Planet Waves FM :: United Astrology Conference
Dear Friend and Reader:
Welcome to Planet Waves FM’s coverage of the 2012 United Astrology Conference in New Orleans, which was held May 24 through 30. What follows is a series of interviews with conference attenders and presenters. In effect what we’ve created is a parallel conference that is available to everyone.
Venus retrograde “flash mob” at the UAC 2012 dinner and awards, Monday, May 28 in New Orleans.
Audio production on these recordings is by Sarah, the theme music is by Yasa and website management by Anatoly. Note, we are starting to archive the recordings on our page at YouSendIt. They are in a second format at Planet Waves FM.
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We trust you’ll enjoy our coverage of the people of the 2012 United Astrology Conference.
Lovingly,
PS, if we did not get to you at UAC or you didn’t get to us — contact me about being a guest on Planet Waves FM in the future. And I am truly happy to make guest appearances on other podcasts. –efc
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Welcome from United Astrology Conference – Introduction from Eric Francis
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Interview with Ravi Shanker Joshula, Vedic astrologer. Ravi is an actual Vedic astrologer from India who trained for many years and who has been practicing for 20 years. He describes a non-Westernized version of Vedic astrology: in other words, the real thing.
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Ravi’s lecture —
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Interview with James Rogers, a psychiatrist who became an astrologer. James was working as one of the medicine-prescribing doctors who felt the calling to go deeper. This is the story of how he did that.
Click here to visit James Rogers website.
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Friday, May 25, 2012
Interview with Genevieve Hathaway. She is Planet Waves writer who now lives in Egypt; that’s the topic of much of our conversation.
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UAC Media Panel. This was an actual conference event, a panel on media and public relations in which I was a participant. I explain more in the introduction. This one is a long recording.
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Interview with Kelly Lee Phipps. Kelly’s forthcoming book is called The Dao of Astrology. He has a truly interesting take on how to work with planets, signs and aspects. Highly recommended.
Click here to visit Kelly Lee Phipps webite.
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Interview with Eric Meyers – The Astrology of Awakening. Eric is an author and counseling-trained astrologer who has a truly humane view on the subject of working with people through their transformations.
Click here to visit Eric Meyers website.
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Interview with Moses Siregar – Astrology for the Soul. Moses is the founder of the Blast Astrology Conference as well as an astrologer and novelist.
Click here to visit Moses Siregar’s website.
Check out his book here.
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Interview with Frances Clynes – Internet and astrology. Frances is doing her doctoral work on how astrologers use the Internet, and their philosophy toward cyber space. What she’s finding is that despite their metaphysical training, astrologers don’t see the ‘net that differently than most other people.
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Interview with Ema Kurent – Eclipses. Ema is from Slovenia and has done years of research into the eclipses that occur the closest to birth. A vital topic in astrology that I have not taken up on Planet Waves yet, this conversation is a great introduction.
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Saturday, May 26, 2012
Interview with Melanie Reinhart. Author of Chiron and the Healing Journey and To the Edge and Beyond, Melanie is one of my favorite astrologers of all time and we have dependably free-flowing, interesting conversations. This is the latest of those, which covers many topics though ending up on Orcus, a planet in the vicinity of Pluto. She’s a Gemini and I love speaking with her — we go on for 90 minutes, just like at the last UAC. Check soon for access to that conversation too.
Click here to visit Melanie Reinhart’s website.
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Interview with Dale O’Brien. One of the original Chiron pioneers, this conversation with Dale is focuses on three relatively new outer planet placements — Chiron and Neptune in Pisces, and Pluto in Capricorn.
Click here to visit Dale O’Brien’s website.
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Donna Woodwell’s free speech lecture:
Celestial Firedancing: Astral Theurgy and You
Wanted: Enlightenment Seekers! Ancient astral cults and alchemists imagined the Sun’s seasonal zodiacal passage as the celestial template for incarnation and enlightenment. As such, astrology held keys to unlocking the secrets of self-transformation. Learn how you can use these ancient practices – planetary invocations, sacred talismans, sympathetic magic and more– to manifest the full potential of your own chart and bring a little stellar magic down to earth.
Click here to visit Donna Woodwell’s website.
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Anthropologist Kaushinik Rajan interviews Eric Francis. Rajan is an anthropologist who has spent many years researching the ideas of biologists. He is now turning his attention to astrologers, and in this segment he interviews me about my ideas on astrology and its significance.
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Interview with Heather Horton. This is an interesting conversation on the role of counseling in astrology. Heather is studying to be a counselor and is working to apply some of the principles of psychology to her practice. We talk about how she can do that.
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Interview with Andrea Gehrz. She is an American Sign Language translator who took up ancient Greek and Latin, becoming a translator of astrological texts. She’s a remarkably young translator with a passion for astrology — and sign language.
Click here to visit Andrea Gehrz’s website.
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Interview with Samuel Bowling – Clairvoyant and Shamanic Healer. This conversation is about what it’s like to be a clairvoyant medium and receive messages from the dead.
Click here to visit Samuel Bowling’s website.
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Sunday, May 27, 2012
Interview with Nomi Gallo and Simon Chokoisky – Ayruvedic Institute. This is a truly meaningful discussion about what it means to prepare for a career in astrology, as well as how to consider Eastern concepts in the context of how we use them here in the West.
Click here to visit the Ayruvedic Institute’s website.
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UAC Press Conference. This was a press conference with very little press and an age imbalance within the 10 or so astrologers who were on the panel — only one that I could discern has Pluto in Virgo (late 1950s through early 1970s); the rest have Pluto in Leo (dominating the leadership of this conference). That said, they present some interesting views; it’s too bad I was one of the few reporters in the room.
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Interview with Alice Kashuba. You may have heard of the Sabian symbols. Alice was involved in the channeling and development of the Fairchild symbols, a newer set of degree-by-degree symbols. Learn how she and a clairvoyant did the project, and something about the history of degree symbolism in astrology — which is an older tradition than you might imagine.
Click here to visit Alice Kashuba’s website.
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Monday, May 28, 2012
Morning update.
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Interview with Jim Shawvan. Jim is a predictive astrologer who specializes in current events, horary astrology and locational astrology. Politically he is an anarchist, meaning that he disavows the thinking of the left and the right, preferring instead to be fiercely independent. In this interview we talk about his predictions for the 2012 presidential election, the history of the 2000 election and the Sept. 11 false flag incident.
Click here to visit Jim Shawvan’s website.
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Interview with David Tresemer. David is a psychologist-astrologer who has written a book about the Venus transit of the Sun. In Tuesday’s daily astrology post, I summarize some of his ideas, though I think that this interview is perhaps the most significant of the lot. He understands something about creative visualization and the learning process, both of which are involved with the transit of Venus.
Click here to visit David Tresemer’s website.
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Dael Among the Mayans. Dael has lived with the Mayans in Guatemala for 25 years (so far). In this interview he offers his thoughts about the supreme power of the Mayans as maHere is the file unprocessed; I will replace it when Sarah does the final edit with the theme music.
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Interview with Rebecca Gordon. Rebecca is a consulting astrologer in New York City who has a rare gift of being able to hear the astrological chart in music. She is translating her charts into music, working with a composer. This is a truly interesting interview with a sensitive, devoted astrologer.
Click here to visit Rebecca Gordon’s website.
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Interview with Kelly Hunter. There are several different points called Lilith in the chart — which is a point of fascination for many women and men who love them. Kelly Hunter is one of the clearest voices on this subject. This interview covers the Lilith archetype as well as the osculating apogee (Black Moon Lilit\h), the asteroid Lilith, a hypothetical moon (Dark Moon Lilith) and a fixed star. This is a very cool interview — and the last of our UAC projects.
Click here to visit Kelly Hunter’s website.
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Signing off from UAC 2012.
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Zodiac Sign Descriptions
by Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19) — Self-assertive, sometimes bold, sometimes cloaking deep insecurity with that boldness, Aries is always up for an adventure. Your sign is the key that starts the engine of the universe, and that means you have extra motivation, even in the face of intimidating situations. Something in you just rises to the occasion and you make your presence known. Your friends count on you for this, though you often need their support and do a lot better as an initiator when you have a posse around you.
There’s something truly childlike about Aries, and its natives can accomplish great things because they don’t stop to think about how whatever they’re attempting is supposedly impossible. You are constantly discovering new depths of your inner nature, surprised time and again that your interior world is such a dominant part of your personality. Aries is associated with the planet Mars. Learn about the placement of your Mars sign and you will learn more about your personality. Mars represents raw, unrefined energy, which can be expressed many ways. Your job is to do the refining, and to learn some political skills so that you can get along with people even as you push them to do what you believe needs to be done. That said, you want relationship situations that are balanced and authentic, even though it can be hard to find people who aren’t intimidated by you.
You have desire, you have determination, you benefit the most from discipline and learning to be happy with gradual progress, and this includes getting to know potential friends and lovers. Remember, you don’t always have to be first and best, and intimate situations are the place to turn off your competitive nature. You can simply be you. Aries is a fire sign, and because it’s one of the signs that starts a season, it’s also considered a cardinal sign. It’s represented by the Ram, which is a very cool kind of full-strength sheep.
Speaking of full-strength, that’s what your astrology is these days. Of all the signs, Aries is the one right now that’s getting energized, electrified and spontaneously transformed. To do this well, you have to stay grounded and take care of yourself. We’re counting on you to lead the way into the future. That’s the true nature of Aries — and it’s blazing out right now.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Calm, collected and attractive on the outside, raging like a tempest on the inside, Taurus is the blacksmith shop of the soul. If you’re a Taurus, you’ve incarnated at this time for the purpose of being shaped and tempered. Just be sure you go gently on yourself even during the tempering process. And remember that such deep working out should be harnessed in the form of creative energy as well as sensuality. You need both.
While you’re famous for your supposed stubbornness, few understand that you’re trying to work out your inner complexities and don’t want to make a move or a decision until you feel you’re all sorted out. But there is always more to sort, and at a certain point you have to go with the experiment of living. Change is challenging for you. It’s easier if you think it’s your idea, so make sure you keep coming up with new possibilities to keep yourself on the move. And speaking of ideas, change is indeed easier if you are connected to your creative process. You might need to finally move because you want to do something with your space. Not enough room for a recording studio or practice room in your house? It’s finally time to go somewhere bigger.
Remember that confidence and digging in your heels are two entirely different things. You must handle your possessive nature carefully so as not to alienate others, and remember that as much as you might like to be ‘taken possession of’, this doesn’t really work for you. At a certain point you will need your independence. Your sign is associated with the planet Venus, which is bright, beautiful and has an atmosphere of ammonia cooking at 900 degrees centigrade. It’s healthy to let some of that fire and passion out into the open. Taurus is a sign of the earth element, and is also a fixed sign, coming in the middle or peak of a season — which happens to be the season of Beltane, the pagan celebration of sex. Your erotic nature is more promiscuous than you may want to admit, however, you also have a strong drive to bond with others. You must find a balance between the two. To learn more about yourself, look up the sign of your Venus as well as your Moon, two elements in your chart closely associated with Taurus.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Gemini is one of the three human signs, illustrated by a person rather than some other kind of critter. And when a human appears, he/she appears in a pair. Isn’t that interesting? This comes with a question: what are the two sides of your nature? You’ve obviously identified a tendency to what’s called ‘dualism’ — the simultaneous expression of opposites.
This is challenging, but it helps to have some self-knowledge and ongoing self-awareness. Are the two sides of your Gemini nature about the immortal soul coexisting with the mortal ego? Are they about the relationship between mind and body? Are they the good twin and the evil twin? Whatever the case, you need many modes of expression and you may have three computers. You may have a special gift of creative collaboration, because you can shapeshift and respond to any human situation as the person you’re needed to be. Use this skill and it will get stronger. You also need a diverse group of friends to stimulate the many sides of your mind. And you need to turn your nearly obsessive inner dialog into something creative; capture it in writing, turn it into a play or TV show; explore your psyche in a therapy process.
The challenge that most people feel with Gemini is that they ‘don’t know who they’re talking to’, since you are so multifaceted. But the better you know yourself, the more trustworthy you’ll be. If you’re aware of how people respond to you, and do your best to bridge this perception gap, your relationships will go more smoothly. You can also keep your friends guessing. I consider Gemini the kinkiest sign. It’s got to do with the whole twin thing — if you find your twin, you know how to make him or her feel good. Gemini is an air sign, and the first of the four mutable signs, which come at the end of a season. The planet associated with Gemini is Mercury, which is fast-moving and androgynous. If you want to learn more about yourself, look where Mercury is placed in your chart.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Nurturing, loving, devoted, cuddly, milky and self-centered, Cancer has it all. Your sign is not multifaceted; rather, you change like the tides, and are a little different every single day. Less polite people call you moody. What, not everyone has moods? Why do they all take things so personally? Or is it you who takes others so personally?
In any event, those born under your sign possess a certain desire for intimacy that is mingled with defensiveness about getting too close to others, and this can send a mixed message. It’s important that you have a sense of control in your relationships, but you don’t want to take that too far. You won’t respect weak people, so you may as well surround yourself with strong ones who respect your space and who feel at home in your home. It is sometimes said that the crab walks sideways, and your most important learning in this life is to be direct about what you feel and what you want, without feeling guilty about it. Your inclination is to experience your relationships in a structured way; you would have more fun if you would be more flexible. Remember that the people you love now are not as powerful as your mother was, so don’t treat them like they’re her.
Keep a Moon calendar on your desk and know the current phase and sign all the time. Cancer is one of the water signs, and is also a cardinal sign, being the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter south of the equator. If you want to know more about yourself, study the position of the Moon in your chart, as well as what are called the lunar nodes. These will reveal the deeper elements of your nature, and more than any other sign, the Moon’s house, sign and aspects may reveal your most authentic nature.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Leo is one of the most misunderstood signs. But it’s easier to understand if you remember that while the other signs are ruled by a planet that orbits the Sun, Leo is ruled by the thing at the center of our solar system, around which all the other planets orbit (some 500,000 now known).
So while Leo has the tendency to be at the center of it all, there is a deep responsibility that comes with having this as your Sun sign or ascendant. You’re likely to feel this all the time, and it manifests as a selfless and hard-working quality. It’s associated with the metal gold — the reference standard for all value. You can be generous with others and frugal with yourself; you hold yourself to a high standard and often strive for a kind of perfection that is impossible to attain. The less well-adapted (or insecure) natives of Leo can be incredibly egocentric and bossy, which can give the rest a bad name; for the most part those born under this sign emphasize leadership and responsibility rather than a privilege. You’re strongly drawn to group activities and organizations, and you have the self-confidence and presence of mind to play a useful role in any such activity. You need to be visible, and you also need a steady career that is in tune with your deepest values. If you want to understand yourself, study the house position and the aspects to your Sun, for which you will need your whole natal chart.
More than any other sign, the house position of the Sun is vital to understand with Leo. It will tell you the ways you’re most naturally inclined to express yourself. Your rising sign will tell you a lot. That said, as a Leo you want to be seen, known and you need to find roles in life that give you a bit of visibility and put you in a position to be appreciated. It’s unbecoming of your regal nature to expect adulation, however. You’re only as important as the role you play in the lives of the people around you, and it’s necessary to take a big view of what that means. Your relationships are with humanity first and individual humans second. You understand how important it is to see humanity as a collective entity, and you can actually grasp that idea. Make sure everyone you care about knows how deeply you really feel about them. Health-wise you must take care of your heart. Leo rules the heart, but it requires special care. Leo is a fire sign, and is also known as a fixed sign, coming at the peak (center month) of its season.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Virgo is a mentally oriented, highly intelligent, nervous sign that needs to remember it’s made of the element earth, not air. That’s another way of saying that your life is a constant process of translating from idea to reality and back. Ideas are not enough. Yours is not the sign of science but applied science. The difference is similar to that between working in theoretical physics and learning how to be a master baker, or using your skill in chemistry to be an expert hair colorist. Applying ideas can be challenging because the mental world changes so much faster than the often-stuck dynamics of the physical world, and we’re often at a loss for how to translate between the two. That would be your job: to identify ideas and how to apply them; to match up problems with corresponding solutions.
You must be a master of what you do, though you’re likely to have at least two dominant areas of professional competence and two entirely different careers you’re developing. You have a fast, inventive mind but may squander that on doubt, which is rooted in self-doubt. If you’re ever wondering where your creative energy goes, look there. Of all the signs, Virgo needs to cultivate self-esteem as a primary life strategy. One way to do that is to mediate on fairness, and make sure that what you do actually honors your true principles. Having good self-esteem doesn’t mean you’re better than others — only that you are right to be you, to accept yourself and to be accepted for who you are — in that order.
This is one reason why so many Virgos opt for helping careers; it helps you to feel useful. You have a way of contradicting yourself and expecting others not to notice; it would help if you admit these contradictions so you don’t leave everyone constantly wondering where they stand with you. Men born under this sign are advised to make good friends with their inner woman. Virgos can be extremely hard on themselves and need to learn how to replace the criticism with a balanced level of self-appreciation, and valuing the subtle things in life. The planet of Virgo is ever-changing Mercury, and the mysterious Chiron is a close cousin. If you want to understand yourself better, study where these planets are in your chart. You’re also sensitive to Mercury retrograde, so make sure you know when that’s happening and plan accordingly. Yours is a mutable sign, coming at the end of a season, leading into the next.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Your sign is about beauty in its many forms. No matter what a Libra does, it’s got the intention of elegance. Everything is considered in terms of its presentation, which is not at the expense of quality; the presentation enhances the quality and vice versa. But appearances count, and you’re unlikely to respect anything that’s not done both with care and the appearance thereof.
That also means you can hold yourself to a high standard and push yourself in a way that you rarely reveal to others. Their criticism can seem harsh to you because you’ve likely already seen any issue that someone points out and have addressed it in your own quiet way. Libra holds space for an ideal that can only be emulated on this plane of reality. Nothing quite lives up to it; that may be the reason for the famous quality of ‘indecision’ behind your sign. You recognize that there is no perfection, and alternates all have their advantages and disadvantages. The most important thing you can learn is how to decide, and most often you do that on a gut level. You ‘just know’ something and sometimes you think you’re a bit psychic as a result. Your outer appearance is often deceiving in that it veils your inner intensity. I call Librans the ‘human blowtorch’, because you can be cool, calm and quiet, and then turn into creative powerhouses when you are motivated to turn up the gas. Libra is the sign associated with the concept of justice, which is the meaning of the scales.
You have a sense of fairness and equanimity that is alien to many people around you. Yours is also one of the primary signs associated with relationships and relating, which are important priorities for you and which must be conducted in the spirit of ethics and integrity. If someone is dishonest, don’t convince yourself to trust him or her. At the same time, you must remember not to get lost in your relationships — and remember how to find yourself again when you do. Libra is a cardinal sign, coming at the change of a season, though the initiative of this sign can take some time to come out. Libra is associated with the planet Venus, and Saturn is well-placed here as well. If you want to know more about yourself, study the positions of these two planets. Venus is likely to be close to your Sun, and Saturn could be in any sign. Most of the signs have one dominant ruling planet that has survived as a carryover from traditional astrology — though Libra has two. Venus is about values and Saturn is about structure and form. To work your astrology, study and learn to master both of these planets.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Scorpio is an emotional, fiery water sign, usually represented by a creature of the desert — the scorpion. But it’s a desert creature that resembles lots of critters that live underwater, as if the ocean dried out and the scorpion stayed behind. Note the contradictions: fiery water, ruled by a land creature. Of all the animals to have as your totem, the scorpion is by far the oddest of the lot, and we can be sure that the ancient masters of lore had a perverse sense of humor, or were keenly aware of human nature.
Scorpio is an odd hybrid, both a product — and an instigator — of evolution. In plain talk, that means growth. You tend to push the people around you. And you tend to feel pushed, both internally and by your circumstances. Your sign is associated with sex, deep commitment and death, and that’s what you remind people of, even if it’s on a subtle level (it’s probably not). This has an influence on the people around you, all of whom think you’re ‘intense’. You probably detest that word, and likely think that you’re normal and they are missing something. Maybe you don’t have a fever; maybe their body temperature is 88 F. Speaking of fevers, you need water, literally and figuratively; as emotional as this sign is, it can be mentally fixated (usually, on the psychology of others) and can appear to have trouble grounding in the realm of feelings. That’s a kind of illusion. You might cover your feelings, you might cover your vulnerability. But when you go deep, you really go. And when Scorpios get detached from the feeling realm, that’s when they can live up to their dangerous astrological reputation.
It’s vital that you not only think before you strike, but that you feel before you speak. Other people have feelings; you need to be reminded of this and spend time listening to the ones you care about. Express empathy as a conscious choice and invite people in with your famous capacity to keep a secret. This said, the passions of Scorpio are unparalleled, and people crave you as much as you crave them. Give them the space to desire you. Your sign is the one that rules over the sexual organs, deservedly so; it is also the sign associated with death and transformation. You love the idea and the experience of surrender perhaps a shade more than you love control. It’s healthy for you to let go; pay attention and you will figure out that jealousy is your best teacher. Scorpio is a fixed sign, of the element water, traditionally ruled by Mars, and in modern times by the potent antiplanet Pluto. To understand yourself better, study both of these planets. These days most astrologers forget (or pretend) that Mars isn’t involved. It is — and if you’re curious about astrology, start there.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — At the gates of our galaxy stands a centaur (the constellation Centaurus), whose name is Chiron. This is an ancient symbol, half-horse, half-man (or woman), whose time has come. It’s a comment about the state of humanity — not sure if it’s a person or an ‘animal’ and not sure how we feel about the animal aspect. Chiron’s features include being a maverick and helpful though in a way that’s sometimes inconvenient but works. Some astrologers associate a planet by this name with your sign.
Yours is the sign of the quest, the far-away and far-out, and success based on an odd chance. You are the master of “leap before you look,” never quite thinking about what you do before you do it. But you don’t change this policy because you get lucky often enough, and your impetuous attitude gets you far better results than the people who sit around hesitating all day. As one Sagittarius recently said to me, she tries to jump across the river without stepping on the individual stones. She added, “I’m in the river, but I caught a fish.”
The ancients were brilliant, for aligning your sign with the Galactic Center — that is, the core of the Milky Way, our home galaxy — because you have an affinity for everything that’s exotic, remote, interesting and lavish. You will go places just to go there, meet people just to meet them, and you find children to be your peers far more than adults. You possess within your soul the library of the zodiac, which is to say you love knowledge and philosophy and probably have a Twitter feed that’s actually interesting to follow. Yet your reputation for being a freewheeling devil-be-damned type is entirely true until we get to your rock-solid values, which can be traditional, cautious and even conservative. You’re as private as you like to be well-known. When you help others, you might want to move on quickly so that you don’t get involved; having your space is crucial to you. You live with these various tensions a little like Chiron is made of his human and animal parts.
As unusual, energetic and optimistic as you are, it’s good for you to understand that you have limits. If you try to be a perfectionist, you won’t get anything done, but you also need to remember what you’ve learned about technique (there is a trick to everything), and how important those petty details can be. Remember that someone isn’t necessarily crowding your space by trying to be close to you, but it’s helpful if you’re honest that you live on your own terms. You’re compelling enough that those who care about you will go along. Yours is a fire sign and is described as mutable because it’s right before a season changes. It’s ruled in traditional astrology by the fat, happy planet Jupiter — the one with 66 confirmed moons. Study both Jupiter and Chiron to learn more about yourself and for additional guidance about the spiritual quest that is your life.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — The sign of tradition is also the sign of revolutionaries. The sign of reserve is the one associated with the impressive debauchery of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Saturn, your ruling planet, is considered the very stalwart of stuck, but is in reality the most dependable agent of change. You are similarly versatile, embracing the new with a mix of eagerness and skepticism, and honoring tradition as a source of information about right now. That, and you think that old books smell interesting.
Capricorn is the sign of all things old and ancient. Caesar said it was his sign of ‘good luck’ and is still associated with him today. You may love to go to estate sales and visit antique shops, not only because you like old things but because you like to contemplate the way things were in different times in history. You believe that there are lessons to be learned from the past, and we would all be better off for learning them. The past makes sense to you, and so do the reasons for leaving elements of it behind, particularly the useless ideas that don’t work (but we’ll keep that 1924 egg slicer).
Reputed to be an ambitious, hard worker, this is usually true, but the part about being ruthless is more of a myth than anything else. You prefer to get things done by agreement and arrangement rather than by force, but you’ll take authority if you have to, because someone has to be in charge and it’s better if that someone has a clue. You’re not as boring as you like people to think you are; really, you’re easy to please and if the sex is good, your life is good. Well, that and it’s nice to have a good job where your skills are tested and where you can grow and develop. You have great political skills and are one of the best people to plot and scheme with. You understand the deviant side of human nature.
Capricorn is crispy on the outside and deeply sensitive on the inside, a fact which most people may miss and which you would do well to inform them (by your actions), so they know. You prefer the squishy kind of person as a partner, as in emotionally open (in a way that seems daring to you), but they also have to inhabit their gender in a conscious way. This is the sign of the winter solstice, associated with the dark days of impending cold; you love the security of the home fires burning. Capricorn is an earth sign, of a cardinal type; the planet that rules your sign is Saturn. Study the position of Saturn in your chart and you will learn a lot about yourself — promise.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Perhaps the most misunderstood sign of the zodiac, we can for sure say that the Aquarius personality values intelligence, ideas and loves a good theory. Yet progress for its own sake is not what you’re after; Aquarius people are the discriminating embracers of innovation that works. Just to give one not so random example, you’ve probably got your hand on a mouse right now. That was invented by Douglas Engelbart, an Aquarian.
Aquarius has a strange relationship to time, as if you carry around your own time zone. You’re always living in an era of your own (past or present) which is never quite in sync with the present as defined by others. This carries into the often-noted contradiction implied in the sign that is at once associated with constant changes, and is also considered a fixed sign; for you the only constant is change, and you resist that change as much as you invite it. That’s because most change is pointless, driven by boredom or profit, neither of which are specific turn-ons for you. You’re not against money but you favor people (unlike many who are turned on by money). Like progress, money has a purpose: food, shelter, pleasure, sharing. It has little value for its own sake. Accordingly, you need a career you believe in ardently, and in that career you will excel. People will think it’s because you’re smart; in truth it’s because you do what’s important to you, what you feel belongs on the planet.
Traditionally, Aquarius is ruled by Saturn, a fact that is nearly forgotten today; in modern astrology it’s usually associated with the more wild, unpredictable and revolutionary planet Uranus. In truth, Saturn and Aquarius tell us a lot about one another — which is why Saturn is such a dependable agent for change and why Aquarius is so steadfast in its choices. Yet Uranus brings in three critical elements of Aquarius: your affinity for groups, your inventive spirit, and an ethos of fairness. You’re not afraid to change your mind if something, or someone, makes more sense than your prior ideas.
The Saturn/Uranus paradox embodies the chasm over which you must often stretch your body and your soul. You seek both individuality and group identification, but lean more toward the first, which is a good thing: only an individual can be part of a group. Yours is one of the human signs, and an air sign, represented by a woman holding an urn of water — or a ruler to measure the depth of the Nile. Fill that urn with water, so you have plenty to share. To understand yourself better, study both of these planets — and their relationship (aspects, affinity by sign, and so on). See the ways in which they tell the same story, and those in which they tell different stories.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The last sign of the zodiac embodies the idea that the world is created by opposite energies that complement and balance one another. Pisces is the living embodiment of yin and yang. That is to say, you want balance in your life, and you’ll go out of your way to find it. But you can also do without or function under extreme conditions, as if you’re drawing energy and information from some parallel universe. When we think of the great Pisceans of all time, Albert Einstein comes to mind, and this is someone who clearly understood alternate dimensions of reality and how what we see is not all there is.
Associated with the ocean and the cosmos itself, Pisces represents the primal waters to which the whole human experience eventually returns, and from which new ideas emerge. Seawater contains nearly every element; so do you, and you manifest this through your flexibility, adaptability and your ability to morph into whatever you need to be. You don’t want to do this too much, however. You have the ability to take the long view; water is the element with the slowest and most enduring action. That is to say, when in doubt, you can rely on your persistence. You don’t demand perfection, only progress. You can be self-sacrificing and believe that it’s possible to serve the greatest good for all concerned. Pisces is the sign that’s truly populist. Aquarius usually gets this credit, but Aquarius is too discriminating to be populist. With Pisces, you might say that the ocean refuses no river.
Your sign is associated with music, imagery and dreams. You believe that art is one of the fundamental things that makes humanity what it is. For you, sex is spiritual, even the original devotional activity. Indulge yourself in these things: your hobbies should include at least two of them. Life would be extremely boring without the release from the edgy world of the ego granted by Pisces. If you’re born under this sign, you have to watch your boundaries, have realistic expectations and remember that the world is ruled by love and not by guilt. If you have self-esteem issues, figure that out and deal with them promptly; both you and everyone else will be happier, healthier and wealthier. Assert what you think is right and you will discover that many people agree with you. Yours is a sign of the element water, categorized as a mutable sign because it’s at the end of the season and indeed the end of the astrological year. In traditional astrology it’s ruled by Jupiter, and in modern times usually associated with the big blue planet Neptune. Venus is your close cousin. Study all three of these planets in your chart and you will have a much better understanding of who you are.
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The Core of Our Soul Journey on This Planet
by Margaret Gray
The Soul is the energy of Universal love, wisdom and compassion. It creates with these energies. -Gary Zukav
Creation and recreation, which is the core of our soul journey on this planet, are dependent on listening. At this time of major evolutionary transformation, all aspects of our being are expanding and increasingly inviting us to move our listening from our mind to our heart. As astrologers we offer the birth chart as a tool to support us in listening to ourselves. In exploring the birth chart, a bridge forms between the multiple dimensions and realms we inhabit, opening us up to greater possibilities of listening on all levels.
Sign art by Debra Cortese.
And so our exploration begins:
From our initial reliance to listening to mother’s heartbeat as we float in the 12th house amniotic fluid of the womb, in preparation for our emergence into our chosen world, our development on all levels is dependent on listening. For those with several planets in this 12th house of pre-birth, the gift is an ability to tune into and listen on all levels to the collective unconscious. The chosen soul task includes healing themes described by these planets on behalf of our ancestors. For example, with Mars in the 12th the core theme at a basic level concerns our will/drive/life force.
At birth our entry into the world of matter, described by the sign and planets on our Ascendant, invited us to listen on multiple levels, including the physical and energetic, whilst also being challenged to forget who we truly were and where we came from to fully immerse ourselves in our human soul journey. The one constant was our heartbeat, reminding us of the centrality of our heart on all dimensions. Hence, whenever we listen to our heartbeat, we most easily realign with our soul self. The sign and planets on our Ascendant can assist us in finding ways that are most congruent for us in doing so. For example at a basic level Pisces Ascendant is likely to find it easier to do so through meditation, creativity, dreaming and/or music.
Through our early childhood, described by the first three houses of our chart, we listened attentively to the adults in our life, as we sought to learn how best to manifest and express ourselves. With planets in the first house describing important overall core themes we wanted to listen to throughout our life, which we had placed on our path to best facilitate our soul development, the second house planets, cusp and sign more easily describe how we might stay connected with our self-value. This can only occur through learning to listen to our inner heartbeat/soul vibration/intuition/connection with self. For example, with Pluto in the second house we are invited to connect with our self-value through our inner power.
In these early years we also listened to the playful voices of our siblings and/or our peers as we happily recognized members of our soul family. The planets and sign in our third house together with Mercury describe the ways we most easily access listening for the purpose of communication. A helpful question to ask ourselves is: what kind of bridges do we form between ourselves and others? For example, Saturn in our 3rd house can indicate the absolute need to listen to ourselves in an authentic manner and to create solid bridges with others through engaging with our inner fears of being misunderstood or unheard.
With our sense of inner soul home described by our 4th house, we also encounter the archetypal world of father/mother[i] within, as we simultaneously integrate and separate from our human parents on our journey home. In this process we are faced with the ongoing choice between listening to the internalized voice of the parent within versus the voice of our higher soul self. Hence for example, with Uranus in the 4th at an archetypal level, we encounter the gift of Promethean intuition within, as well as our human experience of father/mother.
Creativity is the core of our experience on this planet and hence the 5th house and planets within it remind us of the importance of listening to the playful inner urge, so easily expressed by children when unencumbered by age-inappropriate responsibilities. Truly engaging with this house is the core of our journey here on this planet. With Venus in the 5th for example, we are most easily creative through engaging with what we value.
As we move to the 6th house of our chart, we are reminded that our body is a means of expressing our soul/spirit self. Hence it will wisely draw our attention when further listening is required. For example, with the Moon in the 6th we are invited to listen to our emotions through our physical body.
Engaging in the arena of relationships with others, beyond the ease of friendship and into the realms of intimacy, requires a new form of listening, as our defenses often spring into action for fear of pain to our human heart. As we engage with our Descendant and 7th house planets, we encounter the learning offered to us by significant others. Here we are invited to listen to that which we seem unable to hear or see within ourselves, as the other generously reminds us of what we asked them to tell us when we reached our soul agreements in the pre-birth realm. For example, with Jupiter in the 7th, that which brings us meaning is mirrored back to us through our relationships with significant others.
In moving into 8th house realms we are invited to listen and engage with our own power as multifaceted beings. Facing our human fears of annihilation, with planets in this house, we are regularly reminded of our choice to enter this incarnation primarily as agents of transformation and transmutation, both for ourselves and for our family. Listening to communication from all dimensions requires courage, will and determination as well as discernment. For example, with Chiron in this house, we are invited to engage with and ideally transform our wounds and those of our family, into understanding and healing for self and others.
In adulthood our learning continues, as we move from listening to external teachers to listening to our ever-expanding inner wisdom and knowledge. Hence planets here invite us to expand our learning through integrating their qualities. For example, with the Sun in the 9th our journey in this lifetime is one of learning and teaching.
With planets in the 10th our soul journey invites us to listen to what the world requires of us as we choose how to manifest our offering in concrete form, often in the shape of our vocation. The archetype of Mother also requires integrating with planets in this house. For example, Mars in this house invites us to share our drive with the world, as well as engaging with the archetype of the maternal warrior within.
As we reach the 11th house we are faced with differentiating between the voices of our family, tribe and collective versus our internal voice. With planets in this house we are invited to listen to everyone, as we choose how best we might contribute to the evolution of the collective. With Neptune for example in this house, we can most easily listen through engaging with the right side of our brain as we release the logical mind.
[i] Depending on whether we allocate the 4th house to father or mother. I tend to allocate it to father.
About the author
Margaret is a Psychological Astrologer and Clinical Social Worker. She trained at the Centre for Psychological Astrology UK with Liz Greene and has been working in the U.S.A. and Ireland for more than 20 years with individuals, couples and children. Margaret also teaches astrology seminars and courses internationally and offers supervision to astrologers and therapists. Margaret is the author of numerous articles in astrology journals including the NCGR and AA journal. She has also written a regular astrology feature in Positive Life and Network Ireland Magazine. Margaret is the book reviewer for the ISAR journal as well as a teacher for IAA. She lives in Hawai’i with regular trips back to Ireland.
Margaret@astrologypsychological.com
www.astrologypsychological.com
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Listening and the Art of Presence
by Donna Woodwell
Recorded version of the written meditation in this article.
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Not long ago, I was doing astrology mini-readings in a local bookstore. A woman presented her birth information, which I entered into my astrology software. As I looked at the chart on my screen, I was struck by the dissonance between the chart and the woman sitting next to me. It was as if two out-of-tune instruments started playing.
Photo by Sally Smith.
“Are you sure this birth time is right?” I asked her. She looked at the paper again. “No wait, it’s not.” The time I’d typed was off by six hours. After I adjusted and took another look, we had a lovely chat and she left with a smile.
Listening goes far beyond just hearing someone’s words (though that’s important, too). We hear even when there are no words spoken. Listening is an art of presence.
Fortunately, it’s also an art that can be cultivated with practice. When I was in grad school, I excelled in the two-dimensional world of academic intellectual discourse. But a few years into the program, I got sick; I literally couldn’t stomach it. For months, traditional doctors could find nothing wrong, which sent me on a quest for my own healing.
As fate would have it, I stumbled across a homeopathic doctor. He sat and listened to my story, then asked a simple question: “Has anyone tested you for food allergies?” “Um… no” I replied. Just by listening and being present, he had identified a problem in a few seconds that had stumped a half-dozen physicians. And with this epiphany, I could no longer live in Flatland. I needed a worldview with a more holistic vision.
On my travels, I met ike West (say it a few times fast, and you’ll hear the double entendre). A teacher of Earth-centered spiritual practices inspired by indigenous wisdom, ike has traveled the world sharing her experience of how members of modern society can learn to reconnect with “all our relations” – from the other creatures on the planet to the world of Spirit. For years, I sat with others in ike’s ceremonial circles. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was learning how to be profoundly present, connected to a web of life larger than myself.
One of the exercises we practiced involved learning how to listen. While this exercise is deceptively simple, it can produce ear-opening results. However, it is an experiential exercise, which means that just reading about it carries few benefits. You can only understand by doing it.
This exercise is best practiced in a quiet space, but can be done anywhere.
Sit still. Center your awareness in the middle of your head. Listen to the sound of your own breath as it moves in and out.
As you maintain your awareness on the sound of your breath, notice a sound outside of you. It might be a refrigerator, a fan or other noise in the environment. Listen to that sound, as well as the sound of your own breath. Allow the sensation of experiencing these two sounds simultaneously to stabilize within you.
Next, listen for another sound, a bit further away than the first two. Again, it might be a distant radio, traffic sounds, birdsong or movement in another room. Allow the sensation of making space for experiencing three sounds simultaneously to stabilize.
Continue to repeat this process with sounds farther away from you, feeling yourself go wider and then stabilize with each new sound. (Always remember to breathe!)
If you do choose to play with this exercise, you might notice some interesting phenomena. When you first begin, your awareness may flit back and forth between sounds. This is how our minds often try to multitask. If this is your experience, slow down, be still and allow yourself to sense the sounds simultaneously. It’s as if you are practicing yoga for your mind — the slower you go, the deeper you go.
You may also discover that creating space for three sounds simultaneously is a stretch, and four almost impossible. Remember, the goal is not to hear the most sounds, it is to experience all the sounds at the same time. Master holding a small number of sounds before adding more.
With practice, you may notice you can perceive distant sounds you may not have noticed before. There is no need to strain to hear. Simply allow your awareness to gently expand. In time you may even find you identify much that resonates beyond the physical into metaphysical realms. Like when I was with the woman in the bookstore, you may learn to hear outside the boundaries of words.
Listening is key to psychic acuity. To paraphrase William Blake: Open your ears, and everything will appear as it is, infinite.
About the author
Change-catalyst Donna Woodwell lives in Austin, Texas. An astrologer, hypnotist and writer, she dances at the crossroads of mind, magic and marketing. You can find her online or sign up for her free Daily Luna Tunes forecasts at Four Moons Astrology.
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Listening To Dream: Voices, Images and Gods
by Dale O’Brien
Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the
Universe. – Hesiod
Carl Jung saw the modern world, especially America, as insane. He died before the modernity and American insanity increased exponentially. One antidote for this toxic insanity speaks to each of us through the wisdom of Dream. Psychologically healthy people, on average, experience one-third of life through sleep, the realm of dreams. Without sleep and dream, as in sleep deprivation torture, people go insane. Chironically, understanding what self-identified modern people call our “crazy dreams” offers a key to soulful sanity. (Mythological Chiron, by the way, taught dreams and healing to Asclepius, who used dreams in conjunction with the healing process.)
Art by Dale O’Brien.
How can we understand our dreams? It’s easy enough to find dream dictionaries and read what some self-appointed expert tells us our dream images mean. However, the most cursory look at different dream dictionaries shows us that such authors disagree with one another. So how can we know what our dreams are trying to tell us? The answer does not lie in being told by someone from the outside, no matter how well credentialed. Instead, if we listen in, Dream will speak for herself or himself. Some believe that the Divine speaks to us through dream, either every night, or every now and then. Sun-in-Pisces Edgar Cayce, known for his messages from dreamlike trance, said that our guardian angels, intermediaries between ourselves and the Divine, speak to us regularly through dream.
Whether as guardian angels in disguise, or as Divine “guest stars,” gods and goddesses can communicate to us in dream. For example, Persephone and Pluto, who were erotic lovers, personally visited me in dream. As you might imagine, experiencing the beauty and truth of this dream will never be cast away in favor of the trite clichéd simplistic keywords that many astrologers have thoughtlessly manipulated about these two. I know them personally. I’ve listened to each of them from the inside. I’ve listened in to one story of who they are. I know that this is a viable alternate expression of how they can manifest in astrology and in life.
Listening to Dream and looking at personal astrology is a wonderful combination. For instance, the twelfth house corresponds to one’s own dreams; the sixth house is the house of the dreams of “Other,” including significant other. Dream insight can be cross-referenced with transits, horary charts, etc. Of all the theoretical possibilities for a given planetary placement, Dream will tell us what is most relevant, or what wants to be heard and understood — not “cookie cutter” jargon that misspeaks the truth of Soul. Soul speaks through Dream.
Astrologer or not, there is an art to hearing the voice of astrological planetary and asteroid goddesses and gods in ourselves, or in others. Can you recognize the voice of a negative expression of Saturn? If so, those concerns need to be addressed somehow. Just as the subjective meaning of dream can vary, there is an art to astrological interpretation. Sometimes the voice of Saturn, for instance, needs to be countered by another astrological voice, as indicated by that person’s chart. Sometimes a planetary voice is calling out to the astrologer to be ally and advocate. There is an art of knowing that dream listening enhances, including when utilized with astrology.
Dream Listening: Living The Art of Knowing
Many wrongly assume that they don’t dream, but scientific brain activity monitoring indicates that we all do dream. Those who can’t remember their dreams assume that they do not have any. There are various possible causes of failed dream memory, including many pharmaceuticals — especially antidepressants and/or sleeping pills — alcohol consumption too close to bedtime, and the false-emergency sound of annoying modern alarm clocks. Those who sincerely want to remember dream, who allow time on awakening to record dream, generally do remember. It seems that the dreaming self needs to know that the wakened self appreciates dream and the dreaming self, and wants to be listened to.
Art by Dale O’Brien.
Obviously the dreaming self communicates quite differently than we do with each other in our wakened state. Things are possible, and seemingly commonplace, in dream that seem impossible for our awakened selves. Anything is possible in dream, as wise lifelong dream listener Unitarian Universalist minister Jeremy Taylor said in the title of his book, Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill. Jeremy (and others) observed that every dream has more than one meaning simultaneously, even seemingly contradictory perspectives. For example, a particular dream character can seem “bad” in one way, but admirable in another. We may remember a dream one way, yet write down or verbally share a somewhat different version of the dream. In contrast to our Mercurial and Saturnine “daytime” life, both or multiple versions can be “true” with dream. It is as if the writing down of the dream, or sharing the dream with other(s), generates another similar alternate dream. Similarly we may re-member (put together) a dream told by another differently than he or she told, and experienced, that dream.
Since dreams communicate differently than we do in awakened life, we can even “listen” to “silent” dreams, as we might react to viewing a work of art, a silent movie, or the nonverbal communication of another. What did those sad eyes of dream dog seem to say? Dreams come from imagination, the “nation” of images, speaking as art does, speaking in poetry, speaking in puns.
“Dream likes to be met in the way of dream,” says my teacher, Dr. Stephen Aizenstat, Chancellor of the Pacifica Graduate Institute and author of, and teacher of, Dream Tending. As he learned from indigenous dream tenders in Australia, Africa and Hawaii, Steve suggests speaking and/or writing down dream without punctuation or articles like “a,” “an” or “the.” Further, he has learned from listening to wise elders, to others, and from his own experience, that dream is not the same as linear and logical storytelling. As a mythic astrologer, I’d interpret this advice as: Dream never has to answer to simplistic either-or Saturnine judgments, nor to the abstract Mercurial “logic” of Gemini nor to the “common sense” Mercury or Virgo or Capricorn, or the like. With dream recall, there is many a truth that comes as what in another context would be simply misspelling.
In addition, Jeremy and Steve (and others) also suggest recording and verbalizing dream in the present tense, not past tense. Dream is alive, and does not “die” with daybreak, and may be relevant for a very long time to come, such as a memorable dream recalled from childhood.
Do try this at home. Let dream come unedited, without spell check, without punctuation. You’ll find that:
You’re a poet
Just didn’t know it
Listen how differently your dream sounds without punctuation! Free of imposed punctuation, spontaneous, invisible hyphens may bring adjacent words together for an additional meaning, or bring out an important word hidden in a longer word. An example of the latter follows.
Shortly after major storm Sandy, I dreamed of a department store. (In daily life, I’ve avoided such places as much as possible!) Writing down that dream, the first syllable of that word jumped out at me as “depart.” I immediately free-associated to the word “departed.” Somehow I knew that my unseen mother (Sun Pisces, now deceased) had made a nice hors d’oeuvres display upon sea-weathered wood, made to look like a dock. One end was empty and unadorned, did not look as authentic, so I dismantled it. From there, I free-associated to Mother Nature as Mother Sea. There was more to the dream, including a sizeable boat out of water, but even a small dream portion is full of evocative significance. (E-voc = voice from). As is possible with any dream, there is both a significant personal and collective, even Anima Mundi (“Soul of the World”) dimension to this dream. Nature and Her creatures are dreaming, and Nature can dream “through” us, so dream has more than just personal relevance.
Listening to Everyone in Timeless Time
We can just as easily re-live past experience or dream of the future (precognitive dreams) and/or prophetic dreams for others. Dreams others share with us can become “our own” as well, entering our souls through deep listening. Art, music, invention and more often originate from dream. Everyone and everything in dream is, in a way, the dreamer. We each can be (because we are!) male or female, animal or angel, any astrological archetypal voice, powerful or vulnerable, any part of the whole of everyone and everything — if we only allow ourselves to Listen. Me? I intend to “take it lying down.” My advice? Dream On, Listen In.
About the author
DALE O’BRIEN, Citizen of Image-a-nation, DreamTender, Chiron mythic researcher/ pioneer, Sabian Symbol Practioner, Historical researcher, Full-Time Astrologer (for over 20 years), offers a wide variety of astrological services and is also a Certified Astro*Carto*Graphy Interpreter. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.
www.chironsouljourneytruth.com chironguy@pacinfo.com
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Hellllooooo? Is Anyone Out there Listening?
by Marcha Fox
It has been said that we were given two ears and one mouth for a reason; the implication is that we should listen twice as much as we talk. This is clearly a popular concept reflected in the number of successful conferences conducted throughout the world relating to every discipline under heaven, the more exotic their respective venues the better. I’ve been to them, I’ve lectured at them, and have come away suitably stimulated intellectually, often enlightened, and typically with new enthusiasm as a result of the positive energy gained through interaction with my peers. However, like most people, I attend conferences which relate to concepts and ideas I already embrace. Reinforcing existing beliefs is sometimes described as “preaching to the choir” or other terms unsuitable for polite company, yet most of us are guilty. But conferences cost money, so why would we pay to have our personal paradigms violated? What’s to be gained by opening our minds to something new? World peace, perhaps?
Art by Sally Smith.
Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg, of Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle fame, said, “It is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human cultures, in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions: hence if they actually meet, that is, if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place, then one may hope that new and interesting developments may follow.”[i]
Speaking of physicists, the fact that renowned early astronomers such as Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo were all astrologers seeking more accurate data has been deliberately eliminated from physics texts, all of which denigrate astrology as the stuff of myth and superstition, if mentioned at all. Just such a text is on my shelf, one that devotes several pages to all the reasons astrology is nothing but stuff and nonsense.
The fact that physicists are critical of astrology is one of the many ironies which come about from not listening. Consider (a word, by the way, with Latin roots that means “with the stars”) that these are the people who believe in not only 11 different dimensions but the concept of numerous other universes. Heisenberg, one of their own, believed that a physical theory should only be concerned with things that can actually be observed by experiments.[ii] The irony that the concept of other dimensions is easily accepted in spite of the fact proving it in the lab is beyond unlikely, whereas astrology has volumes of empirical data going for it that date back millennia is pretty hard to miss.
Hel-lllll-oooooo???? Is anyone listening out there???
Astrologers and their clients know that astrology works. Dean Radin, a leader in research related to telepathy and other psychic phenomena, states, “Many subjects now considered perfectly legitimate areas of scientific inquiry, including hypnosis, dreams, hallucinations, and subliminal perception, were relegated to the wackiest fringes of the paranormal in the late nineteenth century. A few hundred years before that, topics like physics, astronomy, and chemistry were so far out that those who merely dabbled in them risked accusations of heresy, or worse.”[iii]
Mysterious subjects are at the forefront today, including research in the field of consciousness. No doubt this will increase now that Neptune has entered Pisces, but it’s unlikely anyone but astrologers will notice. Speaking of which, here is yet another irony: researchers like Radin who, similar to astrologers, struggle to maintain credibility in scientific circles, also reject astrology. Consider (there’s that word again…) that psi phenomena is represented by the Greek letter of the same name which looks like an italicized version of the glyph astrologers use for Neptune. Neptune, the planet which rules the 12th house of dreams, inspiration and the entire world of psychic phenomena.
Hellll-ooooooo? Is anyone out there?
One of the tenets of quantum theory involves what is known as the double-slit experiment. Sub-atomic particles such as electrons and photons can demonstrate properties of both particles and waves. Without going into a lot of scientific gobbledy-gook that will make your eyes glaze over, one major yet unexplained phenomenon involving such entities is that they are influenced by the presence of an observer. You may have heard this in the form of the question of whether a tree in the forest makes a sound when it falls if there is no one there to hear it.
Robert Lanza, a physician and researcher in a field known as biocentrism, states, “There is no separate physical universe outside of life and consciousness. Nothing is real that is not perceived. There was never a time when an external, dumb, physical universe existed, or that life sprang randomly from it at a later date. Space and time exist only as constructs of the mind, as tools of perception.”[iv]
If you cannot see any overlap between this concept regarding the influence of an observer, originated by physicists, and Radin’s research in consciousness, then you are not listening, either. Lanza’s beliefs also border on yet another area deliberately ignored: The world of religion.
Ironically, these two diverse 9th house entities agree with each other in at least one way: They both reject astrology. Ancient knowledge, however, touches on many beliefs which science ignores because they can’t scrutinize it in the lab, much less explain it. Scientists in the field of human consciousness dabble with such things occasionally, yet it’s still considered risky.
One of the major questions occupying physicists today involves dark matter and dark energy, which comprise 25% and 70% of the universe respectively according to current estimates. Just for the record, ordinary matter which comprises our everyday world is a mere 5%. The irony here is that they cannot actually find 95% of what the universe is made of. Yet they know it’s there. And they call astrologers crazy?
The concept of this illusive matter has amazing ties to a little-known statement made in the canon of scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. the Mormons (yes, like in Mitt Romney). According to their book known as the Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8 (with this section written in 1843): “There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.”
Similar to this concept, which is that spirit matter is the stuff of creation after which it becomes manifest in the material world, is one that has been popularized by numerous motivational speakers, i.e., that thoughts become things. This was the main theme of the movie The Secret, and the “how-to” of manifesting your intent via this power is addressed by such individuals as Mike Dooley, author of Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams, and Robert Anthony, who has a lecture series entitled “The Power of Deliberate Creation.”
And how exactly is this achieved? Through your mind and consciousness. The conscious manipulation of spiritual matter, a.k.a. dark matter, perhaps, as prelude to becoming reality? In physicists’ terms, collapsing the wave function of probability driven by the free will of consciousness? Or in astrological jargon, an interaction between Saturn and Neptune, perhaps?
Ya think they might be onto something here? Heeelllllloooooo?
However, in their defense, physicists do pay attention to experiments and research related to consciousness, being somewhat forced to do so if they profess belief in quantum mechanics and the influence of an observer. In an interview conducted in the 1980s by Holcomb Noble on behalf of The New York Times, Nobel laureate physicist Brian Josephson stated, “You ask whether parapsychology lies within the bounds of physical law. My feeling is that to some extent it does, but physical law itself may have to be redefined. It may be that some effects in parapsychology are ordered-state effects of a kind not yet encompassed by physical theory.”[v]
Radin also offers some hope that listening may occur between his field of consciousness and physicists when he states “…psi may require an explicit bridge between the physical and the psychological worlds. This is why an adequate theory of psi will be … cross-disciplinary…”[vi]
It doesn’t seem much of a stretch to consider that if astrology were accepted by these two diverse disciplines it could conceivably bridge the gap between them. After all, our profession’s tools, i.e., the planets, exist on the physical plane familiar to physicists and we can demonstrate through a preponderance of data how they affect the psyche of individuals as well as the collective consciousness and even inanimate objects. Is it possible that astrology, considered less than the proverbial red-headed stepchild by the scientific and religious world, could provide the missing link?
Hellloooooo???? Is anyone out there listening???
[i] As quoted in Capra, Fritjof. 1984. Bantam Press. The Tao of Physics. p. xiii.
[ii] Gribbin, John. 1984. Bantam Books. In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality. p. 102-3.
[iii] Radin, Dean, PhD. 1997. Harper Collins. The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena. p. 8.
[iv] Lanza, Robert, MD. 2009. Benbella Books. Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe. p. 159.
[v] As quoted in Radin, p. 313
[vi] Radin, p. 312.
About the author
Marcha Fox, a.k.a. Whobeda, is a former rocket-scientist-turned-astrologer who retired to the Texas Hill Country after working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for more than 21 years, in such positions as technical writer, engineer and manager. She has astrological clients spanning the globe whom she serves through her website www.ValkyrieAstrology.com. A search on her name on amazon.com yields books ranging from science fiction novels to astrology, with her current project a book which expands upon the theme of this essay and speculates on the science of astrology.
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Introducing the 2013 Annual Edition of Planet Waves
Here is an audio introduction to LISTEN.
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Dear Friend and Reader:
Is anyone listening?
That does seem to be the question these days. Do you feel like anyone can even hear you? With 600 cable channels, many of us getting 100 emails a day, plus text messages, cell calls, and Facebook and Twitter breezing by, how exactly is it possible for anyone to focus their attention?
Illustration by Debra Cortese.
How do you know someone understands what you mean?
Considered another way, can you hear the messages that you’re sending yourself? Are you and the people closest to you willing to hear one another, and use what you learn?
In this year’s annual edition of Planet Waves — called Listen — we will take up these questions.
Listening is a form of receiving. It’s essential to living safely, and living in tune with your environment. Yet listening is as much about giving as it is receiving: the listener gives his or her attention. It’s a subtle act of devotion.
Once you are tuned in and hearing the messages that are coming to you, you will be able to guide your life toward more creative adventures and satisfying intimacy.
I’m Listening to Your Astrology
I’ve been listening carefully to your astrology, and I’m faithfully transcribing the messages that I’m receiving for each of the signs and rising signs. I tune in to the major planets, the centaurs and the Pluto-like planets, though mainly I’m listening to the intelligence that orchestrates their movements.
In the last month of 2012, we cross over the end of the 13th baktun of the Mayan calendar, and enter a new era of human history. What will we do with this opportunity? We need guidance as we go through this transition, most of which will come from having open ears and a focused mind.
Special Edition Audio: It’s All About the Houses
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In this special edition of Planet Waves FM, I explore one of the most commonly asked questions about “general” readings — how does the astrologer make them specific? How can we get any detail at all, just knowing someone’s Sun sign? (By the way I just heard a ridiculous verbal typo – toward the beginning, I say the word ‘simultaneously’ when I mean ‘synonymously’. It’s an interesting blend of concepts anyway, as one implies time and the other implies meaning.) (more…)
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