Shake it Loose

Dear Friend and Reader:

As of this writing, we are in the midst of Mercury stationing direct, Mars conjunct Neptune and the Sagittarius New Moon (square Mars and Neptune). These happen in such proximity as to be counted as one event. That is some thick astrology in the midst of a rare moment, within personal contexts and global ones.

Fractal image, unknown artist.

I covered the personal influences of these aspects in Monday's edition. It's been an exhausting year of inner-planet retrogrades, which can feel like walking backwards up a hill, carrying a pack. There have been many destabilizing events, particularly associated with the retrogrades of Venus and Mars.

My theory is that events associated with the retrogrades were designed to loosen up certain elements of personal and social reality in preparation for the sign changes of Chiron (into Aries) and Uranus (into Taurus). It will be easier going forward without whatever attachments Venus and Mars helped break free.

As of Thursday afternoon, Mercury is also direct, completing its third retrograde of the year. That will offer some immediate relief. It's remarkable that the station-direct happened with Mercury exactly trine Chiron, as Chiron is in its last weeks in Pisces (the Aries final ingress takes place Feb. 18). Through the weekend, this is an opportunity for a dialog about all those Scorpio-styled things that people so often resist talking about. There is now an easy opening, for those who dare: easy to access, and easy to miss.

Big World Stories

So much is going on in the world around us, and events seem to come at us faster every day. A week's news in our era would have been enough to stuff an eventful year in 1998. What is driving all the chaos and insanity we're witnessing? What is instigating what seems like a collapse of reality, or the feeling that we've stepped over a cliff and are suspended in midair?

Image by DarkSouls1.

I would propose two factors are providing the power source, both of which can accurately be described as environmental. One is the impact of the digital environment, robotics and artificial intelligence on consciousness.

We used to call this "the internet." Now it is "the everything." It's the fridge, it's the bank, it's the family photo album, it's the cardio step counter, it's the phone, and it's many people's only connection to the wider world. We take our little gadgets for granted, oblivious to how they have entirely rearranged not our outer reality but our inner one.

The radical, verging-on-instantaneous transformations in our technical environment have left us with the sensation of standing on quicksand at best, and on nothing, at worst. All of our usual reference points are gone, as a consequence of space and time being thrown into a blender.

I only know this because, with the guidance of the McLuhan family, I've studied the impact of telegraph, telephone, radio and television, all of which had an unexpected, massive impact on society and what we mean when we say "self." Now we are experiencing the impact of all of these multiplied by one another, with the added impacts of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Why Do I Feel So Weird?

Humans become like the tools that we use; a significant facet of our current insanity is people trying to think like machines. For many, that really means not thinking at all, but thinking we're thinking: such as following instructions coming from a GPS mapping program. Just like a robot!

Image by TheDigitalArtist.

Just when we were all getting used to Siri, Alexa and having absolutely no privacy (which means private inner space, not just keeping your Social Security number secret), I learned a new term today: ASI, or artificial superintelligence. I read this on Gismodo, dated Dec. 5:

"As a technological prospect, ASI will be unlike anything we've ever encountered before. We have no prior experience to guide us, which means we're going to have to put our collective heads together and start preparing. It's not hyperbole to say humanity's existence is at stake -- as hard as that is to hear and admit -- and given there's no consensus on when we can expect to meet our new digital overlords, it would be incumbent upon us to start preparing now for this possibility, and not wait until some arbitrary date in the future."

The problem with these panels is that nobody cares what they say; that, and they're set up long after the damage is done. The way technological advances work is that we are under the influence of developments most of the public is not aware of yet. Attitudes and values, driven by technology, change long before the next wave of tools emerges in public awareness. You are being influenced by things you have not heard of yet.

As people seem to get stupider, in the true sense of stupor, machines will seem to get more intelligent, and be assigned more and more "thinking" tasks. We already have an easy metaphor for this: computer memory replacing human memory. We now store our memories on disk drives or in the cloud, so we can access them in the future. And those memory devices seem larger than our brains.

As time goes on, we externalize and delegate more and more of our thought processes to things that seem superior to us. Consider this, from the same article:

Image by BarbaraALane.

"Last year, for example, in a bot-on-bot Go tournament, DeepMind's AlphaGo Zero (AGZ), defeated the regular AlphaGo by a score of 100 games to zero. Incredibly, AGZ required just three days to train itself from scratch, during which time it acquired literally thousands of years of human Go playing experience.

"As the DeepMind researchers noted, it's now 'possible to train [machines] to superhuman level, without human examples or guidance, given no knowledge of the domain beyond basic rules'. It was a stark reminder that developments in this field are susceptible to rapid, unpredictable, and dramatic improvements, and that we've entered into a new era -- the age of superintelligent machines."

The next time you're asking yourself why you're feeling so weird or so alienated or having an anxiety attack or are depressed or are feeling unstable, remember this.

[Aside, I'm friends with a man who can sometimes beat chess programs rated at 3200, well beyond any human. He said the opportunities for learning how to play, "Are immense. You have a grand master player at your beck and call."]

The Sensation of Looming Disaster

Second, we are experiencing the impact of the deteriorating physical environment. The events are coming faster and faster, and always seem to be closing in. It's terrifying to see events like California wildfires unfold, and to read articles about people trapped by fire in a parking lot surrounded by a store full of ammo, a propane distribution center and a gas station.

Image by TheDigitalArtist.

It's equally terrifying to see storms devour vast swaths of land -- whole cities and islands -- and our government is unable to respond, or refuses to do so. Personally, I feel that the neglect of disaster areas by the federal government to be as disturbing as the disasters themselves.

Today I clicked on The New York Times front page to the following news: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accelerate Like a 'Speeding Freight Train' in 2018.

Well, so much for slowing things down, or keeping temperatures from rising less than 2 degrees Celsius. To me, this article understates the case, and never mentions methane, which is being released from melting Arctic ice.

The message here is that your town might be next; your life might be the next thing burned or washed away. Yet this does not need to be a conscious thought. To be alive right now is to live with the feeling of impending disaster. Then multiply this to a planetary scale. We are building up a lot of pressure by ignoring nearly every possibility to address these issues, no matter how meekly. Denial consumes a lot of energy and we are currently looking at these issues with our eyes closed.

It does seem like some people want to stay awake. For them, you can get the hottest gift of this holiday season -- the personal pollution monitor.

Political Behavior is Secondary to All of This

When we think of the chaos in society, we usually think of it as coming from the political level, and reaching to the personal level. However, my perception is that both individual conduct (including by political leaders) and the resulting destabilization of society are secondary to the wider environments -- physical and digital, which affect all of us.

Additionally, it's my perception that the conduct of politicians bubbles up from the ground of collective consciousness, rather than the other way around. And collective consciousness is mainly a response to our environment. The pressure is rising; we can expect to see more nutty behavior -- and, unless we as individuals find ways to stay connected to ourselves, we can expect to see more personal instability, anxiety and lack of direction.

Four presidents and their wives at the funeral of George Bush earlier this week. Speech after speech commended the 41st president on his supposed civility, humanity and ability to honor the decorum of his office -- all of which were rebukes against Pres. Trump's behavior. Washington Post.

On the personal level there are remedies for this. Expanded consciousness and awareness are appropriate responses to chaos and confusion. Yet this would need to be a top priority. One result could be the recognition that you have to make changes, so it may seem easier to keep your awareness turned down or to stay in the digital haze, even if nothing seems "normal" anymore.

However, one part of established society seems to be functioning. The investigation into Russian involvement with the 2016 election appears to be drawing to a close, or at least one phase is. A team of prosecutors led by Robert Mueller III has the president and his family surrounded.

Many top campaign officials and early administration officials have been charged with serious crimes, and nearly all of them have become cooperating witnesses. People very close to the president are revealing everything they know. Two of the closest -- Michael Cohen, the former fixer/attorney, and Michael Flynn, the former (short lived) national security advisor -- have already done so.

The details are coming out; this is not the appropriate place to go through them (I will describe more of what I am learning on Sunday's Planet Waves FM).

Symbolically, though, it's very strange to be living in times when the nation's highest officer acts like an insane person. This certainly has an influence on the vibration of our society, and it's nerve-wracking. Society needs executive function to function effectively. In theory, the leader of a nation provides an example of organization and sanity that others can emulate.

However, we now need to take this on the most intimate and personal level. Restoring our sanity is not going to come from the top down. It has to start from the ground up, which means person by person, relationship by relationship, decision by decision.

With love,

A Mercury Station, a New Moon, and You Are Enough

By Amanda Painter

Often misworded, the quotation "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are" is also overwhelmingly misattributed to Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy did not come up with it; he quotes it in his autobiography, and attributes it to one Squire Bill Widener of Widener's Valley, Virginia). Be that as it may, it struck me as perhaps a useful mantra for the current astrology as we head into the weekend.

Rocking chairs at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

With Mercury stationing direct today, a New Moon in Sagittarius tomorrow, and various other planets interacting with those two events, you might be feeling a mix of push-pull on the one hand, and a lull in energy on the other hand.

If that's the case, I suspect it would be useful to stay in touch with your actual circumstances, resources and honest desires. I'm not only referring to the seeming 'limitations' of What Is, but also to something that you may sometimes push aside or not believe: your inherent enough-ness; that is, the fact that you are enough, as you are right now.

But, I get ahead of myself. Let's go over the astrology in a little more detail.

As mentioned, Mercury stations direct in late Scorpio today at 4:22 pm EST (21:21:59 UTC). I don't know about you, but the last few weeks (most of which Mercury spent in Sagittarius) seem to have been marked by a number of interesting things coming to light -- both in the public/political realm, and also in my personal life.

Given that Scorpio is the sign of secrets (among other things), I'm very curious to witness what shakes out as it stations direct today. See if you can keep your awareness tuned to that sense of something being revealed, and make a note of what you discover.

Tomorrow, at 2:20 am EST (7:20:15 UTC), the Sagittarius Moon and Sun form their conjunction for the month, for the New Moon. They do so conjunct a deep-space phenomenon called the Great Attractor (you can read more about that here) and square Mars and Neptune in Pisces.

New Moons tend to be lower-energy phases. The same is sometimes true of Mars-Neptune conjunctions. Since Mars prefers to be active, this could translate into kind of an 'itchy' or discouraged feeling. Add to that the fact that square aspects usually come through as a need to take action to resolve inner tension, and you might be feeling a bit at a loss in terms of what you want to do, what you're able to do, or what you're willing to do.

With the Great Attractor in the mix, there may be an additional sensation of being pulled along, or of reacting against something. The thing not to do, if any of this describes you, is to take it too seriously (or to try and get around it dishonestly). This, like all else, shall pass.

Continue reading...



Have You Secured Your Combined Discount on 2019-2020 Annual Yet?

Dear Friend and Reader:

As you may know from scanning the astrology websites, 2020 promises to be quite a year -- and 2019 is preparation for those events. They include the Saturn-Pluto conjunction and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction -- two world-changing aspects in one year.

The 2019-2020 annual reading is called INTELLIGENCE. That's the one thing we need to make it through the global crisis, and for many, their individual crisis. It's the one thing we need to make the most of our lives.

I'm underway writing and recording the 21st annual edition of Planet Waves. I will be setting aside all but the most essential other work to write and record what amounts to an astrological radio serial and an astrological adventure novel.

In that edition, I'll be looking at the astrology up to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of Dec. 21, 2020. In this edition I am returning to the format of audio and written, which I have not done for a couple of years.

For the first time that I know of, I'm planning to have the audio format, called RESET 2019, ready by Dec. 31, in time for New Year's Day listening. Then the written portion, looking at 2019 and 2020, will be out some time in February.

Tonight is the last call for the combined 2019-2020 annual edition, including both years at one price, which is now $111. The audio readings include original music by Vision Quest.

Soon, I will be splitting the two projects, and offering each separately for $99 or combined for $144. Individual sign sales for each year will begin at $44. So tonight's offer is a significant discount on what promises to be a beautiful, helpful and reassuring astrology resource.

You may also place your order by phone, by calling (845) 481-5616.

This will be my 21st annual edition, coming at the end of the 20th year of Planet Waves. If you're curious about past annual editions, you may visit them here. (Scroll down and you will see the list of years.)

Thank you for being a Planet Waves customer, and for trusting me as your astrologer.

With love,

PS -- If you upgrade to a Backstage Pass, you will be eligible for a special discount on the INTELLIGENCE annual edition. Write to us, or call (845) 481-5616 and we can upgrade you by phone. It may take us 24-48 hours to get back to you, but we will. Be sure to state your phone number twice.

On This Week's Short Edition of Planet Waves FM: New Moon, Mercury Direct and Mueller Probe Coming to a Boil

Dear Friend and Reader:

This week, I have a short edition of Planet Waves FM [play edition here] for you, going over this week's utterly out-there astrology, recent and upcoming developments in the Mueller probe, and some music from Vision Quest.

I make reference to a Rachel Maddow segment that you can watch here on YouTube.

These days, I'm recording part one of INTELLIGENCE, the 2019-2020 readings. Then I'll move into the written readings, covering 2020. Once Mercury is direct, the two sections will be split apart and, in effect, the price will double.

You can still order for the pre-order, combined price here.

Thank you for tuning in.

With love,

---

Otherworldly Inside
By Amanda Painter

Chances are you're aware that New Moons tend to be good times of the month for looking within, whereas the reflected light of a Full Moon encourages engaging with the other. Yet a Sagittarius New Moon curiously places this introspection in a sign famed for its worldly roaming -- a characteristic perhaps indicated by cosmic-level features such as the Galactic Center and the Great Attractor.

So this may be an ideal time to check out the photos that Romanian artist Adrian Borda has taken inside musical instruments. Looking like a cross between an empty, dusty attic, a cathedral, and some magical passageway in a fantasy movie, Borda's images capture whole, unexpected worlds within these everyday objects, seemingly lit by divine light. As described by Josh Jones at openculture.com, he has photographed the inside of a cello, a contrabass, a guitar, saxophone, and piano.

Twisted Sifter writes that Borda "fit a Sony NEX-6 camera equipped with a Samyang 8mm fisheye lens inside the instrument and then used a smart remote so he could preview the workflow on his phone," though apparently the cello and contrabass were partially open for repairs when he encountered them. How different the insides and the outsides look sometimes, don't they?

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 are published below in this issue. 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. My Chart for December Monthly Horoscope

Chart for the December 2018 monthly horoscope is the Cancer Full Moon on the winter solstice. Extra points include asteroids, centaurs, Kuiper belt objects and several hypothetical points.

For a Full Moon chart, the place to start the search for relevant extra points is what makes an aspect to the Moon or the Sun. Notably, they are in the first degrees of Cancer and Capricorn; the Full Moon happens just as the Sun is at its southern solstice, with its rays shining directly onto the Tropic of Capricorn.

A lunation on a solstice is a significant event, packing abundant energy. The Moon-Sun cycle reaches a peak just as the celestial machine is reversing directions. Many people will be brought into whatever events occur; this relates to how both of the luminaries are making an aspect to the Aries Point (the first degree of Aries). 

The energy of this Full Moon is also illustrated by the Sun's conjunction to the centaur Pholus (the second-ever planet in this class, discovered in 1992). Pholus is the energy of the uncontrolled release or the runaway reaction. Think of it as letting a genie out of a bottle. The other side to Pholus is the small cause with a big effect. [Here is my best Pholus article.]

Remember that Capricorn is the sign most associated with government and the stability of society. It's under quite a bit of pressure to change right now. Whatever world events or political events this chart represents, they seem to happen right in the run-up to Christmas weekend.

For those interested in my personal-level interpretation, the monthly horoscope is below. Aries (March 20-April 19) -- Certain professional aspirations seem destined to take off, and take you interesting places. Yet you must not be led by ambition, blind or otherwise. Rather, guiding forces such as ethics and wisdom will serve you much better. That's a lot to ask these days, when it appears we live on crumbling structures, of intellect, of identity, and of tradition. There now no longer seems like a right way to do things; a right way to live. This is part of a larger problem where it looks like nothing actually matters. However, in times of radical change and instability, such as we live in now, you must have a code that you live by. At the moment, the focus of astrology is on the responsibility and reputation angle of your chart, which is Capricorn (your solar 10th house). There are two seemingly competing drives at work. One says push all limits and don't worry about the rules. The other says keep your focus, respect boundaries, and use a traditional approach. Included here is honoring the flow of time, and not being in too big of a rush to make something happen. You will do better following this approach. The rapid-action placement (Pholus in Capricorn) will be a factor no matter what. It's a kind of accelerant, in the sense of both time and fire. Under those conditions, it's essential that you be able to apply the brakes and maintain some control over your own development. Other factors are guiding you to tap into the wisdom of your spiritual path, and remember that there is a difference between right and wrong, and that difference matters. Get your full Aries reading by Eric here.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) -- If you want to make changes, the place to start is with your mind. One would think that thought is the most flexible element of all, though humans struggle with this. Yet at the moment, curiosity is driving you to see the world in new ways, to question your preconceptions, and to take chances with ideas. This is not something that you'll be doing in an intellectual spiritual vacuum, like a yogi sitting in a cave. Rather, others will play a role in seeding your thoughts, through their example and through open-ended conversations. Have as many of those as possible, where the purpose is not to drive to a conclusion or a point, but rather to go in through the narrow end of a funnel and come out the wide end. Consider possibilities that might not be true, or that might be absurd. Consider ideas just because they seem interesting or beautiful. You're someone who respects what scholars call canonical thinking -- established wisdom. This is one of your strongest suits, and something people depend on you for. Now you get to experience something else, which is pushing the limits on what is already known and accepted. As for the "already known and accepted" angle, that's sometimes called consensus reality. It has a way of blocking perception of deeper, wider or otherwise more relevant levels of thinking. What you want is to perceive existence as it is now, not as it was believed to be in the past. Bring some courage to the adventure. Get your full Taurus reading by Eric here.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) -- When people meet and connect, there's that transcendent moment -- and then the details need to be worked out. Those might be the arrangements of a partnership, or of a business development, or of a family. Often, when the relationship is vibrant and daring, the sticking point is addressing the inhibition that seems to haunt humanity, and which often gets in the way of your dreams. What is this about, really? Well, we have a lot of resistance programmed into us. It might come across as guilt, as fear, as "commitment" blocking one's ability to act on desire. It might feel like moralism or virtue or the desire to conform to someone or something seemingly outside yourself. These tendencies are transmitted many different ways: environmentally (often in childhood, and many other times), through our genetic code, and through this elusive thing called karma. Yet it all comes home to roost in the here and now, where we experience our feelings, make decisions, and seek to explore creativity and desire. One thing is sure: we hear a lot of "I wish I had not held back." Many people wish that in the past they had not resisted so much. At the moment, there are seemingly competing internal factors influencing you. One is striving to push you past your boundaries. The other appears to be applying the brakes, and compelling you to slow down, lest you go out of control. Here's a question. Do you get any pleasure from holding back? Is this in some way an expression of your desire? If so, how is that serving you? And what would happen if you surrender to your desire, and it works out beautifully? Get your full Gemini reading by Eric here.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Many of the questions of your life involve who is willing to take responsibility for what. These, of course, begin with you. And your perspective is subjective, from your point of view. You see the world as you see it, and you're mature enough to know that other people see the world differently. However, to get anything done, different people have to agree on what needs to happen and what to do about it -- and this is currently leading to a global crisis. This is starting to feel a little like what's called a Texas League hit -- a fly ball that lands between two outfielders, who both either thought the other one had it, or were afraid to collide. Yet there is much more going on. These days, taking a little responsibility implies taking total responsibility. We are told, over and over, that failure to do our part (recycle, conserve fuel, vote) will result in global disaster. For many people, potentially you, this weighs heavily on their conscience. Yet we also know that our individual actions don't really matter, because the world and its problems are so big. People are more likely to think they will win the Powerball than they are to develop a technological or spiritual breakthrough that solves some seemingly insurmountable world problem. In fact, it would seem that most people need heaps of encouragement to think they might solve a personal problem. I am here to tell you that you are part of the solution, and that it doesn't involve your recycling bin. It involves making a discovery about how you relate to others, and how people relate to one another. Get your full Cancer reading by Eric here.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) -- Here are two questions that are really the same: What is sex, and what is art? We could ask another way: what does it mean to be human? What art and sex have in common is that they change the world in ways nothing else can. They change us, each of us, in ways that nothing else can. By change, I mean create, recreate, and draw into new territory (in both senses of the word draw). For everything that exists in the human realm, there is a drawing; and for everything that was created, the draw of sex was in the picture at some point, since that is where we all come from. The source of your consciousness and the source of your ideas are the same mystery, which point us inward toward the same source. And this source is burning brightly now, urging you to consider new possibilities, to express yourself from the inside out, to follow your curiosity, and to experiment. This is, however, so terrifying to so many people that it's often avoided. I don't mean to overstate the case; when you tap into your inner source, you let go of what you "know for certain" and something unfamiliar enters your awareness. Something within you is born and takes on a life of its own. At the moment, one of the undefined crises of the human race is the misuse of creative power. Too often, it's used destructively and maliciously. Here is where your freedom of choice enters; here is where your personal ethics must guide your ability to make the world. Get your full Leo reading by Eric here.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) -- You may fear that once you start to let go of your inhibitions and dive into your feelings, you won't be able to stop. You might have this sensation that you'll unleash the furies or start a fire you can't control. Yet to really be alive is a kind of runaway reaction, and that may be just what you need to get beyond the various bindings and attachments that seem to hold you back. This is the same stuff that prevented you from having the kind of fun you wanted as a child. It's related to the feeling of having grown up too soon. This is the same place your true inner artist and lover may feel trapped; and where you feel your curiosity is inhibited. You've made more progress setting yourself free than you may imagine. One thing to bear in mind is that whatever it is you're liberating yourself from is old, by which I mean many generations old. If you don't think of it as your personal material, but rather as something you inherited, it will be easier to handle. Think of it as a house you inherited, with all its stuff in the attic and ghosts running around and liquor bottles in the closet, with a few drops left in each. You can do anything you want with the place, though it helps if you remember that you didn't build it, and you didn't put all that stuff there. You also don't have to live there. Then there's the other side to this: there will be things of value that you want, though you will need to do some rummaging to find them. That will be worth your while. Get your full Virgo reading by Eric here.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) -- In the matter of whether you feel safe on the planet, you are tapping into family material that goes back to the dawn of time. If you feel it's up to you to bring an end to many issues that have been a problem going down the generations, you're on the right track. Yet your mental posture is essential to your success. You must decide for yourself that healing and resolution are actually possible. If you have some idea that the problem is unsolvable, or that you are impacted in a way you cannot reverse, you're unlikely to succeed. That's the place to begin to work out whatever you may be facing, particularly issues that have some origin in your family and which impact you directly. How you define the problem will be key to the solution. To solve any problem, it must be expressed in such a way that it's subject to your intervention, so spend some time doing this. Notice where your language is self-defeating; study the words you use to describe yourself. Pay attention to the role guilt and shame may be playing. This could be the very binding that is holding everything together. Study where alcohol has played a role, and how it may be influencing you, whether directly, or indirectly through others. Above all else, monitor and work with your state of mind. An open mind is a channel for intelligence. Use time wisely; don't expect to resolve everything immediately. Some things will take years; some will take days; some will take a moment, because the thing that matters most is a decision. Get your full Libra reading by Eric here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) -- You're finally starting to get a grip on your finances, though this has other implications. Your money is an expression of your power, and what you do with it is a statement to yourself about your priorities. This is not as complicated as you often make it out to be, though one essential factor is that you be in a position where you're not drowned by the opinions of others. Your values must guide you. You will recognize what's really your idea because it's intelligent, it's relatively simple, and it feels good. If you experience anguish, the chances are that you're trying to live through someone else's priorities. Let that be the sign to back off and re-evaluate what you're doing and what decisions you're making. You've spent much of this year in a process of untangling or at least in some way distinguishing yourself from the values of your family and possibly other communities or groups as well. You know what you value, and you also have a sense of where others are coming from. These things matter. Your ability to stand apart from others is one of the most crucial strengths required for being an honest person. Integrity means that you are true to yourself, based on careful evaluation. There are no shortcuts here. And it will never suit you to have to deceive others about the most intimate aspects of your life, your healing process, or your deepest needs. If you must, leave people out of the conversation. But when you speak, speak truly. Get your full Scorpio reading by Eric here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) -- You have more in common with close partners and loved ones than you may think. Yet where it seems like you don't, there may be specters from the distant past haunting you. There may, for example, be some tendency in your family line for people to deceive themselves for what seems like the sake of convenience. One place this deception might take hold is in the aspect of desire. What do you want? Who do you want? Can you make clear, simple and assertive statements to yourself about that? Not conditional statements; not complex ideas, complete with rationales and counter-arguments, but rather, expressing yourself in short, cogent statements. Sure, you may have misgivings. You may be protective of your space, and your independence, in ways that are so distinctive of your sign. Those are other matters. Here's what I'm getting at: your life is both powered and directed by what you want. To the extent that you have any influence at all over the direction of events, desire is your most important guide. Over the next few weeks, as Mars forms a conjunction to Chiron in Pisces, you will have many opportunities to get clear with yourself, including confronting your doubts. The way to do that will be, again, through being honest about them. This will help you sort out any mixed signals you are sending (or sending yourself), and help you figure out that what you perceive as a weakness or a liability is in fact a strength and an asset. Get your full Sagittarius reading by Eric here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) -- Your solar return chart for this year embodies the tension between cut loose and hold back. You might experience this as approach-avoid, which is a sign you may want to step back from the action and determine just what is bothering you. It might go like this: you want something, so you move toward it, but when you get a sense of what it is, you hesitate and back off. Then you want it again, and the cycle continues. I'm curious about a few things, though. Choose one such matter, if this applies to you. How do you feel when you've had a couple of glasses of wine (assuming that you drink any at all)? What do you think your mother would think, and how does that influence you? What are you concerned other people might find out, whether we're talking a close partner, your friends, or your social network? Use these factors as thought exercises and you'll get a feeling for the push and pull of your emotions. There's one other factor: the control thing. You may equate the idea of really being yourself with some loss of control; if so, the remedy would be self-control, though that prevents you from being who you are. However, when you're true to your wants and needs, you're unlikely to run wild in the streets. You will feel the pleasure of taking a breath without having to count. Anyway, you cannot really control your life; the best you can do is influence your own choices. Get your full Capricorn reading by Eric here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Borrowing from Martin Luther King, appearances do not matter; the content of your character does. You've had a wild ride this year where your identity is concerned, and the emphasis is now more firmly on your inner being. This is an extension of a process that goes back a decade, and which you may have named and recognize. It involves coming to terms with your deepest fears, which is another way of saying that you understand you're larger than they are. This is true even if you recognize how much of what you may need to confront was transmitted through your DNA and is in fact ancestral property. The central metaphor from your solar chart is that all that stuff is contained inside of something, and you may feel like you need to open the lid and see what is there. Here is the crucial factor: if you do this, do it yourself, for yourself, not at the bidding of someone else. Enter the attic of your family history not out of idle curiosity but rather with the intention of learning something, solving a specific problem, or recovering something you suspect was lost. Remember that you're dealing with collective property, not individual. The rules differ greatly. What you can claim as your own is knowledge. You are entitled to information; though, to make it your own, you will need to validate it and place it into the context of your own experience and your own needs. In this and related matters, proceed consciously; proceed carefully; be conservative; be sober. Get your full Aquarius reading by Eric here.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- One result of cosmic movements the past four seasons has been a tremendous release of pent-up energy. This does not always work to one's advantage -- earthquakes, tsunamis, fires and melting ice caps are also energy being set loose. Usually, unless energy is harnessed, it turns destructive. How did you do in this regard? Were you able to direct the flow of events in a constructive way? There was one other effect: now you know something that you didn't know before. And while there is no turning back the clock to some previous time or situation, you possess both awareness and opportunities you didn't have before. You have a clear space to work with, and some extra bandwidth, because so much pressure has been released. You also have a new sense of both inner and outer reality. This is valuable information, and you would be well served to put it into some form you can remember. Work with the new social order of your life, rather than trying to reconstruct the old one. This corresponds to changes within your awareness that no longer align with the past. However, you will need to create a new world that is based on your newly revised inner reality. There are people you don't know who you will soon meet. There are places you've never been, where it's time to visit. There are things you've never imagined that you will soon be doing. Remember, though: how you are seen is not who you are. Reality transcends image. Get your full Pisces reading by Eric here.