In recognition of today’s solar eclipse in Leo, we are leaving yesterday’s bonus article up for the remainder of the day. Please check in on Saturday for the weekend edition.

Dear Friend and Reader:

WE ARE PUBLISHING on the eve of Friday’s total solar eclipse in Leo, and time permits me just a few more comments. We covered it in last week’s subscriber edition [posted here gratis] and also in this series earlier last week.

I consider eclipses to be a kind of religious event, worthy of stopping everything for. They are akin to the quarter days (equinoxes and solstices) and the cross-quarter days (Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Sahwen). These kinds of events are the natural basis of what we think of as a holiday. Eclipses seem to arrive with even greater emphasis. They are the events that move around the calendar, coming gradually earlier each year and arranging themselves in distinct, interesting patterns.

Rather than being on the strictly solar calendar (as are the seasons), eclipses are a made of the combined cycle of the Sun and the Moon, what I call an epicycle. Total solar eclipses are a kind of hieros gamos, the male and female principles engaging and interpenetrating one another fully. For an individual out of partnership or meeting another person face-to-face as an individual, think of it as solos gamos, or masturbation taken to the depth of authentic selflovemaking. At its essence, this is the meeting of the inner male and inner female identities (what Jung called anima and animus).

Note that it is the Moon or interior principle that dominates the Sun, the expressive principle. An eclipse represents a moment of respite from this thing we call the patriarchy, both internal and external. It is an opportunity to stop expressing oneself. It is a chance to let go of one’s self-concept and embody oneself with full awareness.

This particular event occurs on the high sabbat of Lammas, one of the cross-quarters, granting it a touch of the numinous and some extra astrological significance (a sesquisquare to the Aries Point) that I will mention again at the end of this letter.

Let’s look first at the basic astronomy, then consider some possible metaphors for how it can be interpreted.

At the core, an eclipse is a New Moon, but it’s a much more precisely aligned one. The Sun and the Moon form a conjunction. Yet rather than passing slightly above or below the Sun (as usually happens), the Moon completely obscures the Sun’s disk. A total eclipse means that the Moon is close enough to the Earth at the time to entirely obscure the Sun. (The Moon moves in an elliptical orbit, and thus has varying distances from the Earth. The closer the Moon is, the bigger it appears to us. When the Moon is distant from the Earth, what would be a total eclipse appears as an annular eclipse, or an eclipse with a ring of the Sun around it.)

Most ephemerides (planetary table books) list a New Moon separately from an eclipse, as the time generally does differ by a few minutes. [Here is an article that helps explain why. It relates to lunar eclipses, but the principle is the same.] Friday’s Leo New Moon occurs at 6:14 am EDT.

The eclipse’s peak of totality is a few minutes later than the New Moon, occurring at 6:21 am EDT and 3:21 am PDT. In London, the peak of totality will occur at 11:21 am BST and in Paris at 12:21 pm CED. In Sydney and Melbourne it will occur at 8:21 pm AEST and in Johannesburg, it will occur at 12:21 pm SAST. This National Geographic video will tell you if it’s visible in your area. Here is the NASA webpage on the event, a little gift that NASA provides for every eclipse. (NASA is married to the military, but they give us some cool stuff to play with, including the APOD website.)

Eclipses happen near one of the lunar nodes, those mysterious karmic points whose meaning everyone wonders about. Eclipses are precisely what the nodes indicate — the approximate location of the next eclipse. Friday’s is an eclipse on the South Node, representing a release from the past; in particular, a past concept of your identity.

The nodes are points in space rather than objects. But they have the full power of any planet, whether there is an eclipse in the vicinity or not. They represent the place where the path of the Sun and the path of the Moon, which exist on different planes, will intersect. They also indicate approximately when it will happen, usually within a few days. Therefore, I consider them multidimensional points, combining two planes of space and the dimension of time.

The nodes dominate many, many charts and many lives. In interpretation, they act like portals to other dimensions, typically one’s sense of what one has become (Ketu or the South Node) and what one is becoming (Rahu, or the North Node). The South Node is now in Leo, representing a kind of sum total of “what egoic identity we have become” and are in the process of unbecoming (the eclipse). These are usually experienced less like concepts and more like interior realities. In other words, they relate to how you feel, which can reflect who you are. Inevitably, with the act of letting go we open up to new possibilities.

When I mention that a solar eclipse is happening and that I am planning to do something or be somewhere, most people assume that I’m planning to watch the event with my eyes. (This possibility is unusual, as the path of totality is narrow and you can’t see it from many parts of the world — but if you are willing to travel, you can see it if you want.)

What I like to convey is that an eclipse is a holistic event. It is something we experience with our entire being. In human consciousness, it is primal material. The Sun (our immediate local source of energy) “going out” is powerful territory for a tiny little human in a great big cosmos. The Moon blocking the Sun is the perfect metaphor for shadow, which is to say, engaging what in depth psychology is called shadow material: fear, deep eroticism, surrender to death and all the great many emotions associated with these things. We have an image of ego death, doubly iterated because the event is in Leo or Meo (meow), the sign of what we think of as the “self.”

They are also intersection points between the personal and the collective. This is why they are seen alternately as harbingers of disaster (collective events that affect our lives) and as openings or opportunities (moments when the collective stands aside and makes a little more room for who we are). And this peculiar, almost alchemical power, is why we need to treat them with so much intention.

Friday’s lunation is a total solar eclipse, with approximately the same intensity of the Aug. 11, 1999 total solar eclipse. This was the infamous grand cross and total solar eclipse associated with the Cassini Space Probe. It was also the most recent total solar eclipse in Leo. Scanning a calculation recent Leo solar eclipses provided to me by Serennu.com, we discover that they are somewhat unusual in recent decades. I have mentioned this pattern before, and would like to give a few more details for your notebook.

Feelin’ Groovy: Grammy Award winner Bill Danoff serenades a female friend in 1971, when the last South Node Leo solar eclipse happened.

Beginning our study in the early 1970s, there was a partial solar eclipse at 27+ Leo in 1971. That was the only Leo solar eclipse for that cycle of the South Node through Leo.

When the North Node returned to Leo, we had a cluster of three solar eclipses, an annular at 29+ degrees in 1979, an annular in 1980 at 18+ degrees, and a total in 1981 at 7+ degrees.

As the South Node returned to Leo in May 1989, something unusual happened: there were no eclipses of the Sun in Leo. Since we know that the South Node represents the collection of what we have become (i.e., where we may be stuck) and that Leo represents our expression of self, we could say that beginning in the late 1980s through late 1990, we missed an opportunity to get unstuck. We did not experience any direct release points in Leo. There were lunar eclipses, but that’s not quite the same thing.

Then the North Node returned to Leo in the late 1990s, and for that cycle we had a single solar eclipse — the infamous grand cross of Aug. 11, 1999. Again, here is a reference to our coverage of that event, and here is a kind of snapshot in time of the summer of 1999.

While the turn of the millennium seemed to pass without incident (though the bombing of Los Angeles airport or LAX was averted by the Clinton administration, with some help from an employee of the Washington State Ferries), the grand cross / total solar eclipse of Aug. 11, 1999 stands as the first of many warnings about the Sept. 11 incidents that followed soon after. If you recall, our nation and to a great extent our world were catapulted into lives of fear and reactionary greed as a result of these false flag attacks.

Now, eclipses have returned to Leo, in the form of the South Node. There has not been a South Node solar eclipse in Leo since 1971. Looking at history, the early 1970s were a very unusual time, when we could say that people were willing to exchange an old idea of who they were for a new one. This mighty charge was let by the Baby Boomers, who succeeded in being the first generation to refuse to go to war. Then the war ended and opportunity beckoned and many of them, well, got stuck in that land of plenty. Notably, Pluto was in Leo in the birth charts of a massive swath of Boomers, and this last Leo solar eclipse seems to have activated that Pluto placement to full force.

Friday’s eclipse comes within about seven degrees of the Pluto placement of those born between 1942 and 1948 — the vanguard of the Baby Boom. The entire Pluto in Leo generation is the beneficiary of this kick in the ass, and frankly the world needs it.

Bernadette Brady writes, “This Saros Series [group of eclipses] concerns itself with breaking out of a very negative situation where no hope can be seen to a more positive space containing many options. A worry that may have been affecting a person will suddenly clear. The solution is shown by the Cosmos and needs to be taken up without too much delay.”

Eclipses stand alone. And in particular, Leo eclipses stand apart. Leo is the sign at the center of the zodiac. It is not the precise temporal center — that would be late Virgo. But in the astrological system, it is the sign that is ruled by the Sun, and the Sun is not a planet; it is the star that feeds us light, life and energy. It is our origin and our point of return. It, too, has an origin; stars are born, live and die, like all living creatures. They are as close to being alive as a supposedly inanimate object gets.

A total eclipse of the Sun in Leo stands as a direct invitation to wake up and pay attention to who we are. But rather than trade one self concept for another, we have a bold calling to trade a self concept for an actual sense of self. We can trust that the events of this time, some of which will feel fated and others we will invoke, are designed to help us do precisely that.

Yours & truly,

Additional research: Tracy Delaney, Kirsti Melto

Dear Friend and Reader:

Today I have a small collection of some of my past writing on eclipses. I think I’ve covered about 50 different eclipses in my astrology career, more of them than meetings of the SUNY Board of Trustees, the American Medical Association and toxins disasters combined.

These articles manage to be pretty philosophical. The first is an article on the most recent solar eclipse, in Aquarius, back from Feb. 7, 2008. It is the kind of superior quality propaganda you expect in a subscriber edition. It’s called Notes from the Technosphere.

Let’s skitz back in time to June 2002. This article is proof that I was blogging before there was a blogosphere, and it’s a fun article which conveys the feeling of an eclipse. It has some fun stuff about Chiron as well.

Here is one from the Astrology Secrets Revealed archive. It’s simply called Solar Eclipse.

Here is a piece about a total lunar eclipse that had a name, called the Harmonic Concordance. This is a second article on the topic, called A Book About Women.

Finally, here is my favorite article that relates to an eclipse. It’s called Flashpoints: The Continuation of Burning Man. It is a snapshot of the summer of the Aug. 11, 1999 umbra over Europe – a memoir of the late 20th century. A background article in the same series is posted here.

Catch you with an extra update tonight, Thursday.

Bye for now,

Today’s Oracle takes us to May 06, 2005 – Cancer – Weekly

The past few weeks have presented quite a few challenges where dealing with others is concerned. Clashes in ideology sorting out fact from fiction and dealing with people who have some strong viewpoints have all been part of the game of life. That’s about to change. It’s as if you’ve passed a test to see whether you could withstand high energy and people who test your patience. If you can keep your cool for the next few days you may find that the territory of your life opens up and that you are experiencing the benefits of true self-confidence.

Thursday 31 July 2008

Mercury (9+ Leo) septile M87 (1+ Libra)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) quincunx Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Apollo (26+ Leo) trine Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Sun (8+ Leo) square Asbolus (8+ Taurus)
Mercury (10+ Leo) quintile Pallas (28+ Taurus)
Venus (23+ Leo) opposite Neptune (23+ Aquarius Rx)
Ceres (21+ Cancer) square Eris (21+ Aries Rx)
Mercury (11+ Leo) square Pandora (11+ Scorpio)
Eros (16+ Leo) semisquare M87 (1+ Libra)

PS, for those of you new to Planet Waves, I did a lot of astrology blogging between 2004 and 2006. Here is a complete archive of my older stuff.

Dear Planet Waves,

This red-chalk drawing (circa 1512-1515) is broadly believed to be a self-portrait by da Vinci.

I am a recent college grad with what I am told by professors and professionals is an unusual and highly precocious artistic talent. I have been writing and drawing for as long as I could hold a pen, and some very gifted astrologers have told me in no uncertain terms that I ought to have an extremely lucrative and very public career ahead of me — should I seize the right opportunities, of course.

However, I tend to have an adverse reaction to this suggestion. I often have a very strong feeling that I’d be better off in a position deeply retreated from society at large — in a convent, say, or in a subsistence farming situation.

Friends and advisers want to write this off as the result of ingrained fear of failure or some other sinister type of chronic insecurity.

I don’t know what to make of it myself; am I really just suffering from depressive agoraphobia, or am I allowing the well-meaning words of career-driven urbanites distract me from something that would ultimately be a greater boon to me? Is there some way of splitting the difference that I have not yet discerned?

This condition has persisted for many years and still I have a hard time “following my heart” on this one. At this point I find myself almost totally stalled out.

Regardless of whether this note makes it to virtual print, I am compelled to thank the entire PW team for their stalwart and compassionate work over the years.

Thank you, Eric, for this important project. I wish it long life.

Best,
C.

==

Dear C:

I am not sure who your astrologers were, but I would not have made any such promises. It is a good thing that most of what astrologers say in no uncertain terms does not actually come to pass. I’m not saying you lack talent or potential. It’s just there’s a long way to go from drawing or painting well to having an extremely lucrative and very public career. It may be the longest distance between any two points on Earth. And people do cross that distance, though you don’t often hear about how many pairs of shoes they went through along the way.

It is a little early to be worried about how rich and famous you’re going to be.

Here is a question for you. Why do you have this talent? I don’t know your spiritual orientation, that is, who or what you believe in, but let’s presume there is a reason. Or at the least, a use for your talents to someone besides yourself. You did not mention having a career that would express an idea, spread a message, or propagate beauty for its own sake. You don’t mention what you want to do with your abilities. You mention two options: being catapulted to some sort of public stature and well-endowed bank account, or being cloistered away.

Let’s take a look at your chart. There is something really interesting about it: the main focus is on the 3rd and 4th houses, which represent an interior space. The signs involved are Aries and Taurus, which represent a focus on oneself, ones inner mind, home and sense of security. With all due respect, your chart and your letter suggest that you are somewhat self absorbed. I think you’re bright, you seem to possess a measure of alertness, and you crave innovation — but you’re going to need to reach escape velocity to get free of your interior orientation.

You do have quite a few massive planets in the public sector of your chart, but they are all retrograde. The retrograde suggests that you pull back into yourself when you need (in my view) to be expressing yourself. To me that is the point of artistic talent. Usually it has a purpose, which is to help the person who has it process their reality and along the way, keep their sanity, grow and with any luck have the products of their efforts help people on our benighted world.

Here is something you should know. Around 2001, Pluto began its transition into your 12th house, which is a transit that pulls you deep into yourself. It’s not that your chart lacks this emphasis — it’s painted in bright colors just about everywhere. But Pluto through the 12th can pull you down under the depths of your psyche to the point where you really can feel like you’re the only person in the world.

Now, nearly eight years later, Pluto is about to cross your ascendant. It will do this beginning later this year and through all of 2009, when it will be in your 1st house. This will help you break out of your spell of being cloistered. But it will also push your sense of a special destiny through the roof. I suggest you wear that sense of destiny as humbly as you can, and make an effort to see that you can have a positive impact on the world. It may be in a large way or it may be in a small way. And it may not be a positive contribution at all, unless you guide it that way. But you will have an impact and you need to be aware of what you want it to be. If you equate having artistic talent with fame and fortune, you’re likely to miss the boat on living a constructive life just like so many of the people we read about in People.

You’re a young person with a wide horizon, and you seem convinced that you have an artistic gift. I suggest you focus on what you want to do with that gift rather than what is going to happen to you personally as a result of having it. You don’t need to worry about whether you want or need to be cloistered or not. Anyone who develops their talent tends to spend a lot of time alone mastering their craft and moreover the mind that is trying to apply it meaningfully to existence.

And anyone who takes the sincere path of a creative career is indeed fortunate to be supported by their work.

Yours & truly,

===

Dear Eric (and friends),

I am currently going through a change in my life which I’m having a hard time dealing with. I recently spent five months living in another country and rekindled a relationship there. We are in love and I want to move there for a few years but actualizing that feels like a huge struggle, internally and externally. I’m trying to be independent and create the life that I want because (in true Virgo fashion) I have been pleasing other people for so long. I love to be of service but I feel like an emotional paramedic and I’m exhausted. I’m a writer, performer and facilitator and I want to expand and be my most fabulous self, but I need some guidance on how to pursue my dreams without alienating people I love.

I was born on August 24th, 1976 at 4:35 pm.

Peace & Many thanks
Akimbo

===

Dear Akimbo:

Why are you so worried about alienating anyone? Well, okay — I see you live with a pretty extreme polarity — a deep need for security or injured sense of safety (Chiron in the 4th house) and a powerful calling to make your innovative mark on the world (Uranus in the 10th house). However, I would propose that you need to go a little deeper than this discussion in order to find out why you specifically equate living your life, on the one hand, with being cast off, on the other.

Anyway, for all those who really want to do something with their lives, be it go on the road to visit a lover or play for the Yankees, be prepared to let go of friends who don’t get it, or who don’t actually support your choices. It could be said that you specifically need to alienate people in order to live your life, and in the process, discover the people who are going to be your true family of choice; your actual tribe.

From what you say, I am not sure you love them so much as you feel a need to take care of them. And if you can manage to alienate yourself from this lot, perhaps they will either learn to take care of themselves or find someone else to do so. But this would leave you without your old job, and a perfect opportunity to be your most fabulous self.

Yours & truly,

===

Dear Eric,

I was born on September 25th, 1955 at 8:06 pm in Wichita, Kansas.

As an early Cardinal Sun sign I am very interested to see your input on the significant changes that I will see with the upcoming cardinal grand cross and outer planet transits 2008-2012.

I have a strong interest in new career endeavors as well as new personal relationships but I have felt uninspired for a few years.

Regards,
Gary

===

Dear Gary:

You are about to experience a once in a lifetime transit known as Pluto square the Sun. It is one of those transits that will basically get you off your ass. Then Saturn will make a conjunction to your Sun in late 2009, which is a nice way of saying that you come to terms with yourself.

Then you will experience Uranus opposite the Sun, which will get you moving even faster. You are going to experience these transits one at a time, so I suggest you analyze them one at a time.

However, there are plenty of people who would experience these transits as disruptive or difficult; the difference comes down to what you want from life, and what you’re willing to do in order to have it. By this, I mainly mean undergo a deep process of transformation (a Pluto transit), followed by a maturing process (Saturn) and then being subjected to what I can only call wild inspiration (Uranus).

I don’t think you will be bored. But I suggest you do your best to find ways to express yourself and therefore keep a very good attitude.

Yours & truly,

===

Hello Eric,

I’ve been following the eclipse cycles and now they’re in the Aquarius/Leo pairs. As you can see, the last eclipse fell a day short of my birthday.

My husband and I have been together for 19 years, and I understand very well how to keep a long term committed and loving relationship. We do not wish to divorce because we share a deep friendship and responsibility for a young child. However, the last eclipse gave me the the impetus to move myself beyond my traditional marriage, and I have been very fortunate in finding a new companion to explore polyamorous relationships with.

But now I’ve been feeling “antsy” in regards to my new friend, and rather surprised to find myself wanting to slip back into the comfortable pattern of a one/one classic partnership. My question I would like to know is how best to handle this energy? My understanding is that eclipses propel you into the future, not let you slide back into old patterns like a pair of comfy old slippers. I thought I was making progress, but now I’m confused!

Thank you,
Amy

===

Dear Amy,

First, congratulations on your efforts at monogamy reform. While I think it’s natural and necessary that people be committed to one another in the long run, I also think that we need to make room for one another to explore life outside of long term committed partnerships, if that is what we want — and most people seem to.

I wish I had more to go on than antsy, however, regarding how you feel about your newish friend. I looked it up and the dictionary and found out that it means nervous, impatient and restless. Are you feeling confined by the relationship? Are you balking at a sense of disloyalty? Or are is the new relationship energy wearing off, with something lacking beneath that level?

I suggest you have a radical honesty clearing session with everyone. Get to the heart of how everyone feels, and don’t keep anything to yourself. I suggest you first talk to both of your partners individually, and give them the space to state exactly what they are feeling; then you do the same. And then I suggest you get all three of you in the same room and have one more conversation.

There are honest alternatives to monogamy, and they all come at the price of honesty. I think you have this capability. But you need to watch a tendency to be able to compartmentalize. By this I mean you can relate to someone in one way and then someone else in another way, and keep the two separate. I see this in both your Capricorn Venus and your Gemini Moon.

The Moon, for its part, suggests that you really do need some diversity in your life. That Capricorn Venus suggests that you have some unusual ways of processing your emotions, but you feel passionately and crave experimentation: but I don’t suggest that you fold your clothes before you make love.

Anyway, write back to me about the antsy part and let me know what happens after you have your radical honesty sessions.

Yours & truly,

===

Readers may send their questions to questions -at- planetwaves.net with the word QUESTION in the subject header. Not all questions will be answered. Please keep them short, concise and most of all, relevant to our readers. Please include your full birth data written out, for example, Feb. 30, 1801, rather than 2/30/01. Please include your time of birth! This feature is sponsored by your subscriptions to Planet Waves Astrology News! So please sign up and if you’re already a subscriber, please sign up a friend!

Today’s Oracle takes us to Apr 01, 2006 – Taurus – Monthly

You know that your ambitions are delicate, and the fact that certain individuals have found it within their rights to play dice with their loyalty or play politics instead of carrying water has been disconcerting. Yet if you can let the petty things remain small and keep your heart and soul focused on the vision for a better world that you’ve been nursing, you’ll find that all the games in the world cannot sway your steps. It has been said that there’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. You are currently in possession of such an idea, however humble or personal it may seem. Let the waves you seem to be making serve as a testament to your influence. It would seem that the greatest gift you have to offer is giving people an opportunity to cooperate, and setting an example for how they may take that too-often insurmountable evolutionary step.

Wednesday 30 July 2008

Arachne (12+ Libra) trine Nessus (12+ Aquarius Rx)
Sun (7+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Mercury (7+ Leo) quintile Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Venus (21+ Leo) square Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) square Ceres (21+ Cancer)
Sisyphus (14+ Libra) square Jupiter (14+ Capricorn Rx)
Sun (7+ Leo) quintile Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Amor (4+ Gemini) semisquare Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Venus (21+ Leo) septile Arachne (12+ Libra)
Pallas (28+ Taurus) septile Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Sisyphus (14+ Libra) quintile Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Venus (21+ Leo) trine Eris (21+ Aries Rx)
Vesta (9+ Taurus) quintile Ceres (21+ Cancer)
Mercury (8+ Leo) square Asbolus (8+ Taurus)
Ceres (21+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (14+ Leo) quincunx Jupiter (14+ Capricorn Rx)
Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx) quintile Logos (20+ Virgo)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) septile Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (15 Leo) sesquiquadrate Aries Point (0 Aries)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) semisquare Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Ceres (21+ Cancer) sextile Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Venus (22+ Leo) quincunx Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Eros (15+ Leo) sextile Sisyphus (15+ Libra)
Mercury (9+ Leo) quintile Atlantis (21+ Libra)
Mercury (9+ Leo) square Vesta (9+ Taurus)

Solar Eclipse by Luc Viatour.

Dear Friend and Reader:

With the Aug. 1 total solar eclipse fast approaching (along with its Aug. 16 lunar eclipse companion), Eric has sent me out exploring the Internet for some intelligent analysis, and I’ve posted my findings for you here.

Without a doubt, the eclipse is arriving with challenges — and developments — in the way we relate to others: opportunities could arise, enabling you to emerge from a group with your own voice leading.

If you’re in this mindset, the eclipse could also be a good time to start a new business venture, or develop an existing one. Leo is all about being real, but in the context of Aquarius, it’s also about being noticed.

The eclipse weekend is also a great time for social gatherings, parties and vacations, so invite friends or family over and enjoy their company. It’s time for new beginnings, so reach out and celebrate with loved ones.

Scroll down for the daily aspects and Oracle.

Yours and truly,

The Administrator on Jan Spiller’s Astrology Community Forum writes:

This solar eclipse will stimulate your need to develop a more healthy ego. If you are going along with things rather than taking creative control to shift a situation into a more positive direction for everyone – this solar eclipse will awaken you to the necessity of learning to assume positive leadership.

Julie Demboski’s Astrology says:

The August eclipse set will fire us up (Leo) and present us with a distinct mental challenge (Aquarius): do we put ourselves first, or do we go with the group? For some, this will translate into an even more personal dynamic, with a twist: the dilemma will be between weighing the efficacy of what we must do to earn individual glory, versus the temptation to rebel against group demands.

So, the essence of the eclipse influence will be whether the choices must be independent and self-focused to attain self-glory, or whether acts must comply with what the group thinks, wants, requires in order to earn its acclaim.

A fire lights us from within as the Moon and Sun meet; the aspect pattern says we will assess our material situation to see how this fits with the urge to act, and our conflicts will be presented by the home situation, the sex life and/ or those subjects we hold sacred. That’s a formidable challenge, and one that is at the core of who we are; in order to successfully negotiate the eclipse energy, we must determine what our essential sacred values are, and then we must act accordingly.

Brenda Black, of Eclipse Astrology, writes:

This is a south node eclipse and there is more of a focus on relationships and partnerships. The ball is in the other person’s court for the next six months and you may need to put others’ needs in front of your own. There is also a theme of separation with this eclipse. This summer, you may walk away from something that you were not able to end in the beginning of the year.

Those born around the 1st or 2nd of any month will be most affected by this eclipse. If you are a Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius or Taurus get ready for big changes!

AstroStar Astrology writes:

Solar eclipses usually bring new beginnings, and Leos love to be noticed. If you are thinking of any kind of public projects like web sites, advertising, entertainment or even parties, then this is the time to launch. If you have a message that you want to share with the world, then send it up like fireworks on August 1st.

The whole weekend from August 1st through August 3rd should be an excellent time for parties and entertainment. It would also be a great time for vacations, so if you have some time available, take it and enjoy!

Today’s Oracle takes us to Feb 23, 2007 – LEO – Weekly

Someone whose feelings may have made no sense at all is suddenly making a lot of sense. Someone you feel may have been neglecting you suddenly shows up as protecting you and providing a dependable source of wisdom. It’s funny how perceptions can change, how they can be wrong, and how they can make no sense at all until that moment when they add up to something perfectly reasonable. What’s more interesting is how logic can exist on two levels, one which is internally consistent, and one which makes sense in the outer world. Occasionally there is a moment when the two intersect.

Tuesday 29 July 2008

Sun (6+ Leo) trine Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (6+ Leo) square Hidalgo (6+ Scorpio)
Ceres (20+ Cancer) quintile Asbolus (8+ Taurus)
Mercury (5+ Leo) square Chariklo (5+ Scorpio)
Pandora (10+ Scorpio) quintile Orcus (28+ Leo)
Arachne (12+ Libra) sextile Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Amor (4+ Gemini) quintile Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Mercury (6+ Leo) trine Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (6+ Leo) square Hidalgo (6+ Scorpio)
Eros (13+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Pluto (28+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (14+ Leo) trine Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Venus (20+ Leo) sextile Atlantis (20+ Libra)
Mercury (7+ Leo) conjunct Sun (7+ Leo)
Sisyphus (14+ Libra) septile Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mars (17+ Virgo) square Quaoar (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (7+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Eros (14+ Leo) trine Juno (14+ Sagittarius Rx)

Dear Friend and Reader:

We are now in the last four days leading up to a total solar eclipse. It is more important to pay attention to your life than to astrology. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, in recent decades solar eclipses in Leo are pretty rare. Leo is the sign of the Sun, and this is an eclipse of the Sun. The message here is: it’s not about astrology, it’s about self.

If you look up eclipses in the Dictionary of Astrology by Alan Leo, it’s a little like reading from the Book of Revelation. They are associated with pestilences, earthquakes, toil on the king, hard times for animals, earthquakes, floods, running out of coffee on a Monday morning and everything else gone wrong. One gets the impression that eclipses are a good time to be away from the Solar System.

In actual fact, decent astrologers all learn respect for eclipses, and teach that respect to those who follow their work. Some learn it the easy way, some learn it the hard way, but upon commencing the study of astrology, eclipses soon reveal their unparalleled influence. We learn to respect them like small children who grow up by the ocean are taught to respect waves and water. Swallow a few good gulps of salt or get knocked into an undertow and the sea becomes a god that one treats tentatively. To my thinking, astrology is as basic as a sea captain or navigator learning the respect for weather, tides and magnetic forces that guides a safe passage. Few people would argue with a hurricane. Eclipses are natural events with natural results, and, as it happens, we are moving through their neighborhood right at the moment.

Eclipses work on three levels, broadly speaking. The first is personal. The second is collective. The third is where the personal and the collective intersect.

In personal terms, modern astrologers have begun to see the light on eclipses, if you ask me. In newspaper horoscope columns, they are generally described as moments of opportunity, times of peak intensity and critical juncture points. All this is true, though one could argue it’s a matter of perception. Do you congratulate someone when they lose their job, because they get to discover who they are, collecting unemployment for six months or a year? What do you say when a horrid relationship ’suddenly’ falls apart? What do you say to a tidal wave?

The perception of an astrologer can be a significant influence on the lives of people who encounter their interpretations. Even if it goes no further than self-fulfilling prophesy, astrologers owe it to the world to rise above fears and superstitions and allow faith and reason to carry their work.

And I see it happening. The more consciously eclipses are handled, the less they are inclined to do damage and the more they are inclined to give us a push in the right direction.

Here is an overview of the week’s aspects. Let’s see if we can get a sense of just what direction that is.

Yours & truly,

27 Sunday: Moon entered Gemini 11:55 am EDT. Mercury enters Leo. Mercury trines Hylonome retrograde in Sagittarius.

28 Monday: Ceres in Capricorn sextile Logos in Virgo. Do you think about what you eat, or do you just eat it? When was the last time you read a food package?

Eros in Leo trines Ixion (retrograde) in Sagittarius. Eros also opposes Nessus retrograde in Aquarius. Eros squares Psyche in Scorpio. Venus in Leo opposes Chiron (retrograde) in Aquarius. This aspect set, all involving Eros and Venus, presents compelling evidence that we need to look at the power of sexuality in our lives.

Genevieve Salerno writes, “It’s hard to believe that a power as procreative as Eros could possibly have a downside. But it’s true that often times, we are capable of inflicting damage on those that we feel love for, by mistaking control and manipulation for love. Today a wound that is either not addressed or unhealed is likely to manifest itself in your actions. Use this energy to become aware of the struggle. Knowing how you love, and why you love, is as important for Eros as knowing where your food comes from for Ceres.”

29 Tuesday: Moon enters Cancer 1:12 pm EDT. Leo Sun conjoins Mercury, marking the midpoint between Mercury sesquiquintile Uranus (retrograde) in Pisces. Juno trines Eros.

30 Wednesday: Sun sesquiquadrare Uranus. Venus trines Eris (retrograde) in Aries. Leo Mercury squares Vesta in Taurus. Ceres in Capricorn sextiles Sedna in Taurus. Now is the time to heal the bridge between ourselves and the Earth, and our ourselves to ourselves. We cannot afford to live fragmented lives, where we do not acknowledge, name or engage specific parts of our being, and still expect to live in a good relationship with the Earth.

31 Thursday: Moon enters Leo 2:22 pm EDT, beginning the dark of the Moon. Venus opposite Neptune retrograde Aquarius.

1 Friday: SOLAR ECLIPSE 6:13 am EDT. Moon occults Mercury; this is a second eclipse. Venus trines 1992 QB1. Ceres in Cancer trines Uranus in Pisces (retrograde).

2 Saturday: Moon enters Virgo 4:59 pm EDT. Mercury sesquiquadrate Pluto.

3 Sunday: Eros conjoins Elatus, asking: where does desire lead you? Mercury trines a retrograde Quaoar in Sagittarius. Venus trines the Galactic Center. According to different sources, Elatus was a centaur who tried to flee Hercules’ rain of arrows during the Pholus episode. Today’s aspects reflect a desire to dance to the beat of your own drummer. Make no mistake that the consequences of such an action will be a kind of social alienation. But this should come as a welcome blessing to those who are desperately in need of some quiet time, away from their social obligations, to learn who they really are.

Today’s Oracle takes us to Mar 01, 1999 – LIBRA – Monthly

Every now and then I get the idea that my paranoia will kill me before anything else does, and lately my No. 1 spiritual project has been learning to feel safe, protected, loved and fearless. This is not always easy, and I have to remember to wake up at the very times when I am the most asleep, and of course, in those moments, I have my doubts that I’m not courting danger just by feeling so safe and protected. If you’re feeling a new sense of security entering your life, pay attention; it may not be the care-free confidence you expected, but it may be a very bold safety; a kind of aggressive serenity; an understanding that this is all a gamble anyway, and you’ve got to bet on yourself, or bet against yourself, and then let the game of life happen. Where are you going to lay down those chips?

Monday 28 July 2008

Vesta (8+ Taurus) conjunct Asbolus (8+ Taurus)
Mercury (3+ Leo) quintile Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Ceres (20+ Cancer) sextile Logos (20+ Virgo)
Sisyphus (14+ Libra) sextile Juno (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (12+ Leo) trine Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Nessus (12+ Aquarius Rx) sesquiquadrate Hades (27+ Gemini)
Mercury (3+ Leo) sextile Amor (3+ Gemini)
Sun (5+ Leo) square Chariklo (5+ Scorpio)
Venus (19+ Leo) opposite Chiron (19+ Aquarius Rx)
Orcus (28+ Leo) trine Pluto (28+ Sagittarius Rx)
Arachne (12+ Libra) sesquiquadrate Pallas (27+ Taurus)
Eros (12+ Leo) opposite Nessus (12+ Aquarius Rx)
Eros (12+ Leo) semisquare Hades (27+ Gemini)
Venus (19+ Leo) septile Hades (27+ Gemini)
Venus (19+ Leo) semisquare Kronos (4+ Cancer)
Apollo (25+ Leo) septile Kronos (4+ Cancer)
Mars (16+ Virgo) quintile Kronos (4+ Cancer)
Mercury (5+ Leo) semisquare Logos (20+ Virgo)
Eros (13+ Leo) square Psyche (13+ Scorpio)

Dear Friend and Reader:

Welcome to the weekend — today, I’ve included an article from Steve Bergstein, a Planet Waves editor who writes the Psychsound column. He is a practicing civil rights attorney who specializes in free speech cases (First Amendment issues). Read below for his comments on the U.S. Supreme Court and how the election will affect it.

Scroll below for the weekend’s aspects and the Oracle.

The 2008 election and the U.S. Supreme Court
By Steve Bergstein

I’m telling you right now. This fall’s presidential election is going to have monumental consequences in any number of areas. What all those areas will be, I know not. But I do know this. The Supreme Court will undergo changes as a result of this election. And if you are one of those people who thinks it does not matter who wins the presidency, then you’d better think again. The Supreme Court is that important.

Many of the civil rights and civil liberties that we take for granted were identified and strengthened by the Supreme Court. When we read about the Court in the media, the focus is usually on abortion, affirmative action, death penalty and other hot-button issues. These issues are important, but they may or may not affect you directly. On the other hand, issues that affect us everyday, including the rights of employees, criminal defendants and political dissenters are handed down all the time. These are the cases that we really have to worry about.

The common response to arguments that the Supreme Court hangs in the balance is that the judges are professionals who will simply apply the law. When John Roberts was nominated to the Court a few years ago, he told the U.S. Senate during his confirmation hearing that he was merely an umpire, like in baseball, calling balls and strikes. But most legal scholars know that nearly every case that comes before the Supreme Court could go either way. That’s because there really are no right answer in the law. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are vaguely written, and Federal laws use words like “reasonable” and other language that create potential loopholes in civil rights.

Since the Supreme Court takes cases primarily to iron out differences in the way that courts around the country rule on certain legal issues, then one way to view Supreme Court rulings is that the legal experts on the Court are simply disagreeing with the legal experts on the lower courts around the country. I can think of few legal issues that cannot go either way in the Supreme Court.

At the moment, there are four liberals and five conservatives on the Court. One of those conservatives, Anthony Kennedy, sometimes tempers the right wing impulses of the other four conservatives. This means that Kennedy is often the fifth vote in 5-4 cases and sometimes he even sides with the liberals. So here’s the problem. The four liberals are older then the five conservatives, and one of them is in his eighties. As one of the better Supreme Court journalists notes:

All nine justices appear to be in good health. But the two oldest–88-year-old John Paul Stevens and 75-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg–are liberals. So is 68-year-old David Souter, who has told friends that he longs to go home to New Hampshire. By contrast, Kennedy and the four conservatives seem reasonable bets to serve another four to eight years or more. Kennedy and conservative firebrand Antonin Scalia are 72. Clarence Thomas, the Court’s most conservative member, Alito, and Roberts are a relatively frisky 60, 58, and 53, respectively. Six of the last eight justices to retire or die in office ranged in age from 79 to 85.

Given this age distribution, a President McCain would have at least one potentially balance-tipping vacancy to fill unless the vigorous Stevens smashes the oldest-serving-justice record set by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who retired at 90. But it’s doubtful that McCain could get the Senate to confirm a nominee with strong conservative credentials, especially to replace one of the liberals or Kennedy.

Replacing any of the older liberals with a young conservative who can serve on the court for 25-30 years means a rock-solid conservative majority on the Supreme Court for the first time in decades. That scares the crap out of civil liberties advocates. That means you should register to vote if you have not done so already, and drive yourself and everyone you know to the polling place in November to vote for Obama, if for no other reason that he can save the Supreme Court and civil liberties in this country. There is nothing more important.

Today’s Oracle takes us to Oct 25, 2002 – Libra – Weekly

Venus moving backwards through Scorpio, a sensitive, restless region of your solar chart, is likely to have you assessing yourself scrupulously. Encounters with your own inner thoughts may prompt the feeling of unusual insecurity followed by deep knowingness, followed by the sense that a thousand little parts of you must die in order for you to be whole and free. This is, of course, my impression of an astrology chart. But in any event, please take it easy on you. Self-evaluation needs to be done very gently. The past needs to be handled like crystal, and it contains important revelations now. Fortunately, people from the past are closer now than they’ve been in many months, and are open to listening.

Saturday 26 July 2008

Mercury (28+ Cancer) quincunx Pluto (28+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (29+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mars (14+ Virgo) septile Hidalgo (6+ Scorpio)
Mercury (29+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Juno (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Ceres (19+ Cancer) quincunx Chiron (19+ Aquarius Rx)
Hidalgo (6+ Scorpio) conjunct Chariklo (5+ Scorpio) – Near Miss Only
Psyche (13+ Scorpio) square Nessus (13+ Aquarius Rx)
Mercury (29+ Cancer) quintile Arachne (11+ Libra)
Sisyphus (13+ Libra) semisquare Orcus (28+ Leo)
Mercury enters Leo (direct)
Mercury (0 Leo) trine Aries Point (0 Aries)
Ceres (19+ Cancer) conjunct Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Mercury (0+ Leo) semisquare Mars (15+ Virgo)
Venus (17+ Leo) trine Quaoar (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mars (15+ Virgo) trine Jupiter (15+ Capricorn Rx)
Mercury (1+ Leo) sextile M87 (1+ Libra)

Sunday 27 July 2008

Sisyphus (14+ Libra) sextile Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Pallas (26+ Taurus) quincunx Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Eros (11+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Mercury (2+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Quaoar (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (2+ Leo) quintile Sisyphus (14+ Libra)
Mercury (2+ Leo) trine Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx)
Apollo (25+ Leo) square Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Eros (12+ Leo) sextile Arachne (12+ Libra)
Atlantis (20+ Libra) septile Orcus (28+ Leo)
Sun (5+ Leo) semisquare Logos (20+ Virgo)

Dear Friend and Reader:

Yesterday, we asked you to write to us and let us know how you deal with fear. Here are some of your responses.

***

First of all I feel it.

I think I turn fear (and other negative emotions) to anger, and then deal with my anger, and find my way back to fear. It certainly is a process. Usually I cry first (and in the middle and at the end).

I have a best friend of about 30 years now who also (gladly) serves as my therapist when needed. She is the person to whom I vent my fear, and she is a great listener. She says things that make me know she understands, never patronizes and doesn’t ever just agree with me for the sake of agreeing with me. She helps me apply logic and is a big help for me to get past just the emotion of the fear/anger. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a friends. She’s a Capricorn, to say the least.

The fear I refer to is not like a fear of snakes or a fear of heights; it’s more like of success or failure, being disliked or abandoned, not being treated fairly. I have big issues with injustice, and injustice is something we should all fear, don’t you think?

I don’t drink alcohol too much, but occasionally and I find it certainly helps dull the jagged emotion of it all. This especially helps when the fear is unfounded or just needs to go away or fall away. At least, drinking helps pass the time until I feel better and come to my better, calmer, more rational senses.

There are other types of therapy one might indulge in which could not be mentioned as freely as others due to the legality issue.

I don’t use prescriptions or pills; however, natural herbs and healthy eating help keep me grounded physically which helps me think better and feel better. I don’t eat junk: no sugar or processed food, no fast food, etc., and when I say this, I don’t mean not ever because that’s not true, but it certainly is my style to eat wholesome and healthy foods.

Masturbation is a very quick and effective way to take the edge off, like a big breath of fresh air. Then facing issues is a little easier.

Oh, and breathing helps me face anything better. Remembering to breathe, take time to just breathe and forget any panic that may be around.

I also remember other times in the past when I felt really afraid and that things always got better and I have not yet perished. It helps my grown children when I tell them this when they are worried about things: have some hope, and watch what happens.

Believing in miracles helps. Meditating certainly helps. Clearing negativity is a big, big necessity to effectively deal with anything, especially fear. My negativity and certainly any negativity in my personal space, including people and their mouths and attitudes, needs to go away. I use the words “clear” and “peace” a lot when I meditate, and when I am quiet (not speaking words to those around me), it says a lot because I usually talk a lot.

Meditating, getting quiet, and taking time (actual time, with the clock ticking, more than just a few minutes, usually at least a day to deal with any upset, often way more time while still dealing with every day life), these are my most effective tools. Things take time. Fear needs healing. Healing takes time.

Debbie

***

When I’m alone, and feel fearful, I pray for other people and think of the earth turning on its axis and orbiting the sun as we all go through the experiences and feelings that each day brings. Thinking about people I love and/or talking to someone I trust helps, if they’re available. I like hearing a familiar voice when I’m feeling fearful.

When I’m at work, and feel fearful, I go into the bathroom and hang out there for a while by myself.

When I’m in a crowd, and feel fearful, I either hold onto the person I’m with as long as I need to, or, if I’m alone, I find a safe, quiet spot.

Julia

***

For a temporary release from fear, I do write in my journal, trance meditate, talk to people and occasionally smoke pot, drink a glass of wine and take a Xanax. Although, for long-term release of fear, I go back to studying A Course in Miracles. It really is the perception of our life events that need to be reexamined.

My brother, age 59, crossed over to the other side a few weeks ago. He had a lung mass he was very secretive about. The stress of his death made me want to smoke (he most likely had lung cancer). I had not wanted a cigarette so badly for the two years since I quit. The craving was motivated by fear but I did not give in. Cigarettes had been my greatest (or so I thought) strategy for dealing with fear.

Rebecca

***

I recognize beneficial patterns of behavior, and then I copy them. I have found that fear is often a programmed reaction because I don’t possess the knowledge of how to respond beneficially. The easiest, most effective way I have found to eliminate those anxiety routes of behavior is to really observe (participate with) people who exhibit characteristics and abilities that I wish to emulate. That person might be a hero in a movie, my children exploring new territory or a friend who has a knack for social interaction, in settings large and small. I’ve found that valuing the traits of those I share my time with leads to increased abilities and enjoyment for us all.

Christina

***

Ah-ha, fear! I’ve just decided that fear is the dirtiest word on the planet. Fear can wear a worry costume!

My mother always says I worry too much about everything, which basically translates to fear of the unknown, or everything that could be. Jesus, this is no way to live! I’ve been working on finding the source of this fear for years, and have found some coping mechanisms. Whenever fear pops up like a jack-in-the-box clown, I’ve been focusing on the moment, instead of freaking out. In the moment, all is well.

Also, grabbing the fear bull by the horns and confronting it is very helpful: I ask myself, “what is this I’m fearing now; is it harming me now; why is this fear issue popping up now; is this collective anxiety?”

When I get oil anxiety, I focus on how getting off oil is the pathway to needed change and a better future. When I get (lack of) money anxiety, I focus on my abundant garden, beautiful children and all we have at this moment, and trust that we will have what we need when we need it. And we always do.

Whenever “but what if?” pops in, I say, “but right now I’m stirring the tomato sauce, and all is well.” It’s really hard to re-train the brain from tattooed-in knee-jerk fear reactions, but it’s definitely very possible. Just be willing to look at your fear-monster and you may see that it’s really much smaller and has much less power than you think – it just knows how to scream loudest!

Rachael

***

Seven years ago I was treated for post traumatic stress disorder after leaving an abusive arranged marriage with an alcoholic in a brand new continent — the U.S.A. I’d moved there a week after the wedding from India and met him only a week before. Whatever.

Fear was my only companion for what seemed to be the longest time. It has taken me since then to reach this point in my life where now my biggest fears are things like “have I sent the right email,” “I wonder if I use these choice of words will I hurt his/her feelings” or even “will i lose another tooth,” but nothing like crazy paranoid fear for my life, exacerbated last year by the increasing “terror” prevention methods used on foreign-born residents and being interrogated at a conference.

I moved out of the U.S.A. and that brought my fear down by half; the rest was working through the internal blocks after the divorce: I’ve come a long way.

So, your question: “what did I do with fear?”

I lived through it, I wrote it, I resisted it, I fought it. Then I blasted through it by giving into it.

Last July, starting on the 13th, i cried for four days — triggered by a flashback — that finally released it.

Its been healing cleanly since then.

Anonymous

***

I was greeted by a snake on my way into my office this morning. I took out my phone to snap a picture. I got close to the snake. Too close, I guess, because the snake scurried away disappearing into a bush. I try to get close to my fear; to greet it back when it greets me. The more difficult feeling for me is the anxiety that sometimes comes after choosing to make a decision that is NOT based in fear. I tend to then feel guilty, as though these decisions are wrong. I’m learning to take this as a good sign, though, as I did with the symbolic meeting with the snake.

Christine

***

With fear (personal or planet wide), I tend to meditate, focus on where the fear is centered in my body, then breathe into that area. That then tends to bring the fear outwards, so I can write about it, take action (if possible), take Bach Flower remedies (where appropriate etc.

The important thing is to not let the fear get trapped where it can paralyze thinking/being; although it can seem scarier initially to release it than to suppress it, its really not!

Cynthia

***

I try to engage my fear in a localized way, and am learning to recognize what it does to my body. Practicing insight meditation for the past couple years has helped me to be honest about when fear is present and pay attention to where it lives in me and how I dance with it.

I’ve realized that exploring fear on an intellectual level often creates more anxiety for me. I’m currently experimenting with treating fear as a kind of entity which holds a message. Often, giving my fear the space and time to communicate to me what it needs helps me to overcome paralysis and ease into clarity and action, as ignoring it has only resulted in binge drinking, insomnia and smoking too many cigarettes. We’ll see how that goes…

Anonymous

***

Today’s Oracle takes us to Feb 16, 2007 – SCORPIO – Weekly

Would it not be beautiful to cycle in and out of balance, in and out of awareness? You can do it, but you must replace the cycle of your consciousness sleeping and awakening with another reality. That could be shifting from companionship to solitude as a conscious and even daily act; it could be remembering and honoring your past as a devotion that helps you stay in the present; it could be applying all your life energy to some moments every day of experiencing the reality of another as fully and as deeply as humanly possible. All that matters is that some form of alternation awareness replace the troubling cycle of awareness and the lack of it.

Friday 25 July 2008

Mercury (26+ Cancer) quincunx Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Mars (14+ Virgo) septile Chariklo (5+ Scorpio)
Chiron (19+ Aquarius Rx) quincunx Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Psyche (12+ Scorpio) sesquiquadrate Hades (27+ Gemini)
Chiron (19+ Aquarius Rx) sesquiquadrate Kronos (4+ Cancer)
Venus (15+ Leo) quincunx Jupiter (15+ Capricorn Rx)
Mercury (27+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (2+ Leo) sextile Amor (2+ Gemini)
Ceres (19+ Cancer) quintile M87 (1+ Libra)
Mars (14+ Virgo) square Juno (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (10+ Leo) square Pandora (10+ Scorpio)
Venus (16+ Leo) semisquare M87 (1+ Libra)
Mercury (28+ Cancer) septile Logos (20+ Virgo)
1992 QB1 stations retrograde (23+ Aries)
Sun (3+ Leo) quintile Sedna (21+ Taurus)

Dear Friend and Reader:

For the past couple of days, you’ve been sending in your questions.

Today I have one for you. What do you do with fear? We live with lots of the stuff — from personal anxiety to fear of something serious happening on the planet. How do you handle it? Do you just live with it? Do you meditate, write in your journal, talk to someone, take anti-anxiety drugs or use some other method?

Please send your replies to editorial – at – planetwaves.net. We will post some of your answers anonymously tomorrow.

Thanks for participating.

Today’s Oracle takes us to Aug 01, 2003 – Aries – Weekly

You have come to some surprising revelations about yourself in recent months, but none so stunning as what’s now unfolding. This really has been a lesson in taking that ever-lovin’ Aries bull-headedness and putting it in the pen. Your flexibility, your recognition that ideas move, dance and flow with the currents of dreams, has not only been your spiritual life-saver. It has been your source of life, because life is change. Allowing for movement means granting the space to create your world as you go. It does not matter who, what or where you were yesterday. Today is astonishing, tomorrow is whatever you make it, and fear is purely optional.

Thursday 24 July 2008

Venus (14+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Pluto (29+ Sagittarius Rx)
Venus (14+ Leo) trine Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mercury (25+ Cancer) sextile Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Atlantis (19+ Libra) square Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Atlantis (19+ Libra) trine Chiron (19+ Aquarius Rx)
Chariklo (5+ Scorpio) semisquare Logos (20+ Virgo) – Near Miss Only
Mercury (25+ Cancer) sextile Pallas (25+ Taurus)
Apollo (24+ Leo) quintile Hidalgo (6+ Scorpio)
Venus (14+ Leo) trine Juno (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Venus (14+ Leo) quintile Amor (2+ Gemini)
Sun (2+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Quaoar (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (2+ Leo) trine Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (9+ Leo) septile M87 (1+ Libra)
Mars (14+ Virgo) square Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Venus (15 Leo) sesquiquadrate Aries Point (0 Aries)

Dear Friend and Reader:

Today we have two reader questions for you, with replies. For those of you who found Planet Waves through the old Astrology Secrets project on Cainer.com, my fingers are pleased to inform you that I won’t be writing any 5,000 word replies, or at least I don’t plan to. I will do my best to give a concise, relevant response to the questions we select, and Genevieve Salerno will be assisting me in this. Rachel Asher, our associate editor, will also see your questions. Please send them to: questions -at- planetwaves.net with the word QUESTION somewhere in the subject header (this helps us sort the mail). We will not use your last name in any response, though we may publish your birth chart anonymously.

This project is sponsored by your subscriptions to Planet Waves Astrology News. So please sign up, or sign up a friend. Thanks for participating.

Does location have an impact on my writing career?

Dear Eric,

You seem to know the impact of your writing pretty well, so I’ll just try to nudge on past my impulse to gush and fawn in the opening paragraph of this letter. But *thank you* for opening this door. And for the June access as well.

My question has to do with location and sidereal influence. I am a writer and my career has been off-and-on, mostly because I keep fussing with the definition of what I do (variously: grant writer, art manager, muse, diseuse, etc). [Note, a diseuse is a woman who is a skilled and usually professional performer of monologues.-efc] But I am also beginning to think that longitude/latitude might be playing in. If I move, will my focus and traction improve? I have lovers and kids and longterm ties here in Austin, but something here feels dead(ish), unyielding in both my being and place.

Born July 6, 1955, at 5:20 in the afternoon, in Corpus Christi, TX. Just started my 3rd 26-year cycle on this planet. Yippee.

Thank you again,

Mysti

===

Dear Mysti:

Looking at your chart, it seems clear that you are obsessed with relationships, or that they are obsessed with you. The people around you are important to you, and you need deep contact. You seem to have an electrifying presence; this chart is glowing (Moon conjunct Chiron in Aquarius; plenty of Gemini in the 7th house; Sun/Uranus/Mars/Vesta/Jupiter in the 8th house). But more than that, you have a lot of energy to blow off, and you seem to do it through various means of eroticism and emotional contact.

While you might expect me to say that sex is good for creativity, there arrives that point where the distractions of relating and processing relationship material can diffuse even your abundant energy. These relationships clearly feed you and I would guess from that Moon conjunct Chiron that people gravitate toward you, and they will no matter where you happen to be. You know the old saying, wherever you go, there you are.

The thing about location is that it shifts one’s realty. It confronts you with who you are; travel does this, and living different places does it as well. You have a 9th house Pluto and you live pretty close to where you were born (and I do I know that Austin is not Corpus Christi). That Pluto tells me you might be as obsessed with travel as you are with relationships. I wonder how much traveling you’ve done, which would help you get to know yourself outside the context of one-to-one (or two- or three-to-one bonding as the case may be).

Moving locations would shift the emphasis of your chart, but it would also reorient your mind and put you in a position of needing to adapt. That, in turn, would stir the pot and get you thinking in new ways. And unless you are Emily Dickinson, this is almost always good for writing.

However, you raise the issue of how you define yourself. I would say that you’re probably caught in a kind of psychic hall of mirrors of trying to see how others define you; or of attempting to define yourself differently for different people in order to have their approval. In the end, who cares what you call yourself? You don’t sell writing with a business card, you sell it with good writing. An editor looking at your story about ancient Egyptian sex cults doesn’t care that you like to go bass fishing with your friends once a month. They care about whether your ideas are coherent and your piece is on time.

If you’re a professional writer, you need to master the writing business; and you need to focus on projects that represent your interests and will also pay the bills.

I think that from a financial standpoint, you have two things you need to watch. Your 2nd house Ceres in Capricorn is saying that you have a survival mentality, that is, you have defined eating as the bottom line. Usually you need to go past that in order to thrive. Second, you have the Moon conjunct Chiron in the 2nd house; and by itself, the Moon in that house can represent some extreme financial cycles.

But a 2nd house Chiron suggests that the deeper issue involves self-esteem. Do you feel you have the right to be a writer? If you did, you might feel you had the energy and focus to create projects that work as part of the writing business. And if you did that, you would probably find some good sources of income.

I suggest you write about the subjects that get you going the hottest. You know what they are.

Thanks for your question. Please let me know if my response was even vaguely relevant.

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How do I break my old patterns?

Dear Eric:

Thank you for offering your insight. I was born Feb. 14, 1955 in Salzburg, Austria. I don’t have a birth time however my mother remembered it was in the am, as the shift of nurses were changing.

Question: I can see what I want to change. I can feel the energy of the change, the possibility of such changes are sitting and waiting…that is what it feels like.

I don’t know how to break my old patterns, and they are breaking me down causing more difficulty maintaining the “old”. But I am still keeping the “old” despite the pain ….

I would appreciate some guidance on how to make the changes…how to move through the old patterns…

Warm Regards,

Ann

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Dear Ann,

I am not sure what patterns you are talking about. I have my theories based on your chart (you have the Moon and Juno conjunct Saturn in Scorpio, which is a heavy emotional cast; and it is square your Sun/Mercury, making it difficult for you to discuss your feelings even though you want to). It would help a lot to have a single example of a pattern that you are thinking of.

I am also not sure what methods you are using to break out of your patterns, or what your concept of your own psyche is, which would tell us how you might navigate your inner territory. All these things make a difference in how one might go about shifting their state of existence.

Finally, what we call patterns often protect us from what is new. They are like armor. Whatever their job is, they probably have one; they do something for you, and if you can connect with that purpose, you may decide you no longer need it. But everything in this world has a purpose, whether it be constructive or not.

This all being said, I think that what you’re really dragging around is your mother’s negativity. In particular, she seemed to be extremely negative toward sex, and it’s clear enough that you were (like a lot of people) programmed with the idea that the only sexual relationship was or should be marriage (this is Juno in Scorpio mixed in with all this influence).

Your dad, for his part, was a very different kind of man. But he did not express his feelings easily, and neither do you; you have the same influence from both parents, though it has different origins. Your father seemed to be more progressive than your mom, but he kept his mouth shut so as not to get mixed up with her. Nobody talked; you did not learn how to express your basic feelings as a kid, much less lay the truth on the line of who you are and what you need.

That is what I suggest you do. I suggest you talk about all the most difficult things first, which means finding someone to talk to about them. There are probably a lot of very bright people in your circle of friends, but you have to find someone with whom you have no fear and who you know will not abuse the power you give them by divulging everything, and I do mean everything. A very open minded therapist would be a great start — preferably somebody without a Ph.D., unless of course you trust and adore that person. Whoever it is, you need to choose a therapist you want to become like, because that is basically what happens.

You are basically sinking under the weight of all that you have not said. And that may be the pattern that is the most difficult of all. Writing to us here counts as a good start. Keep going.

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Readers may send their questions to questions -at- planetwaves.net with the word QUESTION in the subject header. Not all questions will be answered. Please keep them short, concise and most of all, relevant to our readers. Please include your full birth data written out, for example, Feb. 30, 1801, rather than 2/30/01. Please include your time of birth! This feature is sponsored by your subscriptions to Planet Waves Astrology News! So please sign up and if you’re already a subscriber, please sign up a friend!

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Today’s Oracle takes us to May 14, 1999 – SCORPIO – Weekly

For all the hype about sex in our culture, it remains one of the great mysteries of human existence. In Greek mythology, the prophet Tiresias, who had lived for years as both genders, was blinded for revealing that women derive more physical pleasure than men during sex. This may be true, in many cases, but it also remains true that despite their depth and power, few women are conscious of what they possess within themselves, and, not surprisingly, few men can fathom the depth of female emotional experience. Unusual aspects suggest that these difficult boundaries of awareness and communication can now be stretched in some new directions.

Wednesday 23 July 2008

Venus (12+ Leo) square Psyche (12+ Scorpio)
Venus (12+ Leo) trine Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Apollo (23+ Leo) quintile Chariklo (5+ Scorpio)
Venus (12+ Leo) semisquare Hades (27+ Gemini)
Arachne (10+ Libra) septile Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx)
Pallas (25+ Taurus) conjunct Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Mercury (23+ Cancer) quincunx Neptune (23+ Aquarius Rx)
Sisyphus (13+ Libra) trine Nessus (13+ Aquarius Rx)
Mars (13+ Virgo) quincunx Nessus (13+ Aquarius Rx)
Venus (13+ Leo) opposite Nessus (13+ Aquarius Rx)
Venus (13+ Leo) sextile Sisyphus (13+ Libra)
Mercury (23+ Cancer) septile Amor (2+ Gemini)
Sun (1+ Leo) sextile M87 (1+ Libra)
Vesta (7+ Taurus) quintile Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Mercury (23+ Cancer) square 1992 QB1 (23+ Aries)
Vesta (7+ Taurus) semisquare Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Eros (8+ Leo) square Asbolus (8+ Taurus)
Saturn (6+ Virgo) sesquiquadrate Eris (21+ Aries Rx)
Amor (2+ Gemini) opposite Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (1+ Leo) quintile Sisyphus (13+ Libra)
Apollo (23+ Leo) trine 1992 QB1 (23+ Aries)

We are seeking astrologically related questions for reply in this blog. I’ll personally respond to your queries each Wednesday. Please keep your questions short, direct and clear, and relating to your own life (in other words, please don’t ask me to “tell you about your boyfriend”). Include your full birth data. I may publish your chart, but I’ll only give your first name. Not all questions will be answered — only the most relevant to our readers. Send to editorial -at- planetwaves.net. Thank you! –efc

Dear Friend and Reader:

There is no diet that can get you to lose 50 pounds in a week, but if you use the power of eclipses, you can take a week and create a pattern that will help you do just about anything you want or need. Most people feel stuck in their own lives to some real (and frustrating) extent. We live in patterns, and eclipses help us shift the existing modes of existence and welcome new ones. If we used eclipses as conscious leverage points to get unstuck, we would not feel so wedged into our own lives.

Today as of 6:55 am EDT, the Sun has arrived in Leo. Leo is the sign of the Sun, our central source of power, light, heat and awareness. All of the energy we use on Earth comes from the Sun: be it in the form of trees, oil or solar power. Leo is a fixed sign, aligned with three others on the fixed cross of the heavens — Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius. It represents the peak of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, though winter tends to be a lot warmer on the south side of the planet than up in say Alaska, Finland or Maine.

This year’s Leo season arrives with a pair of eclipses; this happens twice a year, each year’s sets of events always coming a couple of weeks earlier than the prior ones. (The lunar nodes, which tell us approximately where the next eclipses are going to happen, move retrograde on average, so the eclipses get earlier. They are currently in mid-Leo/Aquarius.)

Eclipses bring shifts in continuity and they help us establish patterns and cultivate the future in a direct, immediate and dependable way. They are convenient (or at times, not so convenient) times to make changes that take root. If you want to use the influence of these eclipses now, make choices and conduct yourself in such a way that what you want to create is set in motion by the time the events occur. In general, the energy pattern you establish at the time of eclipses is the pattern you will hold onto for the next six months or a year.

Setting one thing in motion generally means ending something else; so this is an equally useful time to get unstuck. Leo represents one’s sense of identity, one’s expression in the world, one’s sense of glory, of value and — most significantly — of duty and responsibility. So the central question of a Leo eclipse is, how do you define yourself? Yes, internally, but mainly, by what mode of expression? Can you focus your identity sufficiently to express that identity?

As for when — we will experience a total eclipse of the Sun in Leo on Aug. 1. It is exactly square the asteroid Vesta, which itself represents the expression of creative and sexual energy and more to the point, the reason we would choose to make that expression. Are we doing it “for its own sake,” or “for some other purpose”?

The eclipse is also conjunct Mercury in Leo; and Venus in Leo is opposite Neptune, suggesting that we ask ourselves the question, what is real and what is not, where our affections are concerned? The answer (in Neptune style) may take some time to work out, because it tends to take us a while to see through the idealism of Neptune.

The Leo total solar eclipse is pretty extraordinary, in part due to the fact that solar eclipses in this sign have been quite rare in recent decades. Also, a few hours after the Moon eclipses the Sun, it eclipses Mercury. So we have the image of the seed of a new idea in a new era of time, which is predicated on closing a chapter and forgetting an old idea.

Often, we want to welcome the new without letting go of what is old, what no longer works, or no longer has a purpose. Keep your eyes open for developments on both sides of that equation.

By the time of the Aquarius Full Moon and lunar eclipse on the 16th, this idea can develop into a full-on vision for what is possible — and mind you, that may mean embracing the reality of something that seemed unlikely or impossible just yesterday.

Very truly yours,

Today’s Oracle takes us to Jul 05, 2004 – Capricorn – Weekly

This is anything but a casual time in your life. But if you’re feeling a sense of urgency about the meaning of relationships, please keep your sense of humor. No, you don’t exactly have control over events and yes, the past year of your life has seen a demand for attention to integrity. If you’ve been purging people from your dance card, the more power to you; if someone truly meaningful has appeared, that’s a good sign as well. The important factor is taking the changes as they come, and remembering to laugh. Only a light heart can love.

Tuesday 22 July 2008

Mercury (20+ Cancer) septile Mars (12+ Virgo)
Sun (29+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Juno (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (21+ Cancer) sextile Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Mercury (21+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (0 Leo) trine Aries Point (0 Aries)
Sun enters Leo (direct)
Eros (7+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Eros (7+ Leo) quintile Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Venus (11+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Mercury (21+ Cancer) semisquare Saturn (6+ Virgo)
Mars (12+ Virgo) sextile Psyche (12+ Scorpio)
Mercury (21+ Cancer) square Eris (21+ Aries Rx)
Mars (12+ Virgo) square Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (22+ Cancer) trine Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Apollo (23+ Leo) opposite Neptune (23+ Aquarius Rx)