Solstice Cluster, the First

Dear Friend and Reader:

With the beginning of Mercury retrograde in Cancer this week, we are now in the cluster of events surrounding the northern solstice (summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere). Concentrations of aspects form peaks right around both the northern (Cancer) and southern (Capricorn) solstices this year, through which there will be a lot of movement and a sense of uncertainty.

	Don't forget to pay attention!

While this will settle down by the end of the year, the question is, where, and how? In other words, in what territory will society stabilize for a while? I think that in the United States at least, this is up for grabs.

Here is your clip-and-save summary of the northern solstice cluster. Notice how many events are in aspect to the Aries Point, which serves as an intersection between personal and collective events. This has been the theme of our lives since the most recent solar eclipse on the northern solstice, which took place June 21, 2001.

Thursday, June 18: Mercury stations retrograde in Cancer.

Saturday, June 20: Sun enters Cancer; squares the Aries Point. Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. Sun aligns with the Tropic of Cancer.

Sunday, June 21 (Father's Day in the U.S.): Cancer New Moon; annular (not annual) solar eclipse in Cancer, square the Aries Point. This corresponds to the Sagittarius lunar eclipse that took place on Friday, June 5.

Thursday, June 25: Venus stations direct in Gemini. It has been retrograde since May 13.

Saturday, June 27: Mars enters Aries; conjunct the Aries Point. Mars will make a conjunction to Salacia in Aries, a square to Pholus in Capricorn and conjunctions to Chiron and Eris, all on the way to stationing retrograde on Sept. 13.

Tuesday, June 30: Jupiter conjunct Pluto (with Pallas Athene right there) #2 of 3 (the one exact from a heliocentric perspective). The first conjunction was April 4 and the third will be November 12. Jupiter and Pluto align like this about every 12 to 13 years depending on where Pluto is in its long cycle. Adding Pallas Athene, the asteroid of politics and law, points to the theme of this event.

Wednesday, July 1: Mercury retrograde square Chiron; Saturn re-enters Capricorn in retrograde motion.

Think of this as a tricky interchange where three freeways merge, and there is an off-ramp every six seconds while the guy in a Mercedes with Massachusetts plates is tailgating you at 78 miles per hour and you're not sure where you are but you want to get where you're going on time.

	Things are more organized on the West Coast.

Do not reach for your coffee! Do not answer the phone! Just keep driving. I know it's challenging.

The truly odd thing about this time in history is the sensation of the private existing in public space nearly all the time. This is largely a result of digital technology. It's not just that digital facilitates things like breaching tens of millions of credit reports, Social Security numbers, credit card data, medical records and so on.

People are conditioned to experience themselves as public, with no privacy, despite the seeming obsession with privacy. Then many will publish everything about their lives to social media — more than enough for anyone to build up a psychological profile without any need to pry behind a password.

How many people will consent to placing contact tracing software on their phones, to "test, track and trace” policies, and to answer questions about their movements and personal connections without an attorney present? [Note, in the United States, you are not obligated to answer questions from any lawful authority without an attorney present.]

So on the one hand, we insist on privacy and security and on the other, many are willing to surrender these things with little thought, or none at all. Now is the time to pay attention. We are at the crossroads or the six-way intersection. Think before you sign, and before you click "agree."

There is another approach to this whole matter, which is to recognize that in the digital environment, privacy does not exist in the way that it did in the analog, in-person environment. We are all public people, though not everyone planned to be that way.

The thing to do is to remember where you are at all times — not as in GPS but in terms of using your senses.

With love,

PS — I was grousing around the old archives and found an article from 10 years ago this week, called The Greatest Aries Point Show on Earth. It was a time when the eclipses were hovering around Cancer and Capricorn, and Uranus was sitting on the Aries Point itself. This pointed to much that happened in 2011: Fukushima, Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and much more. This article contains quite a bit of astrological detail, Aries Point theory and a visit with Djwhal Khul, or the Tibetan, the in-body master whom Alice Bailey said she was channeling.

PPS — The reason I was in the archives was that I was digging out my coverage from late 2012, for one of our newer editors who was not around at the time. Twenty-twelve is now back in the news, in the form of some hilarious assertion that the date was off by eight years and this is really it. I have been saying something akin to this for weeks on PWFM, in the form of: we got all that 2012 in 2020. The three from that autumn that I found were: Something about Juno, then The Mayans, Juno and the Abyss, and We're About to Go Off the Map, which we indeed have. In one article I wrote, "Sounds like a good excuse for a party. We are doing fantastic. Today I am baking a cake and finishing up my list of resolutions for the new baktun, and a separate list for the new piktun. This is a special moment."

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Living in Hell: A Diary of my Escape from Christianity

by Joshua Halinen

One of my earliest memories is hiding from my parents under the buffet table in the dining room when I was "supposed" to be getting ready for church. In blue gym shorts and a red t-shirt, I was not ready. I felt the tan carpet under my knees and forearms as I quietly prayed that I wouldn't have to go.

Read more...

"I just bought the Dharma Spring reading...Just Wow. My Cancer Sun and Rising reading is absolutely epic! This advice is priceless direction-finding, which I absolutely need right now. Thank you."

-- Helen B.

The DHARMA in Action — Free Video Samples Below Repositioning yourself in the next economy.
Doing what is right for you. Tapping your talent.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Whoever you are or whatever you may do, the reshuffling and reset of the economy will affect everyone to some degree. Anyone who plans on surviving and thriving will need to reinvent themselves. Though it's now being compelled of us, this is an excellent opportunity to do what you want to do.

Times of turmoil and change present opportunity. The structure has been crushed, and we know the big players are positioning themselves to make billions. Yet everyone who participates actively has the chance to find their niche. This is the time to make your choices based on your Dharma: your true calling, and acting as if to hold the world together.

	Shirt is Vashon-Maury Green Party. Pendant is by Gail Murphy on Vashon Island, which arrived today.

Much of my work as an astrologer has been as a business and professional consultant.

It is my number one favorite kind of session to do: to help a musician plan their next creative phase; to help someone redesign their career; to work with an artist figuring out where their talents can best be connected to a clientele.

I've worked with many, many doctors and healers (I have a lot of Chiron in my chart), commodities traders, fine artists, attorneys, someone high up in bank security technology, a top-shelf country music star and people in every odd walk of life. I have learned many things from each of them.

This is my mission in The DHARMA, the 2020 spring reading.

Following the sign change of Saturn, Venus retrograde, Mars retrograde and finally the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction — all events describing a rearrangement of everyone and everything — I have sketched out the possibilities in detail. I suggest where to look for your talents, your energy and your marketplace.

I guide you to be the connection between someone who has something to offer and a need in society. I take a positive, motivating, passionate approach to each reading.

You may wonder how I can do this in video readings. It's a talent I've developed over many years, combined with my innate ability to see patterns and recognize solutions. My clients and customers know I put all of my intelligence and talent into everything I do. These readings are $111 for the set of 12 signs and rising signs. The way astrology works, one little idea is all you need to get you started, and I do a lot better than that.

People pay me five times that amount for a single 75-minute consultation (most people come in for two initially). I am one of the most expensive astrological consultants in the business, because I get results.

To my astrology talent I bring decades of experience as a journalist covering business, environmental issues and many other specialized fields.

The DHARMA readings will help you orient yourself. I will help you see your personal gifts and your opportunities, and put the two together. I consider your time much more valuable than your money, and use both efficiently and creatively.

The samples below are the first five minutes of each sign and rising sign. The readings go 40 to 45 minutes, and I tend to warm up and get cooking a little ways in, once I catch the groove of the chart.

The world needs your help right now. You have an opportunity to find the right thing to do. Take a positive approach to your situation, and follow your Dharma.

All 12 signs are available here for $111. There is something in each sign for everyone, and you may share the readings with your household.

Individual signs are available here starting at $44 for the first sign.

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

With love,

PS — This reading is included in the Backstage Pass. You may sign up for one year or on a quarterly recurring basis. Here are free five-minute reading samples of THE DHARMA:

Aries		Taurus		Gemini	Cancer		Leo		Virgo
Libra		Scorpio		Sagittarius	Capricorn		Aquarius		Pisces

Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscope for June was published on Thursday, May 21. We published your extended monthly horoscope for May on Saturday, April 25. Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope after the Sun has entered a new sign. Aries (March 20-April 19) — If you feel like you missed a chance to work through a family or household-related issue, you will have another opportunity soon enough. If you're trying to avoid one, it will come back to you for additional healing. There seems to be a matter from the past you're not connecting with or fully acknowledging. It may be that you would prefer to forget it, though it keeps surfacing from time to time. Pay attention and you'll notice this has more of an influence on your self-concept than you may imagine. It hides behind being a small matter, which is then magnified out of proportion -- and therefore seems harder to address than it will be. Many facets of life are similar, and if you successfully address and resolve this situation, you will learn something larger. As with any early circumstances, the thing to remember at all times is that you're not a child any more. You have adult powers, life experience and distance on these events. Much other useful information will come up for healing.



The Journey of You and Chiron | A New Reading by Eric Francis

Anyone who has encountered it is curious about Chiron. Planet Waves provides one of the few dependable online sources of information on this unusual planet. For the 10th anniversary Astrology Studio reading, I will be covering Chiron in Aries — a momentous event for all those born under this sign, and of high interest to everyone else. Get instant access to this reading here.

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Taurus (April 19-May 20) — How has this Venus retrograde (May 13-June 25) been influencing your emotional and erotic life? Are you relating differently in any way to your sexual needs or desires? In what ways are you relating to yourself differently? In what way are you relating to others differently? This astrology gets into some intimate territory where sexual needs intersect with emotional needs. Yet one image this week's aspects present is learning how to see them as separate. Society (families, friends, potential partners, the local reverend) is assertive in its position that sex, to be "moral," must be through a particular relationship and associated in some way with special love and commitment. Yet your sexuality has a life of its own, and its own seasons and cycles and orientation on existence. As part of your journey, you can take the time, space and risk and consider them independently. If you feel like you might be judged for this, note that inner response, and keep track of it -- you will learn a lot from studying it.

You can now get instant access to your 2020-21 Taurus Astrology Studio here for just $44. This reading focuses on a professional breakthrough toward the end of the year, and preparing you for this development. Venus retrograde in the spring is preparation. Mars retrograde in the autumn is preparation.

Ultimately this is a spiritual development, yet in reality we are talking about aligning your purpose with action, with a calling, and with an opportunity. Elements of the reading go out to a series of power steps in 2021. Read more.

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Gemini (May 20-June 21) — I mentioned last week the idea that true maturity is integral to being able to live in peace with uncertainty and in the face of the unknown. Of course, those things are also what tend to make people the most nervous and even unstable. Yet think of how much mystery you live with, particularly about yourself. The place where maturity morphs into a form of spiritual fortitude is the patience and willingness to do so consciously. It's more than that, though. Self-discovery takes time. When questions are responded to with simple answers or false certainty is built up, that blocks access to truth, as the mind is no longer open or available to new understanding or awareness. Standing back from certainty is a method that helps you avoid lazy approaches to life that ultimately do not help or which interject delays. That is important now because such beautiful discoveries about yourself are possible. A rare window is open. Seek the truth, not a substitute.

Your 2020-21 Gemini Astrology Studio, The Sacred Space of Self, is now available for instant access. The reading covers Venus retrograde in your sign, Vesta in your sign, Saturn in Aquarius, and the momentous astrology at the end of the year.Thank you for your business and your trust.

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Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Your life has progressed in the past month or so to where you can make observations about yourself that you were not likely to make before. This is a matter of perspective. Sometimes you must get a little distance and see things from an angle. What you have now is the viewpoint where you can hold two opposite properties of yourself as existing side by side. One way to look at this is being able to consider your mental and emotional realities as distinct from one another. They are not, of course, because you are one being, though it can help to think of them as having some discrete traits that can communicate with one another. This could, for example, represent two deep needs you have that seem to compete for your attention. Feel the tension for a while. Let both sides of the equation exist in their own right. They would seem to be in direct competition with one another, or mutually exclusive. If you can bring yourself present for that feeling, and stay there a while, you can observe for yourself whether that is really true.

You may now pre-order your 2020-21 Cancer Astrology Studio for just $33. This year, the time of Cancer begins with an eclipse on the solstice, as well as Mercury retrograde in your sign. This is astrology that points to you in a personal way, describing a transition you may not feel ready to make but have been preparing for over long years. Chiron in Aries is also a prominent factor, pointing to some pioneering developments in your professional life. I will cover these aspects, and much more.

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Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You may be ready to reveal openly what you have kept under a veil. Cats are good at hiding their secrets, and you are no different. Don't do this all at once, though. While it's true you need to be one self, wherever you are, this is a gradual process of letting off some pressure. The first place to open the valve is within yourself. Gradually, decide what you want to move over from the 'private' column to the 'public' one -- for example, by determining what about yourself you no longer want to keep hidden from others. This may stem from desire, or it may stem from the need to feel real. With either approach, your self-guidance would offer you back some feeling of pleasure, surrender and the sensation of true freedom as a result of even considering the idea. The point of self-disclosure is not doing the right thing in some abstract sense, but rather, feeling better. Being real is its own reward and its own challenge, and many others will follow.

Get your full Leo reading by Eric here.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mercury's change in direction this week provokes the question of wanting to take care of everyone, by which I mean the whole world: a Virgo trait that is not easy to reckon with. Society is still in love with its 'every man for himself' theory of existence, in nearly total denial of how the very purpose of organizing ourselves into communities is to help us sort out the basics. Even with food and clothing taken care of, there are many emotional and spiritual challenges to our lives, and those concern you as well. Here is what I would suggest, as someone who relates to this point of view personally. Keep your interests close to home: your actual home, your closest friends and your most immediate community. Let that be "the world" for you. This is not only manageable, it's extremely useful, and you will find it rewarding. Work on the level where either you can see some direct results, or there can be some exchange. The rest is digital illusion.

Get your full Virgo reading by Eric here.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Focus on feeling good, rather than feeling safe. And why is that? The notion of safety is an abstraction on a planet with so many seeming threats, most coming from within our minds. Feeling good is a direct, verifiable experience. You know you feel good because you do. Ah, wait; I must stop myself here. What about the people who only feel good when they feel pain? What about people who feel guilty the moment they are happy, as if they must be neglecting something, or betraying someone? Well, in that case, one does not "feel good." However, they might feel safe, stable and normal. So, it would seem we have some sorting out to do around this whole topic. Those who feel good are certainly a mystery to those who do not. If I may: feeling is about being present in one's body, whether good, bad or some other description. That would seem to be the controversial thing: that the body is involved. You could say controversial, or you could say inevitable.

Get your full Libra reading by Eric here.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — I'm curious what has transpired for you the past week of your life. What did you experience? What did you learn? Where have you invested your energy? And what was the outcome? While the Mars-Neptune conjunction was exact Saturday, it's still vibrating, and your ruling planet Mars is still in Pisces, pushing a daring quality to your creative and sexual adventures. Much of this can be adventure for its own sake. You might consider the results as you go along, or you might just keep experimenting and skip the evaluation. As long as you're happy, it's all good. That said, later this week, Mercury stations retrograde in one of the most philosophical angles of your chart. That is likely to point you to some matters of meaning, which may seem to come on abruptly, and lead you to question some of what you've experienced recently. You can take that as an opportunity to slow down, reflect and edit. You will appreciate any moment of meditation and introspection. It's been a while.

Get your full Scorpio reading by Eric here.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The dominant theme for Sagittarius is the nature of your contracts and agreements. You have a tendency to enter these on an emotional basis rather than logical or rational. Emotional could mean how you feel; some would say it's their gut response to a situation. That's true as far as it goes. It's always a good idea to read a contract or to know what you're committing to through some tacit agreement, and that's the moment of your astrology at this time. If your feelings, gut or emotions guide you to conduct a review, that would be a good idea. If your mind guides you to do so, that's an equally good idea. The mental plane gets to the specifics that can be expressed in language, including of how you are responding on a level you don't usually articulate. And the specifics are currently where it is at for you -- not the generalities. You don't have to commit to anything except being honest with yourself.

Get your full Sagittarius reading by Eric here.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Mercury stations retrograde in your opposite sign this week, which signifies your changing position on a relationship. I would suggest the most important thing to track is your perspective: whether you're seeing the world as an adult or a child. You might also track your perception of where partners and loved ones are coming from. While seeing and experiencing life from the viewpoint of your inner kid can be fun, the drawback is that you don't have much control over the flow of events. Your child self might resort to disrupting the flow, which is much easier, though is not a form of creative power. It is a sign of desperation, though we might ask, about what? Before you try to get control, you might reckon how and why you feel like you lack it. This is nearly certain to be a personal matter having nothing to do with external events. Nobody controls what you think, believe, feel or do -- even if you want them to.

Get your full Capricorn reading by Eric here.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — With so much emphasis on health these days, it's noteworthy why there is so little emphasis on wellbeing. In the midst of a supposedly medical crisis, how to take care of oneself is not in the discussion. It does need to be in your personal discussion. This can begin with the relationship between your emotional state and what you think of as being a medical issue. The chances are high that what you're experiencing is originating on the emotional level rather than the physical. You are more likely to feel the ill effects of an insult or self-defeating thought than you are to experience those of a toxin or pathogen. Said another way, fear is unhealthy; stress is not conducive of wellbeing; judgment is not relaxing; anger is not good for heart, soul or blood. That is the order in which to proceed. You don't need to concern yourself with the dangers of 'bad stuff', only with the influence of your mind on your body. And once you have a handle on that, you gain many abilities you didn't have before.

Get your full Aquarius reading by Eric here.

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Astrology Studio for Pisces | A New Reading by Eric Francis

This is a momentous time in collective history, and a turning point in your life. As the year develops, most of the movement — including Pisces' ruling planet Jupiter, and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction — will be pointing into Aquarius, the most sensitive and innermost angle of your chart. I will also cover the retrogrades of Venus and Mars, and the forthcoming Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in your friendship sign Capricorn. Mostly, I will help you orient on your profound journey, and offer guidance how to harmonize with the world at this unusual time. Get instant access to this reading here.

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Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Your energy will start to bounce back as Mars makes its way into late Pisces, away from Neptune. If you experienced a drought last week, it involved the Mars-Neptune conjunction. If your astrology means anything, you will have more traction and be better able to make contact with others, so make sure you focus your message, keep an eye on the details, and make adjustments in real-time if necessary. By that, I mean think on your feet, and think creatively, which means with a measure of adventure and pleasure. You know what you're doing. Mercury stationing retrograde this week in your house of art and adventure (Cancer, your solar 5th) is an invitation to explore the lush side of your mind in a focused way. Rather than making art, give yourself a project, by which I mean a space to fill. Define some loose parameters and fulfill them. Take one idea and develop it. Along a similar line, reach out to one person you're interested in, take leadership and evolve the conversation. A little focus will go a long way.

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