Dear Friend and Reader:

I can’t promise you this is real, but I can promise you it’s interesting. Tonight at the opening ceremony (and I do mean ceremony) for the United Astrology Conference (UAC), a new birth time for Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama was announced. As Planet Waves Astrology News readers are aware, birth times for all the major candidates have been in contention or unreliable, which is unprecedented in modern astrological history.

The time was announced by Dallas astrologer Joni Patry, who said she obtained it from a client who works for the Obama campaign. She in turn obtained it from a “campaign manager” who accessed the data through a closed-access government database.

The time is 7:11 pm, and the date (as known previously) Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu. The chart gives 14+ Aquarius rising.

Patry told me that since it was obtained from a “private government website,” a copy of the document would not be available. It cannot, therefore, be authenticated and under the Lois Rodden rating system, which sets the industry standard, it is “dirty data” or DD rating because there is not documentation, and there are conflicting times. By contrast, a birth certificate in hand gets an AA rating and “from memory” gets an A rating. DD is the lowest rating.

Sources at the conference told me that people from the late Rodden’s company, Astrodatabank, were working with Patry and others to verify the authenticity of the documentation involved.

Dear Friend and Reader:

I promised to tell you if something real happened at UAC, and no sooner did I write that when I went down to the conference and ran into my brother Fish, Richard Tarnas. I have made a point of putting Rick’s 2006 book, Cosmos and Psyche, into skywriting every time I get a chance. (Small World Stories, the 10th annual edition of Planet Waves, was dedicated to Rick for his unparalleled contribution to astrology.)

This morning, he taught a pre-conference class on the interpretation of transits. In the first 12 seconds, I was reminded again why I love him and his approach to astrology. He brings such an incredibly broad base of knowledge to the subject that you might miss the fact that he’s an astrologer; were that detail not entirely impossible to miss. Yet his approach is gentle and does not utilize the manipulation of outcomes for which mainstream astrology is so sadly infamous. Rick is a rare astrologer who teaches his students not to be predictive, but rather, what he calls archetypally predictive. And what exactly is this bit of Piscean philosophy? He is saying that we need to connect with the deeper, timeless ideas that underlie all of perception, thought and experience, which are called archetypes. This word comes from the Platonic tradition and was resurrected from obscrutiy and put into public awareness by Carl Jung. One of Sigmund Freud’s brightest and most successful students, Jung was himself an astrologer and by the 1940s was casting the chart of every patient.

Rick gave an easy example of an archetype. We think of beauty as a fleeting thing, something that blooms and fades. But beyond that appearance is the archetype of Beauty itself; an idea rooted deep in the psyche of which ‘transient beauty’ is just a reflection or tribute. It is possible to witness beauty and it’s also possible to connect with Beauty as a cosmic concept within one’s own psyche. To connect with an archetype is to go deep within one’s individual awareness and come out somewhere universal. It is part of what you do every day if you are a sincere astrologer.

The archetypes are often connected to gods and goddesses, as are the planets. Often, a planet will reflect several different archetypes, depending on the psychic angle of approach you take. All of this is frequently connected to myth, where the archetypes act out their drama largely as figments of consciousness or the imagination.

If it’s not already totally obvious: if you take this approach to astrology, some beautiful things can happen. You are freed from the petty details of the world and can approach the psyche and its creations with respect. And if you do this for a while, you can develop a personal relationship with the gods and goddesses within you.

Because these are universal forces, even though they are experienced a little differently by everyone, they can serve to connect people to one another and to their life process on a deep level. When we think of a person as “cut off,” this phenomenon is often precisely that which they are cut off from. And when we get connected and find a level of individual reality that brings us to deep awareness and awareness of one another, this is what we are connecting to.

He suggested that astrologers have access to the anima mundi — “access to the treasure of the interior quality of the universe that takes moral courage” in a world that often completely denies this. He said that “the night sky is invisible to the solar logos of disenchanted modern reason,” while the night world, lit by the Moon and the planets, allows us to differentiate the subtleties of existence. You could call the world of the solar logos monotheism and ever other form of mono-culture. If we are monotheists, we cannot see the many expressions of the divine. If we rigidly adhere to any form of mono, we miss the many subtle expressions that come with diversity.

A healthy psyche is able to create what he called a sacred marriage of mono and poly, a coherent internal cosmic order where we allow the many possibilities to coexist. And that is what we do when we embrace the astrological viewpoint. We meet the Sun and the Moon as conscious entities; we meet the stars and the planets; we meet the world on which we stand. And behind it all, it becomes obvious that there is an underlying cohesiveness to reality, if you touch it lightly and don’t try to grasp it with both hands.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Greetings from Denver.

Today the Sun is conjunct something called Admetus. I say “something” but that is questionable; Admetus is one of the hypothetical planets. In other words, it is a point with an ephemeris, which is cast (by relatively few astrologers) into charts; but it does not exist in the sense we think of something existing, particularly a planet. It is a calculated point that is treated as a planet.

How this came to be is a long story. It’s not that strange that things without physical mass get respect in astrology; the South Node is a calculated point and it works great. NASA will never send a mission to one of the house cusps and you cannot collect rocks from up on the Part of Fortune; they exist by virtue of mathematics.

But Admetos and the other seven “Uranian points,” as they are called, seem to exist just fine. They have orbits ranging from about the length of Pluto (a couple of centuries) to about 800 years. Some day I will tell the story, which takes place in Germany in the early 20th century, where astrologers in what was called the Hamburg School came under persecution from Hitler. They were the people who came up with these points, and who also gave us the Aries Point. They still exist, though they are few and far between (one of them basically got me into UAC as its Mr. Journalist).

In any event, the Sun is conjunct Admetus today. This is a really interesting myth from the Helenic age. Some people spell it Admetos. Here is what Martha Wescott, one of the most trustworthy Uranian astrologers to ever walk the planet, says on her Keywords page:

Facing blockages; biding your time; encountering delays, frustrations, complications or the need for something else to happen BEFORE success or progress; dealing with raw materials (including stone, lumber, etc.,) packaging, inventory and storage; having cramps or other indications that reveal a tightening to endure/persevere/hang in there; issues with self-containment, shunning; literal and behavioral “cold.” Narrowing or specialization.

I’m going to take this as a cue for my UAC coverage. At the moment, it’s 8 am in Denver, I am awake and more or less conscious and about to report for the conference. I am likely to be blogging more than once a day, so please check in, and if you’re reading in Feedburner, it’s only set to mail once a day, circa noon Eastern Time — perhaps check in in the evening as well.

I am pretty sure this is going to be an interesting conference, and I promise to get the story. With the help of somebody called Lion out in Oregon, I’ll be doing audio blogs twice a day but those won’t start till Saturday, since it’s going to take me today to get the first two, and then Lion has to make the template. From there, it should go pretty quick and I’ll do as many as Lion can handle. This man, by the way, has been very helpful with some of the changes you’ve seen at Planet Waves the past five months. He has provided a vital outside perspective on how to streamline and redesign the site. I totally get lost in the sauce trying to do this, and he went through our design problems like, well, like this thing that’s eating the antiquated poured-concrete parking garage next to my studio in Kingston, which I wish I had the time to photograph.

We have an absolutely dynamite Planet Waves Astrology News in the works for tomorrow, our most incredible treatment of Mercury retrograde ever. That is running on time and will be out in the email to subscribers Friday morning and on the subscriber homepage late tonight.

To sign up and receive this edition, please click either three months, six months or a full year.

– Eric Francis Coppolino

Thursday 15 May 2008

Venus (17+ Taurus) sextile Varuna (17+ Cancer)
Sun (24+ Taurus) conjunct Admetos (24+ Taurus Rx)
Ceres (18+ Gemini) opposite Quaoar (18+ Sagittarius Rx)
Venus (18+ Taurus) semisquare Kronos (3+ Cancer)
Eros (6+ Gemini) septile Apollo (27+ Cancer)
Sun (25+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Sisyphus (10+ Libra Rx)
Pallas (27+ Aries) trine Orcus (27+ Leo)
Jupiter (22+ Capricorn Rx) quintile Hidalgo (10+ Scorpio Rx)
Venus (18+ Taurus) quincunx Quaoar (18+ Sagittarius Rx)
Amor (6+ Taurus) semisquare Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Apollo (27+ Cancer) quincunx Juno (27+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (6+ Gemini) semisquare Eris (21+ Aries)

April 02, 2004 - Capricorn - Weekly

You are quickly heading toward a solution to a seemingly deadlocked situation. It may be that you’ve put too much emphasis on security and not enough on taking a chance. There are virtues to both, but in the end there is very little security in the world, and its value is mainly psychological. Focus on investigating what you’re actually willing to do, and whether you leave yourself room to revise your plans or change your mind. You will need this flexibility, but at the moment it’s better to have too much to do rather than too little.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Wednesday, the United Astrology Conference opens in Denver. I’ll be arriving in the evening with plans to cover the conference as one of its only officially recognized journalists, and naturally, making sure that all 1,500 attenders and 125 faculty members have heard of Planet Waves. If you’re coming to the conference, you can follow the trail of Planet Waves postcards back to me. We’ll have a table with a red and white banner with our scripted logo. If you like, I will dub you a reporter and you may go out scouting the human and intellectual territory of the event, and bring your story ideas back.

I did not realize the Sun was square Neptune today till I checked the aspect list, but this isn’t the first time Neptune has disappeared from the chart; it does that sometimes. Given Neptune’s influence over anything psychic, spiritual or esoteric, it’s an interesting day to start the biggest astrology conference in the world (that I know of, anyway). A cautious astrologer would recommend (as with any square to Neptune) to be cautious what you believe. A square to Neptune is not time for blind faith, nor is it time for unsubstantiated belief. You know you’re under the influence of a Neptune square when appearances count more than discernment; when common sense ceases to be a factor. It is more like false faith and less like true faith, but the beauty of Neptune squares is that they can be the best teachers of impeccability.

So, this is a good time to say that I’m bringing a good bit of discernment to UAC. I am impressed that a bunch of astrologers have been able to put on a conference that might impress even P.T. Barnum. There are many distinguished faculty members, giving the feeling of anyone who is anyone is there — some brilliant ones will not be there, however. There are people with whom I have corresponded for more than a decade who I’m dearly looking forward to meeting. I plan to have a great time, taking Hunter S. Thompson, Henry Miller or Patrick Walker as my muse (depending on the day).

Planet Waves will have daily blog coverage beginning Thursday night, audio coverage beginning Saturday (both of these will be available to all readers, including non-subscribers), and next week’s edition of Astrology News will have a lead story out of the conference — most likely on the presidential elections. In Hunter’s immortal and would-be understated words (were they not in all caps) I will GET THE STORY.

If you’re a pre-subscriber who is attending, I’ll have discount coupons for new subscriptions; and for renewals if you’re already a supporter of our project (discounts are half off if you’re a new subscriber, 25% off if you’re renewing at the conference).

This being said — discernment. I am skeptical that this kind of event, that is, a big conference in a huge hotel in the middle of a city, is the way to teach astrology. Astrology is a sensitive art; it’s at least one-third comprised of a psychic gift that cannot be taught; it does not do well in a spirit of competition or a huge crowd. Even if you view it merely as a “source of information,” this conference needs a press corps, not one journalist and some volunteers he’s rounded up from his database. There is a positively stunning lack of journalistic interest in astrology. Blogs are not enough. I hope someone has invited the area press, but at most they will do one or two stories and not dig into the subject matter.

I am skeptical of teaching astrology like it was Sociology 101, in a lecture room, indoors, away from the stars and trees. I am concerned about the divisions between “faculty” and “attenders.” I am skeptical about how many people who want to be there cannot attend — it’s going to cost us about $2,500 of your subscription dollars to have me there covering the event for you. That’s 100 clicks of Small World Stories or a lot of astrology readings, if you’re a young astrologer or a well-established one.

And I am ever and eternally concerned that therapists and therapist trainers are no longer invited to astrology conferences. What we do as astrologers requires so much therapy technique it would seem plain on its face that you want two or three non-astrologer therapists there to guide people in how to handle sensitive situations that arise in the work that we do. True, some of the presenters happen to be wise old owls and some happen to be therapists, but to my knowledge these are also astrologers. We need to get away from the astrological viewpoint at these events at least part of the time, and take things from the human perspective early and often.

In other words, astrology is not about technique, it’s about people.

We need to discuss the ethics of doing astrology at all. We need to tear apart the ethics of horoscope columns, predictions, relationship analysis, doing the charts of people not in our presence, and all the many things we tend to take for granted.

And finally, new planets are usually kept at bay. With many whole new classes of planets coming onto the radar the past 10 to 15 years — centaurs, trans-Neptunian objects of many kinds and crucial discoveries like Sedna, Varuna and Eris, these need to be something other than boutique items. Usually they are treated precisely like that — if at all.

With Neptune square the Sun, that is the lens of discernment that I plan to bring, in addition to my sense of adventure, my digital recorder, a little stack of Fellini films on DVD and 2,000 of the most gorgeous postcards you’ve ever seen. If this conference measures up to some basic standards of common sense, I will tell you. And if anyone wants to show me how, I am all ears. If something real happens, you’ll hear about it first!

Thank you to the Planet Waves readers who have stepped up with offers of housing, a ride from the airport, conference table coverage and every dollar and dime provided by our subscribers that is going to get me safely there, keep me well fed and get me home.

Look for me if you’re there — my cell number is on those postcards if you cannot find me amidst the teeming throngs of astrology seekers.

Wednesday 14 May 2008

Sun (24+ Taurus) square Neptune (24+ Aquarius)
Mars (2+ Leo) quintile Sedna (20+ Taurus)
Mercury (15+ Gemini) quintile Orcus (27+ Leo)
Venus (17+ Taurus) opposite Psyche (17+ Scorpio Rx)
Juno (27+ Sagittarius Rx) trine Pallas (27+ Aries)

Dear Friend and Reader:

ShakeMap of earthquake in China.

Yesterday’s earthquake in China is the second of two recent events that qualify as Aries Point events. The first was the cyclone (known in our culture as a hurricane) that made landfall in Burma on May 2 and has, so far, killed an estimated 100,000 people.

Earlier in May, I explained how the May 5 New Moon was precisely on the cross-quarter — that is, at 15+ degrees of a fixed sign, in this case Taurus. I explained how this is 135 degrees (a sesquiquadrate aspect, which is a square plus a semi-square) to one of the cardinal points, which tends to magnify the news. In the past decade, all these events have the feeling of what used to be called Earth changes (this language originally came from Edgar Cayce and was adopted by the New Age in the 1980s). Two other memorable examples of Aries Point events are the Sept. 11 false flag attacks and the Asian tsunami of late 2004. Each has this sense that “something big is happening” and if you’re the type to use such language, “the end is near.”

The New Moon was square the centaur planet Nessus. A friend summed it up well when she wrote that Nessus “is associated with the dynamics of power and abuse, and in Aquarius is about those situations we are all collectively responsible for.” The concept of responsibility stands tall now: both tragedies are mired in politics, including American politics. We could do more; we cannot (for one example) offend China, from whom we borrow $2 billion a day.

Yesterday’s was a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, the worst in the region since 1976. For the record, 7.9 is not the same thing everywhere. I felt a 6.8 once and though this is significantly less, it felt like a Jell-o mold jiggling; the beer bottles didn’t fall of the shelf in the local tavern. If the waves hit a different way, you can level part of society.

This is the second major disaster since the Taurus New Moon. As Judith Gayle writes in our Political Waves feature about the cyclone in Burma or, officially, the Union of Myanmar:

Take the Myanmar tragedy, with the complications projected to take a million lives; relief is still being kept out generally, but the junta continues to vigorously export rice to Bangladesh and other points, while throwing their citizens the spoiled leftovers. The “election” went on as planned, even though 100,000 people are dead or unaccounted for and the country is in chaos.

I sincerely feel that astrology needs to get out of the business of predicting disasters — you won’t read that stuff here — but we do need to see the patterns for what they are and know what we are dealing with. So, an estimated 10,000 have died at one time in one day (it’s China, so you can quadruple it), and 10 to 100 times more in Myanmar. This is beyond comprehension — think of the families of all those people, the communities lost, the networks.

What is particularly sad regarding the event in China is the proximity to Tibet, one of the true points of historical grief on the planet at the moment. Associated Press reported that the earthquake occurred along a faultline “where South Asia pushes against the Eurasian land mass, smashing the Sichuan plain into mountains leading to the Tibetan highlands - near communities that held sometimes violent protests against Chinese rule in mid-March.”

Rescue workers in China uncover rubble where 900 students are trapped under their collapsed school. Image: Shanghai Daily.

Then consider how about 154,000 people a day leave the planet, every day. Consider how an estimated 24,000 of those people a day die of hunger, every day — many thousands of them children. Consider in light of the Sept. 11 false flag attacks, wherein 2,998 people died, and then the United States tore up Afghanistan and Iraq, and is apparently still planning an attack on Iran. To be clear, on Sept. 11, many more children died of starvation than New Yorkers perished in the event. And we don’t hear about them except on late night infomercials. We still hear about Sept. 11 in one form or another every time a politician opens his or hear mouth.Therefore, while it’s deeply tragic and truly beyond the sphere of an individual’s understanding to hear of these events, I suggest that what we need to be questioning is the death manufacturing industry. We are not impressed until these deaths happen all at once; it’s like we don’t notice the pain of the world otherwise.

And there is plenty of it now. And that, too, presents a paradox: awareness immediately leads to the awareness of the world’s pain. We have a lot of incentive not to pay attention. At least these events cause us to notice for a little while.

This being said, we have the question of how to respond. Is this rightly an excuse to stop living the adventure of our lives? Well, not if we really are doing that, and many of us know perfectly well that we are not. In which case, we can remind ourselves of the fleeting transience of existence as we perceive it, take a breath and resolve to live every day.

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Pallas (26+ Aries) trine Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Mercury (14+ Gemini) septile 1992 QB1 (22+ Aries)
Atlantis (14+ Libra Rx) sextile Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mercury (14+ Gemini) quincunx Pandora (14+ Scorpio Rx)
Juno (27+ Sagittarius Rx) trine Orcus (27+ Leo)
Venus (15+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Pluto (0+ Capricorn Rx)
Mercury (14+ Gemini) trine Nessus (14+ Aquarius)
Atlantis (14+ Libra Rx) sextile Ixion (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mars (2+ Leo) quintile Atlantis (14+ Libra Rx)
Venus (16+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate M87 (1+ Libra)
Eros (4+ Gemini) opposite Hylonome (4+ Sagittarius Rx)
Ceres (17+ Gemini) quincunx Psyche (17+ Scorpio Rx)
Psyche (17+ Scorpio Rx) trine Varuna (17+ Cancer)
Amor (6+ Taurus) quintile Neptune (24+ Aquarius)
Apollo (26+ Cancer) quincunx Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)

January 10, 2002 - Cancer - Weekly

Sitting here wondering just how to put into words such a beautiful new moon in your house of relationships two Grateful Dead songs come to mind both with the idea of rolling in their words: Let the Good Times Roll and Franklin’s Tower (roll away the dew). You can trust the flow of what is happening in your life. I know things got strange with people for a while there and it really shook your faith in the one attribute of this life you cherish the most. And we both know there can be no doubt that to open your heart involves risk. These days it’s a risk well worth taking.