Dear Eric,

I’ve enjoyed your blogs and horoscopes for some time now but have never thought to write.В  I am hoping, though, that you might be able to give me some insight.

I am a Scorpio, and I’m in a relationship with an Aquarian. He is from Armenia but lives in Brussels. I am from the West Coast but live in Wales. You can probably imagine the distance is a struggle.В  Anyway, we’ve been together since October 2005 but since April 2007 things have been more ‘life’s a bitch’ than ‘life’s a beach’.В  He has had immigration problems and political and family problems back home. He works and goes to classes 12 hours a day and our communication has really disintegrated, meaning it feels like we are loving and trusting each other less.В  The easy answer is to finish and let each other go in peace. The problem is that I love him and deep down feel that things will eventually smooth out and come right. I don’t know. There is the added problem that neither of us is totally straightforward, having both experienced broken hearts in the past, so that also makes communication difficult.

If you aren’t totally swamped, would you be able to give me some advice?

Thanks
T

Hey T

I can elaborate this in a longer answer, but think of it this way. Were you not coming from monogamous paradigm, this question would not matter so much: there would be no question that you could ride the relationship out to better times; and not sacrifice your own needs. Unless you are sure that being with another man would absolutely alienate him, which might be a reason not to. But the toggle switch is one issue as I see it. Also, distance relationships are inherently difficult because it’s not possible to shareВ  many things up close that are the basic stock of being in one another’s lives (such as food); but the world has opened up to these vast networks of communication. So it’s natural that we would use them, and I think we need to devote a whole topic of life to the theme.

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I wonder if the effects of microwaving food have ever been studied. We take for granted that it’s the same as other ways of making something hot, but it’s not. Water is normally heated through conduction, not by radiation. A microwave is literally a home irradiator.

If you’d be interested in chasing down studies and articles on this subject, please let me know.

-efc

Hey now.

Short reminder today that Mercury is switching directions (called ‘stationing direct’) at the moment, and making its precise station overnight Saturday to Sunday (2:10 am EST Sunday). This can be a strange time; often enough experienced as annoying for those not accustomed to the energy and as interesting (or a relief) for those who are.

Photo by Sean Hayes.

I learned something recently from a friend who is an astrological programmer. When you plot the movement of Mercury on a table and watch second by second in a spreadsheet that goes out to several decimal places, Mercury turns directions on a dime. It’s not “standing still” relative to the Earth even for a second. When you look at something distant like Eris, the relative motion of the Earth and Eris produce an event where Eris “stands still” relative to the Earth for about 50 seconds.

During the station, if you look in the ephemeris, Mercury will occupy the same degree for about three days (currently 21+ Capricorn). But if you look closer than the ephemeris (which lists daily positions) can go, you see that it does not stay still at all. Remember — Mercury is not changing directions, but its apparent movement, relative to the Earth, is what changes. And this produces real effects on Earth. One of them is a sense of information coming out. Another is communication issues resolve, or are seen for the real issue that was lurking below the surface.

Without being too superstitious here, leave your computer alone. Wait till Mercury is moving at least a degree a day (by midweek) to do any important changes that cannot wait;В  longer for those that are not really necessary.

Saturday is the fifth night of the Moon, which is in Aries. the Moon will be exactly square Mercury when the station direct happens. Also, at around 11:11 pm tonight EST, the Moon will make aspects to Mercury, Mars, Eris, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn. It’s actually making more aspects than that; I am using a short list at the moment.

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For the first time in the history of astronomy, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is delivering us a weather report from outside our solar system. The weather observed — volatile with a chance of eccentric — is on planet HD 80606b, which is 190 light years away, meaning we’re receiving the report from 190 years ago. The planet, discovered by Dominique Naef of the Geneva Observatory, Switzerland in 2001, is gaseous, similar to Jupiter. HD 80606b is one half of a binary star system, though the stars are more than arm-length from each other — the twins are separated by a distance close to that between our Sun and Saturn, times 125.

Computer-generated images charting the development of sever weather patterns on HD 80606b. NASA image.

In fact, distance isn’t the only thing that’s bigger outside of our solar system: HD 80606b is about four times larger than Jupiter (our largest planet by a long-shot) and its weather is much crazier. To understand the parallels, consider that Jupiter’s biggest storm is ongoing, known as The Great Red Spot, an anticyclonic storm that began at least two centuries ago, and makes a full counter-clockwise rotation in about six days. The weather conditions on HD 80606b change everyВ six hours.В 

Here’s how it happens: HD 80606b takes about 111 days to make a complete elliptical orbit, so its year is 2/3 shorter than an Earth year, while its days are 34 hours long. If you’re confused, you’re not alone: according to NASA, it has the most unusual orbit ever recorded. As it nears its sun-like star, the orbit speeds up, and its proximity to the star changes from 2.8 to 78 million miles away. This quick shift results in temperature changes from 980 to 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit, all in a six-hour period.В 

The Spitzer Telescope, responsible for gathering this data, is named afterВ Lyman Strong Spitzer, Jr., the man behind the Hubble Space Telescope and the race to the Moon.

Dear Friend and Reader:

We’ve just sent out Planet Waves Astrology News to subscribers. The lead in this edition covers the article from Sunday’s New York Times Magazine on Canadian sexologist Dr. Meredith Chivers (which received considerable discussion below). The piece is called “Kaleo: Venus Unbound.” It looks at erotic sex roles as proposed by Chivers; and at how Venus and Mars work in men and women — and the ways they are corrupted now (and what we can do about it)..

Photo by Sean Hayes.

The article took several days to write and research, and I did the final draft yesterday at my hideout in Woodstock, Taco Juan’s. There’s excellent food (find out for yourself if you’re ever in Woodstock), no Internet connection and an excellent bookstore next door called the Golden Notebook. When I finished working I stepped outside, went to the back parking lot and was met with the vision of the Moon-Venus conjunction blazing in the evening sky: a cosmic thank-you note from the goddesses.

Today, Ceres, the goddess of grain and of mothering, is square Pholus, a centaur planet that tends to let things out of their container. This may be an emotional day for moms as regards their daughters, and there is plenty of chaos in the sky to accentuate the potency of the matter — such as Mercury slowing to a stop in Capricorn, where it will change directions on Sunday Feb. 1. Mercury is in what’s called the storm phase — like the rush of water when a ferryboat is pulling into the terminal and the pilot throw the thing into reverse. It’s like the boat is moving two directions at once, one direction against the ground and another direction as the water churns around it.

Ceres to Pholus first reminded me of people having a hard time keeping up with medical diets. I am one one — I am strictly wheat-free, which includes about five other grains and most lately sushi rice — so I know how hard it is. I don’t suggest you experiment today. That is, it would be better if you didn’t say, “Oh, I wonder what would happen if I eat that.” Stick to what you know works for your body.

But lots of us are trying to watch food consumption, and this is a good day to pay attention. Do you really need to eat things with corn syrup? Do you read ingredients lists on packages? It’s really interesting thing to see what is in everything you put in your mouth. (Taco Juans has two kinds of vanilla syrup, I learned; one made from corn syrup and artificial vanilla; and the other made from cane sugar and real vanilla.) I don’t eat anything that I don’t know the ingredients of, right down to checking the industrial foodservice packages at the movies to see just what goes into the popcorn. If the ingredients list is long, I don’t eat it. I have a long list of additives I skip (nearly all of them, but I have a few peeves that I keep for pets — such as MSG). Try this for a while and see what you become aware of.

Be aware: Mercury is stationing. Especially if you’re on a medical diet, pay attention. Read that list three times. Make sure you know all the odd little ingredients that are listed, like hydrolized vegetable protein, which is another way to say gluten.

Catch you tomorrow.

Dear Friend and Reader:

If I were to teach a political science class at a university one day, I would devote a good week or two to the history of famous political flame outs — that moment in a bad politician’s career when they’ve consciously decided to take a large plugged-in electrical appliance with them to their bathtub, put feet first into the hot water, and let the appliance join in the bath.В 

Blagojevich speaking at his impeachment hearing Thursday. "I want to apologize to you for what happened, but I can't, 'cause I don't think it..."

President Richard Nixon had his big flameout moment in 1973 with his famous “I am not a crook” speech on national television, which not only showed him losing control of the Presidency, but also, some say, showed he had lost his mind.

In 2002, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott had his brush with career-immolation at the 100-year birthday celebration for Strom Thurmond who was still an active member of the Senate. Lott reminisced about the Senator’s presidential campaign, admitting unconsciously his preference for the segregationist days of the South when he said: “…when Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either”.

In the days of YouTube, Virginia Senator George Allen lost his bid for re-election with his “macaca” moment, while Senator Larry Craig from Idaho could not keep his feet still in the bathroom stall of the Minneapolis Airport.

But how can these moments compare with this jewel of an example of obliviousness while taking an acetylene torch to your political career? We present to you now former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich defending himself prior to his impeachment by the Illinois State Senate.

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