20 Years of Planet Waves: A Moving Point In Time and Space

Dear Friend and Reader:

It's snuck up on me, though later this month is the 20th anniversary of Planet Waves. On Dec. 21, 1998, we published the first version of PlanetWaves.net, with the intention of creating a reader-supported publication. [You can listen to a half-hour audio presentation here.]

When I leaf through my old notebooks, and look at my bookshelves, I see the origins of the concept for Planet Waves: Journalism in the most intimate sense of the idea.

As a young spiritual seeker, I didn't look for refuge in an ashram. I plunged myself into the world of news reporting, politics and business, and sought to find God and my deepest personal truth right in the midst of the chaos.

The first edition of Planet Waves, published on Dec. 21, 1998.

This is the situation most people find themselves in: the need to learn and grow mixed up in the complexities of life, the pain, the struggle, and the seeming lack of meaning. The spiritual path is useless if the only place it feels real is when you're sitting on top of a mountain.

At the time, I recognized the problem of advertising, which I considered a toxin and a needless distraction. From the beginning, I designed Planet Waves as an ad-free business model, and for the first three years, I paid for the project myself, before going to a subscription-based model in the early 2000s.

This was the more challenging path, requiring us to build a direct relationship to you. To this day, you can still call me on the phone.

This business model has allowed us to be quirky and creative and to find our own way, one day at a time. We are, as a result, able to offer you something that you can't find anywhere else: something handmade, imperfect and gritty, or said another way, sincere. Our well-earned freedom from corporate sponsors is, rather directly, the freedom to write about taboo subjects, and to ask real questions. For example, we have, since day one, hosted a sincere, sensitive discussion of sex and relationships.

The medium is the message. Our existence is an invitation to you, to be the person you really are. And then there's something more: we are inviting you to hold up a light in the darkness, and guide the people you know to a better place. For me, one of the most gratifying things about being the founder of this organization is having built a place where anyone can get help, free of charge, 24/7/365.

As a subscriber, customer or supporter, that's one of the things you help us sustain. Right now, many people are struggling with anxiety and many others feel totally lost. Planet Waves is intended as a beacon and a point of orientation. Show up any time, and you will find something that will help you calm down and focus your thoughts.

And then there's what you've helped us create: countless thousands of articles from our unusual viewpoint and approach to astrology; a searchable horoscope database and oracle (we are the only astrology site that archives our horoscopes -- click to visit); Planet Waves FM, an internet radio station that's part of the Pacifica Network; and 20 years of annual editions. Oh, I almost forgot our Vision Quest 24-hour music channel (all original).

Hello Yahoo, This is Planet Waves

In the life of any organization, there are many firsts. For Planet Waves, there was my first horoscope column a few years earlier (published in a magazine called Free Time); there was my first website in 1995 (The Worlds of Eric Francis, named by the developer); there was my first use of "Planet Waves" as a writer for Rob Brezsny in the summer of 1998. There was the founding of the corporation in 2003 (that event had a touch of mysticism to it).

Neal McDonough's home in Ho-Ho-Kus. My room was inside that door.

Yet it was posting the first edition of PlanetWaves.net on the winter solstice of 1998 that was the commencement, the one action that grounded my intention to create a new kind of publication. I was recently back from travels in Germany, living in the brick porch of my friend Neal McDonough's home in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey.

My friend Keiko Ito was in from Japan, and together, we figured out how to use Adobe PageMill and Fetch (connecting to our then-empty server via an AOL dialup connection). The computer was donated by my old friend Allan Rousselle.

Planet Waves was (and still is) an ongoing experiment, based on many previous ones. Publishing, news reporting, writing and graphic art had been my passions since high school. Suddenly there was the internet, where you could create and publish anything that could fit into code and pixels, sans printing and postage costs.

For Planet Waves, that would mean an unusual approach to astrology, one devoted to the study of the world rather than to space, symbols and predictions. The world: of human experience, relationships and of events; the world of people doing our best to find our way in the midst of increasing chaos and alienation.

Our approach to astrology is unpretentious of having any "esoteric" knowledge. Planet Waves has been equally a pioneer of the horoscope column as it has been of minor planet research -- the place where astrology meets astronomy. Our approach is to put whatever we say into plain talk, so you understand what we mean.

Eight years later, my desk on Rue des Chantiers, Paris, shortly after finishing the Parallel Words annual edition.

When Planet Waves first published, the world was still in the early morning hours of the public internet. Things were spacious and there were no ads, no videos, next to no audio, and hardly any photos (many websites stuck to text, concerned about eating up too much bandwidth). Nobody was charging subscription fees; there were no paywalls. There seemed to be nothing much worth paying for.

On the day we started, I've read that there were 250,000 websites worldwide. Today there are more than 250,000,000,000 (an increase by a factor of one million).

There was no consumer broadband. Google had been in business for about six months, and it seemed like a joke. Terms like blog, social media and Internet 2.0 did not exist. There were still SCSI ports, main menus, virtual domains, listservs, USENET, majordomos and sysops. (Where did they all go?)

We began eight years ahead of Reddit and three years ahead of Wikipedia. To get listed in Yahoo, I called them on the phone. "Hi, I have a website, would you mind getting it into your search engine?"

A Refuge for Artists -- and the News-Averse

At the time I began Planet Waves, I was wrapping up a long career as news writer and editor, with experience in municipal reporting, business reporting and investigative reporting and environmental issues. I was at the top of my field as an investigative reporter covering mass poisoning incidents, corporate crime and government cover-ups of dioxins and PCBs (archived here).

My "there must be a better way" moment involved the recognition that I was not actually reaching people telling them about how contaminated they were getting, particularly if most of them didn't care. Astrology became the better way: a means of reaching people on the level of their values and choices; on the level of what they wanted from life, particularly those already on the quest to be themselves.

This is how I visualize the association between art and astrology that you find at Planet Waves. Astrology is a set of creative tools.

I knew there were a lot of people who wanted to follow the news but who didn't like how it was delivered; who didn't like how irrelevant and aggressive it felt.

My approach to astrology was literate and didn't sound like fortune telling or a personality quiz. In support of that, I brought my experience with A Course in Miracles, what I learned from my process in Holistic Therapy, and the benefits of my early tantric training.

My writing for Planet Waves became a way of synthesizing everything I had learned, from every facet of my life, and to frame a way to keep studying and learning, and developing myself as an artist and writer.

From the beginning, Planet Waves included gorgeous original artwork, with the first contributors being collage artist Via Keller and photographers Neal McDonough and Maria Henzler. Planet Waves became a refuge for artists -- people who would rather stay awake and sensitive rather than numb out, shut down or become cynical. Our emphasis on beauty attracted people who appreciated the calm, warm vibe of the website.

We quickly became a refuge for news-averse people who wanted to stay in touch with world events, but preferred to have the story told in a gentle, engaging and interesting way, relevant to people. Before the days of the nonstop news feed, we served as an established source of information about developing events. When I began hearing from my readers that they would rather get the news from me than from CNN, I knew I was on the right track.

In this vein, our early coverage included discussion of the Cassini Space Probe, the Pacifica Radio/KPFA incident of 1999, the riot at the Woodstock 1999 festival, and the Burning Man festival (see coverage here).

Along the way, we've covered most major world events, including the dot-com crash of 2000, the Sept. 11, 2001, incident (we were early advocates for 911 Truth), the origins of the Iraq war, the Banda Aceh earthquake and tsunami of 2004, the 7/7 incident in London, the Fukushima nuclear incident, and just about all history-defining events, covered with an equal emphasis on getting the story right and understanding the astrology behind it. In many articles, I have offered a wide historical frame.

The Need for Context and Understanding

Today, two decades on, this idea seems more valuable than ever. The events of the world need context, for there to be proper witness. The events of our lives need context for us to understand them. This helps us see ourselves as part of the world, rather than as alienated from it. Astrology, used creatively, provides that context: a framework of both time and meaning, within which we're all included.

Bridge to the Core, by Deanna B., in anticipation of Pluto crossing the Galactic Core. This is from the Bridge to the Core annual.

The problem with what we call "the news" is that it lacks precisely this context. Meaning cannot exist without context; that is what we mean when we say meaning. The news typically lacks any connection to personal reality. It's basically just narrative, data and viewpoint projected at us relentlessly.

No matter how accurate or insightful the news may be, it's still many steps removed from you and your life, your choices, your actions and what troubles you. So for most people, it seems entirely irrelevant, which is compounded by how "important" everything is supposed to be.

Sadly, this is the thing that Rachel Maddow, The Daily Show, Fox News and Democracy Now! have in common. All evoke emotional responses, but personal reference points are nowhere to be found. Instead, writers and editors try to fluff up phony "personalization" of the news that includes things like holiday shopping advice and "human interest" stories. (I once parodied this by publishing an interview with a pencil sharpener.)

The overwhelming amount of information being shot at us or injected into is overwhelming. When you're overwhelmed, it seems like the only option to keep your sanity is to cut off. I take a different approach: in the face of what is overwhelming, open up, pay attention, and stay in contact.

My approach with Planet Waves is to use world events as a kind of divination tool -- what you might think of as newsomancy. The primary skill of astrology is pattern-recognition. What if we applied that same method to looking at a confluence of world events? It might look like this.

From the other direction, astrology and spirituality seemed to lack connection with the actual world that people are living in. Astrologers have long attempted to do the charts of world events, though these were often presented as highly technical exercises. I addressed that by developing a narrative form of writing that wove the theme of the astrology into a telling of the event.

Often, news events reflect something bubbling up from the collective mind. But what? Astrology offers an excellent way to describe that, if it can be carried off in a balanced and compelling way.

Our Advertising-Free Model

Instead of all this, usually world events are described in such a way as to facilitate packing in as many advertisements as possible. This is the easy way to go, as a publication or broadcast outlet: a lot of cash for relatively little effort. But what's really being rented is your mind, your time, and your mental bandwidth.

It's not our place to allow others to colonize your mind, when you've come here for a different purpose. The reason most news coverage has nothing to do with you is that it's about selling advertisements, which I consider one of the most serious issues in the world.

My passport, circa 2005. Planet Waves has been published from NY, NJ, Miami, Vashon, Seattle, Vancouver BC, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Mykonos, Brussels, Krakow, and a diversity of other places. Currently, the business office is in Kingston, NY; most editorial work takes place in Portland, Maine; Los Angeles, CA (music production, too); Lancashire, UK; and Kingston. Most tech production takes place in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.

I don't mean to exaggerate here, at all: the world has a lot of problems. But the only way we're going to solve them is some form of consciousness raising and being informed. That means neither numbed out nor dumbed down -- the very things that advertising does, as well as drive needless consumerism.

The element that makes our 20 years of publishing the most relevant is that we've done this together, on our own steam, on love and on creative energy. People have helped because they've wanted to help. People have gifted us money and other resources because they like what we're doing, and for no other purpose.

This model seemed like the thing to do at the time. Moreover, it seemed possible -- though I had experience running many publications on a modest budget. Today, with the internet driven by a Niagara Falls of money, and with ads popping up every 10 seconds, it's amazing that we've been able to do this -- to maintain daily publishing, a professional staff, and professional-quality work, for more than 7,000 days running.

We have powered what we do on creativity, passion, ideas and love, which means we've had to put our full talent to work. We have accomplished what we have with relatively little in the way of cash resources; we are efficient; we all lean on the frugal side of the spectrum. This offers creative freedom.

We are accountable only to our own ethics, and to you. This has kept us focused on our mission. If you wonder why so many businesses do the wrong thing, and why so many publications are filled with viewpoints and postures that make no sense, remember that there are shareholders who set the agenda of profits above all else.

If you want an example of a business that's driven by actual social conscience, and the drive to connect, to grow, to learn and to create: that would be Planet Waves.

Over the decades, hundreds of artists, photographers, writers, astrologers, astrology students, researchers, fact checkers, and -- most lately -- musicians, have arrived as our colleagues, students and teachers. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Thank you to our customers, subscribers, readers and my astrology clients, who continue to help us co-create our once-in-the-universe work of art.

With love,


House Concert, 12/21 at The Place of the Way, Kingston

In celebration of 20 years on the internet, our clients, readers and listeners are invited to our house concert in our Kingston studio. This will be at 8 pm on Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. There will be food, beverages, good company and excellent music, performed by Vision Quest featuring special guests Hektor Bee and Billy Riker. If you would like to be placed on the guest list, please email me. Things to Do When It's 3:00 pm All Day

By Amanda Painter

We're one week and one day away from the Capricorn solstice. Here in my corner of the Northern Hemisphere, the urge to hunker down and cozy up is strong, despite all the holiday insistence. As my college photography teacher said recently, "This time of year, it's 3:00 pm all day" -- referring to the quality of the light, as the Sun never gets very high in the sky here, and only shines for a short time. It makes the day feel late, not long after it begins.

Village church and Mill Pond, Casco, Maine, December 2014; photo by Amanda Painter.

This year, the fact of finally being on the other side of a year of inner-planet retrogrades seems to be adding to the paradoxical urgency brought by the holidays in this time of slowing down and moving inward. As in, suddenly there are opportunities for forward movement and outward development that seemed to be in hiding much of the year (speaking for myself personally, at least).

Yet, true to the season, many of those opportunities are still in potential. Looking ahead to the months when they might actually culminate -- aiming toward the vision, the goal, the horizon -- resonates with the tone of Sagittarius, where the Sun is. But so much of that is mental: the Gemini side of that zodiac axis. And there's only so much one can do in one's mind before setting events into physical motion must follow, before intention and action must be integrated.

Reflecting a fairly quiet week astrologically, the central aspect heading into the weekend is the first quarter Moon. This is the Sun in late Sagittarius receiving a square from the Moon in late Pisces, exact at 6:49 am EST (11:49:08 UTC) on Saturday.

Squares tend to reflect tension and a need to integrate two sides of something by taking action of some kind. Perhaps fittingly, this particular first quarter Moon involves two of the signs most related to formulating a broad vision of something, and related to the concept of ‘spirituality'.

With the Sun trine the dwarf planet Eris in Aries, and the Moon sliding between Mars and Chiron during this lunar quarter, we get a little more fine-tuning of the themes. Are you setting your sights on goals that reflect who you are in the process of becoming, without ignoring or abandoning the facets of who you've been? Are you feeling motivated to acknowledge, and move forward with, all that Chiron has brought to your awareness while in Pisces?

Perhaps, however, what struck me most about this first quarter Moon are the Sabian symbols for the Sun and Moon. The Sabians are a set of channeled symbols for each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac, perhaps the most widely known version being the one interpreted by Dane Rudhyar.

Continue reading...



Update on Your 2019-2020 INTELLIGENCE Reading

Dear Friend and Reader:

I am now halfway through part one of the INTELLIGENCE recordings, and plan to have eight signs done by this weekend. That's remarkable progress for this time of year. I'm going in the order of cardinal-fixed-mutable. (I've experimented a lot with the sign order, and this way has the best flow).

This year, I'm returning to the audio/written format, suspended the past few years, when I just did written. I'm now working with extra bandwidth, and can give you more. Part one, the audio, is called RESET 2019. These readings are coming out at 70 to 80 minutes each, usually in four or five sections. 

Midway through RESET 2019 readings, in The Place of the Way. Charts of finished signs are on the wall in the background.

Doing this work is intense! Each seems to take triple the planning and energy of an ordinary natal chart reading of the same length. I'm composing original music for each, sometimes collaborating with our music producer Daniel Grimsland.

Looking Back,
Looking Forward

I don't know about you, but I'm glad to have those inner-planet retrogrades behind me. Still, they have helped us pave the way to the future. What happened in 2018 is essential for understanding what happens in the next two years. I begin each reading by explaining the impact of the current year's astrology (in particular, Venus and Mars retrograde) as a setup for the future: a means of clearing the way. 

Then I look at the major transits that take hold in 2019: Uranus in Taurus, Chiron in Aries, the warmup to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of early 2020, plus several additional factors, as necessary. (This year, my minor planet analysis focuses on Pholus, Quaoar and Varuna, so far.)

As ever, these are easygoing, easily comprehensible readings. I am using astrology as a metaphor and set of symbols that relate to real people, places and things in your life. The focus, as ever, is on healing, growth and creativity -- whether we're talking about relationships, work, family or art.

I am planning to have these in your ears by Dec. 31. They will come with two different resource areas: audio resources that cover specific topics, and written resources compiled from our vast collection of references.

Charts for INTELLIGENCE: RESET 2019. I'm now working on the fixed signs and plan to have the audio readings in your hands by the end of the year. Written readings will be delivered in February.

Per the current plan, the written INTELLIGENCE readings will be ready some time in February. 

Reset 2019: Now Available Separately

We're ready with the "product split" for those who want just the RESET 2019 reading. If you've already purchased INTELLIGENCE, you don't need to order this; this is for people who just want one year, at the lower price of $88 for all 12 signs.

This is for audio only; this is the first pre-order price, which will be in effect until the recordings are released in late December. 

If you would like to get both, you still may -- for $122. Single-sign sale will begin at $44 per sign for written and audio. You will want your Sun, Moon and rising. Every purchase is one per household, meaning you can share them with the people you live with.  These readings will serve as a reference point all year. I will build on them in future readings.

Those with special financial needs may email me directly, or call (845) 481-5616 and speak with Josie or Jason; they will take care of you.

Thank you for your business, and thank you for trusting me as your astrologer.

With love,

PS -- if you would like to read the history of the Planet Waves annual, now in its 21st year, here is the link. And if you would like to explore 19 of the past 20 editions (open access), you may find them here. The recent ones have been excellent and will be as valuable today as they were when they first came out.

"I always get a kick out of how much you LOVE Capricorn. There's a lot of mirth going on. Plus, you really get us. I'm a ‘bring it on' kinda soul and love how you speak to the challenges in such a positive way. Yay, Uranus in the 5th!"
-- Jan Christensen

This Week on Planet Waves FM: A Break in the Weather


Dear Friend and Listener:

I don't know if this is going to be any calmer of a week than we've grown accustomed to this year, though the astrology has finally let up. The fifth inner-planet retrograde of 2018 ended on Thursday; Mars has made a conjunction to Neptune and is heading for Chiron; and we've experienced the Sagittarius New Moon conjunct the Great Attractor.

In honor of all of the above, we have a magnificent edition of Planet Waves FM [play edition here] for you this week -- the first marking our 20th anniversary of publishing.

iMac selfie right after finishing tonight's program, at my audio desk in The Place of the Way.

The program came out a little longer than I was planning and will be excellent for a long winter night, perhaps two nights, or a long car drive.

I begin with the current astrology in the first segment. In the second, I tell the story of the origins of Planet Waves, and how I went from being a news / business / investigative reporter into developing the field of news astrology.

In the third segment, I give a summary of the current status of the Mueller probe into Russian meddling with the 2016 election. It's not really proper to call it "collusion." It's more like a merger between Moscow and Washington. Apropos of that discussion, here's the sentencing memo for Michael Cohen that I read from.

Then I offer a short sample of my interview with Bob Schmidt, who left the Earth plane last week. If you find this 15-minute sample interesting, the whole recording is waiting for you.

Finally, this week I bring back Tantra Studio, featuring an interview with my friend Cat, who runs a sex club in New York City. The conversation focuses on how she manages to run a safe, comfortable and moreover friendly and sane sex play space in midtown Manhattan right in the middle of the gender wars. She speaks from a personal standpoint as well as the maitre d' of the establishment.

Planet Waves is about to arrive at our 20th anniversary of being entirely supported by you. We have bucked, ducked, evaded and avoided the trend of monetizing content on the internet with nonstop absurd, insulting advertisements.

Thank you for being our sole source of sponsorship. Planet Waves FM is now published by a nonprofit corporation, Chiron Return, Inc. Gradually we are covering the costs of the program with your donations, one-time or monthly. These are a tax write-off for those in the United States.

With love,

P.S. Here are links to two featured albums: She Remembers Everything by Rosanne Cash, and WARM by Jeff Tweedy.

---

The Galaxy We Call Home
By Amanda Painter

With Saturday's first quarter Moon, the Sun is inching ever closer to its annual conjunction with the Galactic Center in late Sagittarius. That event is exact next Wednesday. But since the Sun is in the neighborhood (well, in the neighborhood of being aligned with the Galactic Center -- our Solar System is actually way out on one of the spiral arms) this seemed a good time to revisit an old chestnut: "The Galaxy Song" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

Just how accurate are the stats Eric Idle sings in this song? Pretty good -- though in this more recent version, sung by Tony-winning Australian comedian and musician Tim Minchin and British professor of astronomy and physics Brian Cox, it's clear a few things could be tightened up.

Give both a listen, and see if your sense of being part of something vast, truly awesome and perhaps never fully knowable doesn't lend a touch of marvel to the fact that you're here.  Listen to Vision Quest on Live Stream

Planet Waves has an in-house music ensemble, called Vision Quest. We have a 38-hour loop of our music, which you can listen to any time. Included are finished pieces, rehearsals, live concerts, drum grooves, and spoken word recordings. I consider it a kind of musical divination. Click in randomly at different times of day and see what you discover. Our Gifts to You: A Little Something Extra

Dear Friend and Reader:

It took me a long time to figure out what kind of gift to offer for new and returning subscribers. Tee shirts seemed too complicated; you need at least six sizes to get started, and not everyone wants a shirt. Tote bags are useful but kind of boring.

So I thought: journals. I love notebooks, and just about everything I write starts scribbled down on paper. I know my readers are a little old-fashioned, so this seemed like the perfect thing.

Black smaller, pink larger, embossed with the Planet Waves logo. There are a few hand painted sketchbooks left, with heavy, acid-free paper.

Then...I researched embossed journals for about six months. That's how long it took. I requested or purchased samples of the best that suppliers had, and all kinds of stuff came floating in the door. It was more challenging than I imagined to find a nice one, though finally I did.

Everything had to be right: the paper, the lines, and how the book feels in your hands.

However, the one I selected was being discontinued. I ordered as many as we could reasonably afford. We now have two main options: small black ones, and larger pink ones (these are new).

Together, they are the approximate color of Good & Plenty candy. I am one of these people who loves anything pink (sweatshirts, nail polish, headbands, a hot pink Squier guitar that I gave to Zosha a few years ago). We also have a few hand-painted notebooks left, which are acid-free sketchbooks.

You can get an embossed notebook with any monthly, quarterly or yearly membership to Planet Waves. If, by the way, there's a calling for hand-painted ones, I will make one more-or-less to your preferences (for those who sign up for a full-year Backstage Pass).

Continue reading this letter here.

Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscopes for December were published on Thursday, Dec. 6. We published your extended monthly horoscopes for November on Thursday, Nov. 8. Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope after the Sun has entered a new sign. Aries (March 20-April 19) -- For many, the days are long gone when adhering to a certain religion was compulsory, socially if not legally. Now, when there is such widespread access to cultural ideas and beliefs of every kind, choosing one's spiritual or ethical path can simply be a matter of what best fits one's personal values. However, the pressures of family and community do still exist, and it can sometimes be very tempting to accept a dogma unquestioningly rather than face criticism or worse from others. Yet there is a true liberation in recognizing your need to live honestly as yourself, and in committing to that. Get your full Aries reading by Eric here.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) -- Part of the challenge in working through any healing or growth process is that the results often don't show themselves immediately. It's all too easy to decide instead to give up and go numb, and sleepwalk through the world. Yet you have too much good sense to consider that as anything like a real solution. One approach that may help is to get more involved with an issue you care deeply about, or are interested in. This needn't be merely to 'keep busy' so that you can put what you're feeling out of your mind; it could also give you an increased sense of purpose. Get your full Taurus reading by Eric here.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) -- When we really need help, we often discover who numbers among our truest friends. When someone close to us needs help, we can find in offering and giving support that our intimacy with them deepens. Relationships tend to appear at their most profound and wonderful when those involved have the opportunity to express qualities that bring out the best in us: compassion, loyalty, warmth and empathy, among others. Be there for loved ones if they need you, even if you're not sure what you can do; and if you could use someone's company or assistance, reach out. Get your full Gemini reading by Eric here.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Your instincts may be more finely tuned than usual this week. If there's any kind of interpersonal tension in your workplace or daily life, the chances are you'll be one of the first to spot the change in the wind. What you do with this information depends on your judgment; you might be able to prevent a misunderstanding, though possibly it's too early to gauge the best action to take. Don't rush into anything, therefore, and wait for more to unfold if necessary. You may figure out a creative and friendly way to resolve any problem that does emerge, once all the pieces are in place. Get your full Cancer reading by Eric here.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) -- Little unexpected events happen relatively frequently in these lives of ours, and usually it's fairly easy to adapt to them. With those of greater significance, some time can be required, and perhaps it's also necessary to take a more active role in readjusting. This week, you may be visited by an inspiration out of the blue, or may discover that it's time to step something you're working on up a gear, or change its course somewhat. You'll probably be able to meet this alteration without too much difficulty. Make room for whatever arrives, and keep an open mind as to what you'll do next. Get your full Leo reading by Eric here.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) -- When it comes to your wellbeing, don't forget that the mind and the body are connected with and feed into one another. If you've been feeling under the weather physically, check how you're doing emotionally; and vice versa. A holistic approach will probably mean you're more in tune with yourself in general, as well as being less likely to miss any useful information. Pay attention in particular if any longstanding or old patterns recur; new clues may appear that were perhaps unclear or not available to you before, and which could lead to new ways of maintaining your equilibrium. Get your full Virgo reading by Eric here.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) -- Virtually all human responses to a situation contain some form of emotion, even though it's often subtle or driving from underneath the consciousness, rather than open and out on the surface. We like to think of ourselves as rational, reasoning beings, though going through the full reasoning process actually requires us to be honest and transparent about how we feel. These facets of the character tend to be shamed when on display, or smothered guiltily whenever possible, though there is no logical point to this. In dealing with a specific issue, you'd benefit from being aware of all your reactions. Get your full Libra reading by Eric here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) -- The state of the world is troubling for many, and the information overload we're all constantly receiving can trigger certain old stress points. If you're feeling that way, remember to take however long you need for self-care, and step away where possible from toxic environments, including online, if they're getting to you. One thing you'll want to avoid in particular is any tendency toward a narrowing worldview. These are challenging times for people with open and candid hearts, but you owe it to yourself to be real, and not to allow anything to constrict you or shake your courage. Get your full Scorpio reading by Eric here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) -- Don't be afraid to express yourself if you feel your views might not quite fit in among your peers, or be acceptable to those in positions of authority. The uniqueness of a perspective can add significantly to its importance, simply by virtue of presenting an idea unthought-of before, or one that existed but no-one had previously dared to bring to the discussion. Humanity is gloriously messy, and is not designed to slide neatly into perfectly square boxes, though some may wish it so, for the convenience of not having to think too hard. Never mind pleasing them -- you have more interesting things to do. Get your full Sagittarius reading by Eric here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) -- You may be feeling somewhat hemmed in at present, perhaps rebelling against what you might see as ponderous duties (which are somehow infinitely more irritating when we're in the mood just to enjoy ourselves). One possible solution that can help mitigate this feeling is to be as organized as possible, including separating work and leisure hours; this allows you not only to feel in control of your time, but to see the balance consciously. Where possible, organize your spaces as well; see if you can establish a designated area to wind down. Remember that ultimately you're working with your mind. Get your full Capricorn reading by Eric here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Much of the time, it's possible to follow your passion without treading on the sensitive toes of self-appointed social arbiters. Sometimes, it isn't. Yet if you have a sincere devotion to something, there might well come a time when you must choose between, for example, staking your reputation and/or being subject to criticism on the one hand, and giving up or making a compromise on the other. At some stage, committing to your vocation may mean accepting risks such as these. However, you might ask yourself what's so scary about that; after all, few things in this world are more liberating. Get your full Aquarius reading by Eric here.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- It's not all that easy to understand the true potential of an ambition; once the necessary research has been carried out, the only thing left is to pursue it and see what results. Often, there will be unexpected and interesting developments, which are illuminating if not always to one's taste. Just now, though, your ability to gauge probabilities is rather astute. In considering an action, you may well be in a position to measure likely outcomes to an unusual degree of accuracy. By all means cross-check your ideas with whatever is available in the outside world; however, as a rule, you can trust your judgment. Get your full Pisces reading by Eric here.