrological life, may blow your mind. I don't think there are objective answers though I do think there are honest, interesting and pleasurable ways to navigate the hall of mirrors.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- My dad has Aquarius Sun, Moon and Mercury. In the 1960s, he was a young professor at what was then Pace College in Manhattan. Students there wanted to start a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) on campus, a leftie group. They could not find a faculty advisor, so he offered. But he was a conservative and they didn’t trust him. He responded, “I really don't care what you believe. It’s not my business. As your advisor, my role would be to sign off on your meeting room, make sure the door is locked when you're done, and so on.” The students said no, we cannot trust you (and it was obviously their loss). Without necessarily realizing it, we count on Aquarius people and that area of our own charts to ground this kind of objectivity and reasoned thought. Now that we are living through times as polarized as the 1960s, we need it more than ever. The place you risk slipping first is in your personal life, and the second is in your professional life. Keep a grip on reality, and a cool head. We are counting on your leadership.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You have many plans and ideas, and during the past two years you've been restless about getting them going. This has picked up since the Scorpio eclipse two weeks ago, which served to remind you that you want to live in a much larger world than the one you've been inhabiting for a while. Your chart is offering two ideas. First, be mindful of your perceived limitations. Know what they are. They might be related to time, money, prior commitments or some other issue. Second, pay close attention to your local environment and see where you are transcending those limits, right now and without going too far. Notice who, close to you, supports your wider vision, and team up with them. Yes it is helpful when other people are not holding you to your past. It's even better, though, when you let go of your own past and therefore make space to create something new for yourself. That is what's happening now.

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