Bursting Free: Solar Eclipse in Taurus

Dear Friend and Reader:

Yesterday we began our experience of a solar eclipse in Taurus. The nice thing about eclipses is that their effects last a while. Some astrologers say a few months, many say six months, though as I do lots of world horoscopes, I've noticed that the eclipses have effects that can last many years. So think of this as a beginning.

An opening into the East Woods on the Grandmother Land in High Falls, NY. Photo by Jenna Dern.

This eclipse looks like it has the potential to be an especially long-lasting one. On Tuesday as I was doing my Planet Waves FM webcast about yesterday's eclipse (which also includes a reading about the young women who escaped captivity in Cleveland Monday) I started to wonder when was the last solar eclipse in Taurus. In theory, it should have been about nine years ago.

That's because eclipses move in an approximately nine-year cycle, following these points called the lunar nodes. Solar eclipses should follow the nodes, but sometimes they skip signs. I've seen this twice before. By my reckoning (using this reliable tool programmed by my friend Tracy), when the lunar nodes (which travel as an axis) passed through Taurus and Scorpio in the early 2000s, there were no solar eclipses in Taurus.

Therefore, the most recent solar eclipse we experienced in Taurus was during the prior nodal cycle, on April 29, 1995. There also was a solar eclipse in Taurus in the same degree as the one that happens later Thursday on May 10, 1994. 

Gee, that eclipse in 1995 was 18 years ago. Why is this delay significant? Eclipses represent an evolutionary process, helping us move from one place to another. They are the most dependable events for helping us to shift continuity, let go of past habits and attachments and enter new territory.

When a type of eclipse has skipped a sign, it suggests there's been a kind of delay or pause in the evolutionary process in the area of our lives that sign represents. It might mean 'stuck' and it might mean 'extra long gestation process' on a particular theme. Further, this suggests we have some catching up to do, with which we'll have some help from yesterday's significantly potent Taurus New Moon eclipse (which was exact Thursday, May 9 at 8:28 pm EDT).  

Rocks along the Atlantic Ocean near Portland, Maine. Photo by Eric.

This eclipse is conjunct two asteroids, to the degree: Pallas Athene and Lilith. Both Taurus and Pallas Athene are exemplary at maintaining appearances. They can create an exterior that's impeccable, and often necessary for many kinds of social situations. Lilith, the 'original woman' from Medieval mythology, is what exists beneath that appearance. I read Lilith as 'the woman within', the one who won't be subjugated by expectations or social circumstances.

Opposite the eclipse is Psyche in Scorpio -- another image of what is under the surface: deep motives, and an element of pain, which emerges from a crisis of faith. Psyche asks the questions about how we could be loved, and whether we're worthy of it. That's not a statement but rather a question to resolve.

To one side of the eclipses there are squares coming from Diana and Icarus in Aquarius. There's an element of protection (Diana, goddess of the hunt, who stands guard over young women) and an impulse to escape (Icarus, the guy caught in the maze who flew too close to the Sun).

To the other side of the eclipses is Dionysus in Leo, one of the most important mythological figures in all of ancient Greek lore. He's described as the god of the grape harvest, of wine and of ritual madness and ecstasy. He represents another side of the impulse to escape -- from the bonds of rationality. 

I think the core aspect among these asteroids is Dionysus square Pallas: the inner impulse to liberate and shed the thick armor of personality, and Pallas, who in many ways embodies that armor (in which she was born). There is tension in this square, and it's being emphasized by the eclipse (all of these aspects are within a one-degree orb of the eclipse).

Photo by Eric Francis.

The theme is that something in you wants to burst free. It's not satisfied to live for appearances, for how proper you are, how predictable, how willing to subvert your own natural desires.

This has been going on for a while, as if it's been gradually building. You may think it's merely an impulse to escape. I would say it's an impulse to evolve, to make contact with the inner person you contain and allow him or her to have a voice, to experience their feelings and to have a place in the world.

Yes, other people will have to deal with it, but in fact, they always do.

This sensation might come with the feeling of bursting free, though it's not a matter of all or nothing, but of taking sincere steps, which include taking the risk of letting people know who you are and how you feel. Remind yourself that you have nobody to impress; you're living your life and it's not for anyone else to tell you whether that's right or wrong, nor for you to judge yourself based on what someone else might think.

If events conspire to make that happen a little faster than you might have expected (which can happen where there's been a long delay, or when you've never tried something you really want), I suggest you go with the flow of the cosmos. She has you held in her wisdom, and knows that you were born to love and live as you choose.

Other factors in this eclipse suggest that potent spiritual forces are at work to help us get where we want and need to be. Offer your cooperation and they will return the favor.

Lovingly,



More to Astrology than Eclipses

As the dust settles around Thursday's solar eclipse -- the first in Taurus since 1995 -- there are other interesting aspects in the neighborhood. The Sun is now in the last decanate (10-degree span, or 'face') of the sign Taurus, which phase is ruled by Saturn. This is a message to tidy up your energy and focus your efforts on your highest priorities.

Planets are starting to fan out after the eclipse in Taurus. Here, you can see the Moon, Venus and Jupiter in Gemini. From the top reading the chart counter-clockwise, Eris, Mars, the South Node, Pallas, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Jupiter, the Black Moon Lilith or lunar apogee, Vesta and Ceres.

The Moon ingresses Gemini on Friday at 5:21 pm. Tonight the Moon is conjunct Venus, newly in Gemini, at 8:49 pm EDT.

One of the nicest features of the solar eclipse was that the ruler of the eclipse had slipped out of Taurus and into Gemini, making the event more mentally accessible.

The Moon will make a conjunction to Jupiter Sunday at 9:32 am. This could support a weekend with the potential for easygoing conversation and a break from the heaviness of the world.

In the mix, Mercury will be conjunct Pallas in Taurus Saturday at 10:33 am. There's another interesting aspect between a traditional planet and an asteroid -- Mars will square Juno Saturday at 12:29 pm EDT. Both of these aspects suggest that your best strategy will be stating what you need and what you want rather than expecting anyone to figure it out.

The Moon ingresses Cancer Monday at 5:57 am EDT. Venus moves into a square with Neptune Monday at 4:47 pm EDT, hinting that figuring out what you feel is a process.

Don't take any potential ambivalence as a sign that something is wrong; both Gemini and Pisces are dualistic, mutable signs, and there are a lot of potentials for how you might feel and why you might feel that way. Take your time figuring it out.


Solar Eclipse News Roundup

It's been an interesting few weeks leading into the first solar eclipse in Taurus since 1995. The eclipse, which happened Thursday, was conjunct the asteroid Pallas Athene, highlighting politics and also seeming to crack the facade off of what we see in the world around us.

Jodi Arias was convicted of the 2008 murder of her boyfriend and potentially faces the death penalty, which she says she wants.

Among the stories we'll remember were the Boston Marathon bombing, which resulted in a major American city being put under martial law for one day. There was the explosion of a fertilizer plant in Texas and the collapse of a factory in Bangladesh killing more than 1,000 people. There was a miracle in the factory collapse story after a woman was found alive Thursday after 17 days under the rubble.

Barbara Heist, a woman who walked out of her own life one day 11 years ago in Pennsylvania, turned up in Florida, and three girls who had been kidnapped were freed from captivity this week, after being missing since the early 2000s -- a profound example of human endurance. Ariel Castro was arrested for kidnapping and rape, and could facd the death penalty -- which is unlikely to happen, as prosecutors will do what they can to avoid putting the victims through testifying at a trial.

Jodi Arias was convicted by a jury of first degree murder in the 2008 slaying of her boyfriend Travis Alexander. She stabbed him 29 times and then shot him. The jury is now deliberating whether she should get the death penalty, which she has said she wants, describing death as the ultimate freedom.

Republicans continued to be obsessed over the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi incident last September, though this seemed more like a pre-emptive effort to derail the probable presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time. It seems like both sides in this matter are deceiving the public, with Republicans exploiting certain facts and the Obama administration unable to admit what was really going on behind the scenes.

Mark Sanford, the former governor of South Carolina, defeated Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, the sister of Stephen Colbert, for a seat in that state's 1st congressional district. Sanford is the guy who explained his disappearance while governor by claiming he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail when he was really having an affair in Argentina. Sanford resigned as governor and as chairman of the Republican Governor's Association, only to be re-elected to his old seat in the House of Representatives.

Mark Sanford said this week that his winning the election was an experience of 'grace', after one of the more memorable falls from grace in recent years. AP photo.

The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant was shut down after water was found leaking for the second time into Lake Michigan. "There is no impact on the health and safety of plant employees or the public," a spokesman for the plant's owner said.

Eight men were charged in a $45 million international bank heist, one of the biggest bank robberies ever, which involved hacking into credit card data files to raise withdrawal limits, then stealing the cash from ATMs all over the world.

Yet among all of this news, what else happened? Most of what we experience as news is distorted by the echo chamber of the media itself. For all of our 24-hour news coverage, we hear about the same stories over and over again. They at least make an interesting gestalt to describe some manifestations of the eclipse. Yet it often seems that unlike in the 1960s, when we experienced similar astrology as we have now, we don't see the breakthroughs, the points of progress, the reasons to celebrate, quite as much.

That may be an illusion caused by the fact that bad news gets the ratings, and the ratings sell Subarus.


U.S. and Russia Look to Syria as Uranus-Pluto Square Approaches

After two years of brutal civil war in Syria, the U.S. is talking about increasing aid and, with the help of Russia, trying to get the two sides of the conflict to negotiate. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, engaged in discussions in Moscow on Tuesday; Kerry telephoned European leaders from Rome the next day to begin setting the stage for a series of conferences between Syria's government and the opposition -- hopefully to begin within a month.

Secretary of State John Kerry will have to do more than pray at this stage of the game. Photo: AAP.

All parties are working to "effect a transition government by mutual consent of both sides, which clearly means that in our judgment President Assad will not be a component of that transitional government," said Kerry as he met Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh this week.

In the meantime, the Pentagon has drawn up new contingency plans based on the possibility that Syria breaks apart. According to the Wall Street Journal, proposed plans include a buffer zone in Jordan for working with an overflow of refugees and for delivering weapons and aid to Syrian rebels. Until recently, the Pentagon saw the collapse of Syria as a remote possibility; at this point, volatile regional spillover is looking more likely.

The conflict in Syria began during the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, which signaled the warm-up of the Uranus-Pluto square. The next exact contact of Uranus and Pluto -- era-defining forces of upheaval, revolution and evolution -- is May 20.

"The Syria message was loud and strong," said a senior diplomat briefed on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's trip to the Middle East last month. "Everybody's scared. And nobody knows what the hell we are going to do there."

In recent weeks, leaders of Arab nations have traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak directly with President Obama, "asking the U.S. to play a 'midwife' role." True to the season, something is being birthed in the region, but so far it has been a long, painful and violent process largely ignored by western leaders until relatively recently.

Recalling the governmental clampdowns on social networking during the Arab Spring protests in Egypt, Google reported this week that Syria was cut off from the global Internet. The last shutdown on a similar scale in Syria occurred last November.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that it is unknown whether Tuesday's Internet shutdown was from an infrastructure cut, or a deliberate silencing of online communication. Digital media have been a critical tool connecting Syrians with the rest of the world.


Elizabeth Smart: You Will Always Have Value
 
Amidst the news of the three young women in Cleveland who have finally found freedom after about a decade of imprisonment and rape, another former victim of abduction and rape is getting attention for speaking out. Elizabeth Smart, who was held captive for nine months in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, when she was 14, gave an address this week on the role abstinence-only 'education' played in keeping her from trying to escape her captors.
 

Sex or no sex, you have worth, and it's always greater than chewed gum -- even gum with the face of Jesus on it.

Speaking at a forum on human trafficking at Johns Hopkins University, Smart described the effect of hearing a school teacher compare those who engage in pre-marital sex as being like a piece of chewing gum:

"I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm that chewed-up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away.' And that's how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value," Smart said.

"Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value."
 
That may be the most insidious aspect of the 'abstinence-only' message, even beyond the lack of information about how adolescents' bodies work and how to prevent pregnancy and STIs: behind it all is the message that having sex makes one worthless. Smart's sense of no longer having any inherent value as a person proved to be an incredibly powerful mental shackle even when her captors took her out in public.
 
Smart, who is now in her mid-twenties, runs a foundation to educate children about sexual crimes. "You will always have value," says Smart, "and nothing can change that."
 
It's a perfect message to broadcast and celebrate in a week with so many planets, plus a solar eclipse, in Taurus; a sign all about values, worth, the physical body, sex, passion and possession -- especially your self-possession.


GMO Labeling Bill in Vermont Almost Law

The Vermont House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved a bill requiring labeling of food products containing genetically modified organisms.

If it passes the House, as expected, the Senate will likely take it up in January, since the legislative session ends this weekend.

Last year, Monsanto threatened to sue the state of Vermont if lawmakers passed a GMO labeling law. They claim that state GMO labeling is unconstitutional because federal law (in this case, FDA regulations) preempts state law.

However, federal law allows states to pass laws relating to food safety or food labels when the FDA has no prior regulations or prohibitions in place, as is the case with GMO labeling.
 
There are more than 200 state food labeling laws in effect right now in the U.S., including a GMO fish labeling law in Alaska, laws on labeling wild rice, maple syrup, dairy quality, kosher products, and laws on labeling dairy products as rBGH-free.
 
Rep. William Lippert, chairman of the Vermont Judiciary Committee, told his colleagues on Tuesday that the public interest in labeling is worth the risk of a lawsuit.

For once, we have a case of a politician listening to the will of the people, and not to Monsanto.


No End in Sight from Power-Plant Pollution

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in southwestern Michigan was taken offline Sunday after operators discovered a leak from a water tank. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials estimate 79 gallons of "slightly radioactive water" flowed into Lake Michigan over the weekend, according to Michigan Radio.

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant. Photo: U.S. NRC.

Despite this being the second time in less than a year that the tank has leaked -- and despite not knowing how radioactive the water is -- officials said there is no immediate risk to the public.
 
A Republican-appointed regulator was being investigated last year for trying to stop an NRC probe into safety concerns at Palisades, according to the Huffington Post. NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko toured the plant in May 2012, while "a significant leak of potentially radioactive water was pouring into the control room."

After Jaczko ordered an investigation, Commissioner William Ostendorff allegedly "shouted at the top agency investigator, Cheryl McCrary, in front of several NRC employees," and told McCrary the inquiry would be a waste of resources, said the article.

The hands-off attitude continued this week on the Democratic side, when the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed it has no plans to issue new limits on carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. In a letter to Senate Republicans this week, the Obama nominee to head the EPA, Gina McCarthy, said the agency "is not currently developing any existing source greenhouse gas regulations," according to Democracy Now! The EPA delayed proposed emissions limits for new power plants just last month. All wealth may come from the Earth, but the EPA and many leaders don't seem to get what that really means.



Only YOU Can Stand Up For What You Believe In

Lopi LaRoe's radicalized Smokey the Bear.

Feel like showing how much clean water, healthy forests and free speech mean to you? Check out the designs of Lopi LaRoe, a Brooklyn, New York, screen-print artist and activist responsible for an altered Smokey the Bear meme that has the National Forest Service growling.

Depicting the iconic bear wearing a hat that says "NO FRACKING," and with the slogan "Only you can prevent faucet fires" below him, LaRoe has radicalized a national symbol.
 
The t-shirts, bags and patches have "spread like wildfire," according to LaRoe (haha) and sparked a cease-and-desist letter from the Metis Group, which acts as legal counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service division. They claim Smokey is the property of the U.S. government (not public domain), and that messing with his image could "confuse the public."
 
An article by Peter Rugh at Waging Nonviolence suggests they're more concerned that she could bring attention to the fact that the Forest Service is considering approving fracking leases in the George Washington National Forest, which is near another national forest where highly toxic fracking fluid has been linked to the deaths of 150 trees in West Virginia. What would Smokey do?




Solar Eclipse in Taurus, Featuring Many Asteroids --
and the Cleveland Captives Set Free by Heracles!

The new edition of Planet Waves FM covers the powerful solar eclipse we experienced on Thursday, with effects that will reverberate for many seasons, even for years. This is the first solar eclipse in Taurus since 1995.

I go over the chart of the eclipse, including taking a look at the minor planets that align with it. It's a beautiful collection, including Pallas, Psyche, Hermes, Dionysus and the protector of young women, Diana.

I also read the chart of the 911 call made by Amanda Berry, the woman who was missing for more than 10 years. She was set free by Charles Ramsey, who turns up in the chart as Heracles. The chart describes a chilling crime scene, though a story with a happier ending than anyone (including a psychic) would have predicted.

Our program is sponsored this week by the Invocation of Spring report, which is a study in relationship dynamics. This report serves all 12 signs -- with readings of about 35 minutes each, and can be used for your Sun, Moon or rising sign -- or those of partners or love interests.

We also have the Taurus birthday reading available. You can listen to a tasty sample of both the astrology and the tarot segments at this link. This is an inspired, motivational reading that will guide you if you're a Taurus Sun, Moon or rising.

Our musical guest is the folk group Girlyman, featuring their excellent musicianship and harmony vocals. Some members are working on a new record, which you can hear about at this link.

Here are the charts and more information about the eclipses.




Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes

The May monthly extended horoscopes were published Friday, April 26. Inner Space horoscopes for May were published Tuesday, April 30. We published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Scorpio Full Moon and eclipse on Tuesday, April 23. On Tuesday, May 7, we published the Moonshine horoscopes for the Taurus New Moon. Note that the longer monthly horoscope is being incorporated into the Friday issue after the Sun has entered a new sign; a new Inner Space is generally emailed on the following Tuesday.




Weekly Horoscope for Friday, May 10, 2013 #949 | By Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19) -- How can you value yourself if you're afraid to show the world who you are? The two concepts form a direct contradiction to one another. I suggest you monitor your thoughts carefully for any hint of 'restrain yourself' or 'don't say how you feel' and notice whether these impulses are connected to the issue of worthiness. It's true from one limited point of view that there's an appropriate time for everything. The question is what side of the line of appropriateness do you choose to err on? You can practice conservatism as a veiled form of living in fear, or you can err on the side of expressing yourself in that moment when you might be pushing boundaries. You're safe doing this as long as you're actually coming from what you truly value. In the process, you're just as likely to discover that what you thought was true for you no longer is. This implies conducting your life as an experiment, which in turn hints at not knowing the outcome in advance.


Taurus (April 19-May 20) -- This may be a time in your life unlike any other, and I do mean in some profound ways. I am also speaking in the longterm -- you've just experienced the first solar eclipse in your birth sign since 1995, suggesting that you can move long-stuck energy, and bring desires to fruition that have potentially been brewing all that time. Yet to take advantage of the moment and its opportunities for growth and celebrating life, it's necessary to go beneath the image you wish to portray to the world and offer the substance you're made of. This can be challenging if past experiences of revealing yourself have ended badly -- and who hasn't had some of those? One thing to keep in mind is that people in your environment are making contact with some of their deepest insecurities. They may or may not be revealing that; they may be more or less aware of what's happening. Pay special attention to sexual situations that seem to provoke the fear of intimacy, or some form of jealousy. There's more potential for healing in those situations than you may imagine.




Hello Taurus Sun, Moon and rising sign folks! Your Taurus 2013 birthday reading is ready. I cover Saturn in your opposite sign Scorpio, as well as the current eclipses, and what it means to have so many planets in your sign, rising sign or Moon sign at this time of year. I speak to you for an hour about your relationships, your quest for independence and what looks like some special motivation to grow and become. It's a beautiful reading, recorded with a warm, intimate feeling. You may listen as many times as you like, or download it into iTunes or another MP3 player. The tarot reading reading includes photos of the spread, the chart and access to last year's reading if you want to check my accuracy. You can order your birthday reading here for just $24.95.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) -- The current astrology has you on a tour of the unknown, uncharted, unacknowledged regions of your psyche. This is likely to come with some form of the message that there's a lot you don't know about yourself. Few people are comfortable with that feeling, but when you're there, you're there. Yet sincere not knowing is the state that usually precedes sincerely finding out. If you work with this equation over the next few weeks, you're almost certain to make some discoveries that will help you guide your life in the direction that you've been called for a long time. You're unlikely to have certainty in advance that the choices you make are right. Indeed, you seem to be going through an encounter with your own doubts. You need to go beyond your opinions or your feelings to do this. Rather, document your observations, particularly those of a spiritual or self-realization nature. At times you may find yourself in a dreamlike state, and you may forget things that you see and experience. When the time comes to know and remember, you will be happy you've left yourself some notes.


Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- It's a frightful thought for most people to have their innermost self or innermost thoughts known to others. Think of all the effort that goes into putting up various veils, decoys and disguises. Consider all the thought that goes into being polite, stating things in oblique ways and even learning how to tell creative white lies. Now imagine how much energy all of this image-building creates -- and tune into the feeling of how all you really want to do is be real. You may be bursting to express what is true and what is most valuable to you. I suggest you take this as a moment when you can initiate that, or step up your efforts and be more bold than usual. You may find this idea helpful. Your solar chart suggests that it's obvious to others who you are, so you don't need to worry about anyone finding out something new. The question is your relationship to who you actually are. Avoidance or denial will consume your energy; sincerity and willingness to be clear and vulnerable will concentrate and focus your energy.


Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) -- It's worth considering the differences between the perception of success and actual achievement. It's also worth considering the relationship between them -- there is one. People seem more inclined to bet on who they think looks like a winner, vote for who looks like president or invest in a company with a strong image. The pattern in yesterday's solar eclipse describes you integrating the two ideas -- what you've accomplished and presenting what you've accomplished in a way that focuses attention. The chart also includes the description of a longterm project coming to fruition financially; one of the things described involves the financial rewards of your work. This is something that can grow and develop over time, on every level: economic, creative and also social. The social piece is integral to everything, since both outreach and fostering cooperation are essential to almost any venture or project that is focused on people, and these factors are especially strong. I suggest you work them consciously, because what you focus on will have a tendency to increase.


Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) -- You're being invited into a new universe of possibilities, and to get there, it'll help significantly if you leave a number of old beliefs and mental habits behind. Many of these look like some of the stereotypical self-critical Virgo issues, though as anyone born under your sign knows, that's neither a myth nor a legend. Be aware of all beliefs that would qualify as hostile to yourself. These have had a way of turning into a religion, and you need a better one of those -- one that's worldly and practical and that has your happiness and success as its primary goal. Speaking of religion, I've often noticed the extent to which people underestimate the impact of religion. This can include what came by osmosis (from various sources, ranging from grandparents to movies to the Boy Scouts). I suggest you pay attention and inquire whether any vaguely negative or self-hostile thought doesn't have its roots in a religious notion, whether you consciously chose it or not. It's time for a mental purge of all such influences, which will help you discover what they've been hiding from your view.




Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) -- This is a time of resolving your old commitments and entanglements, and moving on to a life that may take you far from anywhere you've ever been before. I suggest you summon your sense of adventure and your faith in yourself and get ready to make a series of moves. Don't waste your time delaying on resolving what you know you're through with. Make a list of the remaining points to address or work through and set a short schedule for doing so. You are being called beyond those prior attachments, commitments and ideas of who you need to be to others. This may include being drawn to other parts of the country or the world, and beginning what looks like it could be the adventure of a lifetime. This may feel like expressing another aspect of yourself entirely, a hidden side or some parallel reality that you might not have expressed under more typical circumstances. Yet if ever there was a rare moment in your life, this is it.


Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) -- Give partners or loved ones a chance to meet you on their own terms -- and see if that's acceptable to you. There's a good chance that when someone you care about or have an interest in finds their own way in life, it will have some significant overlap with your ideas or your plans. Yet a key element in this scenario is that whoever we're talking about comes to whatever conclusion or decision they are going to make on their own, rather than under your influence. Part of what they're experiencing is feeling too influenced by others, and wanting with every cell in their body not to feel that pressure. As for your own involvement, it would be healthy of you to diversify a bit, and to explore a concept of relationship that does not insist on a high level of attachment or even involvement. Our marriage-obsessed culture tends to do things backwards, like set a goal of a 'permanent' partner rather than exploring a process of seeing who you trust, who you like and what you have in common.


Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) -- It's important to know how much is enough, which includes enough work, enough attention to your health, enough time or effort spent on something and enough emphasis on the idea of relationships rather than the reality. No sign description of Sagittarius that you'll ever read would say, "These people are good at living a balanced life," though it's clear that one of the inevitable longterm projects you're involved with is one of balance. The way the scale is tipping right now, some balance in the direction of what actually makes you happy would serve you well. This would include being alert for what aggravates, irritates and eats your energy. I suggest you also be alert for what you have not completed, and set about the task of wrapping things up with that person or aspect of your life. At the moment, everything in your chart is guiding you in the direction of closure. You're about to have access to a lot of energy -- I do mean a lot -- and you don't want to waste it dragging behind you anything you don't really want or need.


Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) -- I've described this week's solar eclipse as moving heaven and Earth -- and that is certainly true for you. Eclipses have long-lasting effects; this one isn't over. It actually just began, and what's interesting is that there hasn't been a solar eclipse in Taurus since 1995 -- an unusually long time. So this signifies setting free an awesome amount of energy in the creative zone of your chart -- your solar 5th house of play, art, pleasure and sex for fun. Since it's also about children, you might want to monitor changes in their lives if you have any, though let's stick to you. You could say that this eclipse is about letting go in all of the places where you've tended to hold back. As you let go, you may notice that some deeper themes or issues come up. Creativity, love, passion and pleasure all tend to bring up everything unlike themselves. So as you explore your more expressive side, leave some room for what comes up for healing -- and the energy to address that.


Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- You may think that you have to get your life in order, or feel perfectly secure, before you dare to express yourself creatively. However, that's a setup for not expressing yourself much at all, since it's rare that our lives are in perfect order (and besides, creativity thrives with at least a dash of chaos or challenge). It's worth questioning these kinds of if/then statements: if I'm healed, or perfect, I can do this or that. Often the healing or the 'perfecting' comes in the process of creation, or of somehow taking action. Said another way, creative and sexual experiences are part of the normal flow of life, not the outcome of some special effort, or state of deserving. The confidence you seek you will find through taking chances, not by waiting until you're confident to take a chance. There may be some obvious signs that this is true, for example an alluring opportunity that you might try if you felt up to it, but which you can still try, even if you're not sure.


Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- We've all heard the term "Think globally, act locally." The idea is reputed to come from a Scottish town planner and urban theorist named Patrick Geddes (1854-1932). Geddes also gave us the idea of a 'region' and coined the term 'conurbation', which describes a metropolitan area where towns and cities seem to overlap. These are all themes that relate to how Thursday's solar eclipse aspected your chart. In a sense, it's about claiming the space you occupy, though it's more of the regional space: your community and local slice of the orange on which you live. It's also describing your relationship to your neighbors and the people in your community, encouraging you to invest your energy locally to the greatest extent possible. There's likely to be a beautiful result if you do. One other thing -- this is the year when you take concrete steps to improve your quality of life, specifically in the spaces that you occupy. This happens every now and then, though the conditions are perfect for creating more space, better space and better use of space. That, in turn, is about creating harmony between your life and your world.