Spring Break (and a visit with Joe Trusso)

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Yesterday I showed up in the consulting room of my mentor Joe Trusso in Woodstock. When things get too weird for me to understand, I show up for a session, and sit in that room with its library, his gem collection and all that those walls have heard.

We had a long talk about what it means to be doing the kind of work we do here at Planet Waves, which has some distinct differences to what you read elsewhere. One of those differences is that no subject is taboo. Another is that we take an integrative approach. In other words, we don’t divide the site up in sections (astrology, sexuality, politics) but rather approach the subjects as one concept, just like they are experienced in life.

Joe is one of the most progressive people I know. Imagine me, only a Taurus, a heck of a lot smarter and with an extra 25 years of experience (he has an Aquarius Moon, so we beam in on that wavelength, and oddly enough he is Sicilian). He reminded me to remember that when you’re real, you can frighten people. That is part of the risk. You know the many ways you experience that in your personal and professional life. You know the ways you cannot quite state who you are, or the ways you have to cover up your real feelings, values and ideas.

It is convenient, but it also makes sure that you keep your “friends” and don’t offend people who cannot handle reality (and as T.S. Eliot pointed out, human kind cannot handle too much of that). He reminded me that people are often scared by new ideas, particularly ones that challenge the way they view themselves or feel about extremely personal matters. Many people love to look at new ideas or people who explore them but are terrified to leave their thought boxes behind, or even step out for a moment. At Planet Waves, we invite you to do just precisely that.

I recognize that many people feel that they are at the very beginnings of self-improvement, the spiritual path or dealing with the damage that was done to their sexuality. And at the beginning the quest can seem insurmountable. I am extremely fortunate: I ended up in spiritual boot camp just after I graduated from university, and persisted in a path of spiritual, sexual and creative growth every day since then. Thankfully I met Joe in 1992 and had some guidance from someone who knew a little about the tundra I was trying to cross.

In terms of being a “spiritual writer,” I “got the word in before I got the word out,” paraphrasing my fellow traveler Scott Kalechstein, though I’ve had a bit of practice doing both.

This does not necessarily make life easier (sometimes it does). Being articulate is a lot better than gagging over your words or ideas. One of the main benefits of doing constant inner work is that I see the issues I face and the creative possibilities before me. And that is imposing, I tell ya! God gives us talents and then we may feel we have to live up to them; or at least make them available and figure out how to survive in the process.

Then to be alive in times when a particular set of gifts seems an oddity amidst so much fast food or spiritual pablum. And there are indeed constant challenges. I never considered myself a patient person. Planet Waves has taught me not to be patient, but that I truly am.

As Joe reminded me yesterday, you’re a pioneer, and sometimes they run into swamps, or they get to look from high mountains; there are cold winters and euphoric moments and many rewards and dangers and unusual opportunities to do something new. He reminded me that for what I am doing, I’m doing great; and he’s not one who is loose with his words.

He also said that if people are not subscribing quite at the level that fully supports the project, it may have something with being reluctant to make an investment in ideas that challenge them; ideas they are willing to consider but not necessarily “buy into.” I told him the story of a reader named Heather who, years ago, wrote to me and told me as much: She liked reading every day, but subscribing was a symbolic gesture of accepting the ideas as actually being worth considering, and therefore, admitting that some other ideas being worth letting go of. (She did subscribe — I heard about this process shortly after the fact.)

Anyway — I recognize that you may consider yourself at a beginning; and beginnings can be imposing. You may wonder how you’re going to sort out the mess in your emotions or your relationships; or the confusion in your mind; or how you’re going to find your true purpose; and you may (I trust) be concerned about the destiny of the world. Then there is that last bit, the nexus point of where your individual journey or psychological process influences the global initiation that’s currently unfolding. And that, my friends, is what Planet Waves is about. That is our purpose; that is why we were sent to you and you were sent to us.

* ^ * ^ *

AS MY REGULAR readers know, May was quite a month, with coverage of the United Astrology Conference, my three-day class at Omega and much besides. (It was also an incredibly rich Beltane season for me, with Madame Goddess bestowing many blessings on my head.) In order to refresh my creative well, I’ll be taking a step back from this blog until the northern solstice (i.e., summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere) and be back the evening of June 20.

Rachel Asher, who has been learning to coordinate Planet Waves and Planet Waves Astrology News the past couple of months (currently in Dublin) will be updating this space every day, posting some exciting moments from the recent archives in this space during my absence. There will be excerpts from and links to articles you’ve never seen, and we’ll be updating daily before business hours begin in New York City.

We’ll also have the daily aspects and Oracle for you — and if Dick Cheney explodes, turns into an android and flies away in his space ship, I will definitely be here to do the chart.

For those who have stopped checking Page One (see the “cover” tab above) and instead come here every day, we currently have a special edition on the front cover that will run till Friday. The project started with a submission from Betty Dodson, one of the few pro-sex feminists who made her name in the 1970s. Speaking of 70s, this is Betty’s least year of that decade; she turns 79 in August. I think she has been one of the most positive, bold and well-informed voices advocating enlightened sexuality of our lifetimes, touching the lives of millions of women with her sane, loving ideas.

Her new article is called “Fucking Like a Feminist,” and it describes where feminism went wrong in its attacks on sex and men, and where it can go right by affirming pleasure and life. Rachel replied with an article on her feelings about pornography, and I followed up with an article exploring (in particular) men’s responses to females depicted in pornography.

I think you’ll really enjoy these articles — for example, if you’re wondering how to get some new ideas about sex into your mind and body, or if you’ve always been curious about why some of the people in your life are so obsessed with porno. Yesterday morning, a very old friend named Christine showed up in my photography studio and I used the photos to illustrate two of the articles.

One last news point. For those in the metro NY-area, I’ll be doing a three day presentation July 4 weekend at the Lodge at Woodloch. Here is the link; scroll down the appropriate dates to see the presentation. I’ll also be available for consultations at the lodge, though you should check because they may already be booked.

For all others seeking consulting or subscriptions, please contact Chelsea at (877) 453-8265.

I will see you hopefully well rested and refreshed on June 20.

Yours & truly,

Wednesday 04 June 2008

Mars (13+ Leo) square Psyche (13+ Scorpio Rx)
Sun (13+ Gemini) quincunx Psyche (13+ Scorpio Rx)
Eros (23+ Gemini) sextile 1992 QB1 (23+ Aries)
Ceres (26+ Gemini) conjunct Hades (26+ Gemini)
Mars (14+ Leo) trine Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Sun (14+ Gemini) opposite Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Sun (14+ Gemini) sextile Mars (14+ Leo)
Venus (12+ Gemini) septile Apollo (4+ Leo)
Venus (13+ Gemini) septile Eris (21+ Aries)
Ceres (26+ Gemini) opposite Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Amor (14+ Taurus) square Nessus (14+ Aquarius Rx)
Eros (23+ Gemini) opposite Juno (23+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (14+ Gemini) trine Nessus (14+ Aquarius Rx)
Ceres (27+ Gemini) septile Asbolus (5+ Taurus)
Apollo (4+ Leo) semisquare Logos (19+ Virgo)
Pallas (6+ Taurus) quintile Varuna (18+ Cancer)
Hylonome (3+ Sagittarius Rx) quincunx Kronos (3+ Cancer)

Oracle takes us to July 16, 1999 – TAURUS – Weekly

I’m in the mood to make things blatantly simple this week, and fortunately for Taurus the charts support my cause quite nicely. You can take all the self-improvement workshops and embark on all the spiritual paths in the universe, but the key to enlightenment is simply learning not to hate yourself. Okay, maybe I’m not Buddha, but who knows, maybe I am, and I’ve thought this over for three thousand years. Take it easy on you. Easy on the fine psychological details. Easy on the guilt. Easy on the judgments about what you should be. You’re alive, you’re a good person, and you’re seeking a decent life. It’s okay to be here, and it’s just fine to love yourself just as you are. I mean, do you have a choice?