This is Planet Waves Astrology News, the most popular astrology subscription magazine on the Internet. Find out why thousands of our readers have stuck with us for years — we offer authentic astrology, professional, spiritually-grounded news coverage and the most literate horoscopes in the business. The edition you have here is our sample size. For the full edition, years of archives and extra Tuesday horoscopes, sign up here.
Dear Friend and Reader:
Lately I’ve been working through some rage at the guys on Harleys who roar past my studio without any tailpipes. Harleys, due to the way the engine cycles, have that distinctive slap and are loud enough with tailpipes; but I guess not loud enough for some. Between fantasies of taking matters into my own hands, I’ve been trying to figure out just why exactly someone would need to rumble down the street at 150 dB.
On one level, it’s what you might call pure testosterone. I was sitting with a client recently and she said she was turned on by the roaring bikes going by. She kept getting up to see what they looked like. I found this interesting; more interesting than wanting to take pot shots at them. It was a clue to what was going on. How we handle anger has a lot to do with our Mars placement, and how we integrate Mars. (Mine is in Pisces, conjunct Chiron.)
That sound certainly gets you to look, whether you’re turned on or you want to see what jerk could possibly be that rude; that engine blasting is a form of publicity and it’s designed to be sexual. It’s the vehicular equivalent of squawking and parading around with one’s plumage out, doing the eternal dance. There is a lot of Biker Guy seeks Biker Girl in those loud engines; sooner or later some chick is gonna think it’s too hot to resist. So what if she has stainless steel teeth.
But this can’t be all. It’s more transgressive than a bird dancing around the backyard; there are lots of ways to get the attention of women. Everyone knows we don’t have earlids, at least not in this dimension, so with all that sound there’s an invasion involved. It’s aggressive. The message that “you are powerless to stop me from doing this” took a while to sink in intellectually; I experienced it as rage. But I knew the anger was telling me something; it usually is.
Continue Reading |В Subscribe to Planet Waves
By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
I once had a fascinating conversation with a family member who was retiring from the Navy, hanging up that spiffy white uniform with the scrambled eggs on the shoulders and entering private life. He had served as personal attachГ© for Governor Ronald Reagan in California and in the Pentagon when Ron was in the White House. Over dinner, we discussed his career and I tried plumbing his depths; he’s a Scorpio, so I knew I couldn’t count on his sharing secrets but maybe I could close in on a few with careful maneuvering. “Can you imagine,” I asked, sipping my wine and lowering my voice, “a scenario in which all of the nations of the world come together to fight a common threat?” His answer was quick, measured and not nearly as militarily obfuscated as I’d anticipated. “Yes,” he replied. “I can.”
It was an ‘ET phone home’ enquiry, and my military-minded, squared-away and no-nonsense loved one had crossed into the dimensional hinterland with nary a quiver. I came away from that encounter quoting Hamlet, regarding his father’s ghost: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” And clearly, I think it’s past time we began to dream them. Quantum physics offers us other ways to think of things; and coming off of years when science and religion were pitted against one another as natural enemies, instead of alienating them further perhaps it would be refreshing to allow them to wed, as they eventually must. The big picture is bigger than we know.
With all the talk of national safety, personal safety, financial safety, it appears to me that what we don’t know about the future is the larger of the fears driving us these days. We like to know exactly what we’re facing, it comforts us; but clearly, we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. We’ve lost control of these events, as uncomfortable as that seems. Even more impressive, there are ghosts walking among us, energy signals that are creating our 3D landscape as just a bit more hazy, reality winking in and out, and definitely not as solid as we suppose it to be.
Continue Reading |В Subscribe to Planet Waves
Coming Up in Daily Astrology and Adventure
Astronomer Phil Plait over at Discovery magazine’s Bad Astronomy website isn’t afraid to light out after folks who push, well, bad astronomy. And with the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing nearly upon us, he is revisiting one of the most enduring conspiracy theories around: The Alleged Moon Landing Hoax.
 |
|
One of the first images produced by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Photo: NASA.
|
Plait starts out by speculating whether the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is taking high-quality images of the Moon’s surface — including the original Apollo Moon landing sites — will quell any of those doubters. His answer? Nope.
“That would be nice, but obviously it won’t,” says Plait. “If they don’t believe the thousands of pictures and video taken from the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts themselves, why would they believe further NASA evidence?”
For good measure, though, Plait linked to his 2001 review of a Fox TV program about the supposed Moon Hoax, “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land On The Moon?” In it, Plait goes through and provides point-by-point refutation of the conspiracy theorists’ claims, from why the photos taken on the Moon don’t show stars to the “deadly radiation of space.”
The Apollo 11 lunar module touched down in Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility) on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon (it was not Neil Young, as previously reported in Planet Waves), uttered the familiar phrase, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” while his fellow moon walker, Buzz Aldrin, described the view as “magnificent desolation.” Armstrong’s quote was supposed to be, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” but understandably enough, he was a little nervous at the time.
Part of the evidence validating the landing on the Moon is astrological. The same astrology that brought us the Woodstock festival just three weeks later brought us the success of the Apollo program: a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Libra, opposite Chiron in Aries; all aligned with the Aries Point. We will have more about this in next week’s edition.
Continue Reading |В Subscribe to Planet Waves
 Weekly Horoscope for Friday, July 10, 2009, #774 – BY ERIC FRANCIS |
|
 |
Cancer (June 21- July 22)
Look carefully and you will see that you’re in entirely new relationship territory than you were in just one season ago. Something old has been removed or is losing its power; something new is gradually taking its place. This is not an easy transition, and it involves developing the ability to make agreements, and for everyone involved to honor those agreements. Our civilization has yet to figure out that most of its woes are encrypted directly into the most personal modes of relationship, and the most intimate. As a culture we have yet to figure out that what made our parents miserable will probably make us miserable, but as an individual you are finally coming around to this revelation. Just remember, their fears are not your fears. More to the point, they did generally not see their fears for what they were; you cannot afford that particular delusion.
The Planet Waves Midyear Horoscope Edition by Eric Francis is ready. Here is product and signup information. And we’ve reduced the price of Next World Stories, now just $24.95 for all 12 signs.
Continue Reading |В Subscribe to Planet Waves
 |
Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
What has a back has a front — in this dimension. If you expand your awareness to include a wider array of possibilities, everything can change. True, it’s simpler to think in binary terms; in linear concepts; but you would be missing most of the story if you do. You are about to enter a world of possibilities, and that world may seem like a hall of mirrors, where it’s unclear whose feelings belong to whom and what results will come from certain actions. It would help to remember that many more possibilities exist than you can currently observe, both personal and professional. You may not be able to see them right away, but you will be able to feel them: in the form of tension with people you encounter. If you notice any form of polarity, or a pull toward someone, or even a negative sentiment like resentment or jealousy, explore it; look right at it, and speak to it clearly.
The Planet Waves Midyear Horoscope Edition by Eric Francis is ready. Here is product and signup information. And we’ve reduced the price of Next World Stories, now just $24.95 for all 12 signs.
Continue Reading |В Subscribe to Planet Waves
 |
Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
The intangible may be so real you can hold it in your hands; give it a chance to become so. Seek with the faith that you will find, and feel with the faith that you will experience fulfillment as a result. Remember that the richest territory for you is interior, regardless of how expressive or interesting your life is now. What you are firming up is your ability to be a container, and therefore to feel full. You cannot hold energy if you don’t have the ability for some kind of psychic containment; you cannot share if you don’t have enough for yourself. These are old problems that you’re finally able to remedy. That planets at times may seem to be playing a game of paradox with you, and at at times you may be feeling deeply mixed emotions. Stick with your feelings and discover the win-win: the more you have, the more you can give; the more you have, the more people give to you. Try to get this one down; it’s a keeper.
The Planet Waves Midyear Horoscope Edition by Eric Francis is ready. Here is product and signup information. And we’ve reduced the price of Next World Stories, now just $24.95 for all 12 signs.
Back in the mid-80’s here in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile we had guys on Harleys who – after getting a last call at the Pikme-up coffee bar @ 2 am – would head West down 6th Street – going 65+.
It took the LAPD on motorcycles about 3 months to put an end to their fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxKTzwaEa2o
Another perspective. I rode a ’79 FLH from the age of 14 to 23. Yes, the short 2 years I was in high school, on a Harley, with the baffles (mufflers) punched out with a steel rod, torquing the kill switch to get it to backfire (and almost blow the pipes off), I made a lot of noise. Not once, did I ever use it to get laid. I enjoyed my bike. Riding curvy woods, up/down mountains… That was Zen. Through the redwoods….
The noise is art, and music… some cats are just way too…
The balance between consideration and expression…
(It was a beautiful bike… Black, chrome, polished aluminum, stripped down basics… very pretty!;) )
Just a little past perspective.
Jere
I have to confess, when I read the heading of this article, my pupils dilated and I began to salivate. I also have to confess, I was the one who kept going to the window in the Blue studio, to see the bikers in the street below. Why?
I think my buddy Phil, and, thereby, PJ O’Rourke, are right on. Bikers are both repulsing and fascinating. I am repulsed by the noisy, beer-swigging, bar-brawling behavior of the stereotypic Harley crowd. Not to mention the questionable hygiene. But I am intriqued by the – for lack of a better word – *mystique* of the biker image. I suspect this comes by way of many childhood days spent with the motorcycle club my parents belonged to. These were not hog riders, roaring their bravado through the streets. These were family people who loved to ridge through woods, fields, backroads, and frozen lakes. They “climbed” steep hills. They “scrambled” around a track. Sure, there was plenty of beer swigging and cussing at the social gatherings held following the races, and the sexual innuendos were rampant. But these folks didn’t rupture the eardrums of cats and dogs with their cycles, nor did they beat the shit out of anyone who looked at them twice. However, I’m not going to go so far as to say they had done a great job of integrating Mars energy into their psyches.
Not much of this appeals to me any more. I think the key to my attraction to bikes is this: my first sexual experiences were with a boy from this group. And, later, his brother. So, for me, bikers = sex. And when I run to windows to look at them, it’s to see if any among them are the least bit sexually appealing. Now and then I do catch a glimpse of someone who is. But usually, not.
So, back to the topic of Mars and Venus integration. I agree with Eric, that it’s a major problem in our culture. And I’m taking up the challenge of looking deeply at where they appear in my natal chart, and meditating on how they play out in my psyche. With Venus in Aries in the 6th, Mars in Gemini in the 8th (alongside Mercury), the Sun in Taurus in the 7th, and Scorpio rising, I’ve got a lot to ponder!
Thanks, Eric, for some laughs and great food for thought!
i live a few doors down from a harley shop and train tracks. the train actually moves the house (built in 1948) and the hawgs rattle the single pane/pain windows. the shop is a fixit stop so often the guys & gals are riding around the block testing some thing or other, with varying levels of obnoxicity. i’ve had my own deep thoughts of shooting out the tires on some of them, but i knew it was here/hear when i moved in.
i’m not sure if it’s passed yet but there was a bill in NM earlier this year to ban texting while driving. i was just thinking this afternoon how addicted we are to “connecting” – small examples, a friend comes over for dinner & a movie and can’t stop texting/checking messages within a 3 hour period. i’m at another friend’s house for an hour maybe and he checks his email twice and goes to call someone who he’d forgotten left town that morning. with all these ways to “connect,” i think/feel we actually communicate less.
Weird.
My comment: In Paris, there is a serious problem with people riding powerful mopeds on the sidewalk. They will ride half a block on the sidewalk to park in front of their particular restaurant. I would try talking to them in my not particularly suited for argument level French, but I would make my point. I saw some riders do some incredibly dangerous, stupid things: near crowds, for example. I never got around to slashing a tire, but it seemed like a suitable message to someone who endangered pedestrians, old folks, little kids and Yorkshire terriers. But my friend Kit Brown assured me, it’s easy.
Lately I’ve been observing people doing things like texting while driving. The county legislature here is considering making that illegal. It’s amazing you would even have to do that; that anyone would need to be told. Driving is dangerous enough, and people are bad enough at it. I have a comedy routine I’ve been doing among my friends lately – the Don’t Vote For Me For Governor campaign. If I’m elected, Executive Order 1 will be to suspend everyone’s driver’s license and require them to re-qualify.
Hello Eric and Friends,
A quick comment on the Harleys…
Here in Oregon (Portland) we have a quiet, trendy walking/shopping street (NW 23rd Avenue) with a similar Harley affliction. The bikes are loud enough that they set off car alarms on the street as they pass by. And as it turns out, a large number of the boys are trying to attract other boys, (I don’t know how that works out for them, but it wasn’t “masculine” in the way that I normally think of the term).
Regarding anger at the noise, etc…. I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe, trying to hear myself think over the high horsepower flatulence of one particularly obnoxious rider waiting at the stoplight, and I realized he was wearing earplugs…. “great, how about earplugs for the rest of us pal”.
Yes, I considered a whole range of options, several of which involved homosexually mating his body parts with parts of the bike. I did manage to let it go, and I don’t remember what the guy or his bike looked like. But I do remember and doubt I will ever forget, the true nature of a 150db jerk…happy to subject the rest of us to his version of testosterone, but throttling his own pleasure with ear plugs. (I would have enjoyed throttling him…)
In the end, it seems mostly to me like when we were kids, putting cards in the spokes of our bicycles..except we were 10 to 12 at the time, and most of us grew out of that.
Welcome to amerika, land of the free, home of the brave, and totally inconsiderate jerks, blasting away, wearing earplugs.
Thanks for the smiles Eric,
Keven (Taurus, 5-12-58)
Eric:
The best description of how women react to the sound of a Harley that I
can recall was written by PJ O’Rourke when he wrote for Car and Driver
way back when. To paraphrase:
It’s a mixture of fascination and repulsion. I’m not sure how I can
describe this in a family magazine. It’s as if a male were walking down
the street with his principle organ of reproduction hanging out of his
pants, and said organ was of truly prodigious size.
Phil Raymondo
Good Morning Chelsea and Eric:
A big Thank You for today’s Planet Waves. Excellent as always. Judith
Gayle is in top form today. I am a HUGE fan. Please tell her thank
you from me.
I hope all goes well with you. We are currently in Hell, with temps
above 100 for most of the week.
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Lynda
Hi Eric, Santa Fe has a huge noise problem, some guys just go around cruising with loud cars as early as 5AM in the summer. I live in a subdivision which is a series of sm.cul de sacs and yesterday some old souped up car was just going from one to the other, looping around at about 8AM, making about as much noise as he could. Curious, there is a real social prohibition on honking. I think it’s marking territory. Sound marking. I’m sory you’re getting it, it’s a real drag. Rosie
Hi Eric
You reminded me of something that happened many years ago. I lived with
a boyfriend in a quaint neighborhood in So. Calif., next to a small
apartment complex. Of course, those neighbors came and went. Then,
some fella moved in with a big motorcycle, maybe a Harley, but we
weren’t curious enough to find out. The annoyance of the noise output
from the beast became apparent during the hours of midnight to about 3
am, when the fella would work on its mechanics and roar up and down the
street to check its performance. This occurred many nights of the week
for several months.
My boyfriend Bruce was a non-confrontational sort of person, and I had
not yet developed my assertiveness. Certainly, a kind word pleading for
some quiet nights, or moving the mechanics to a remote location could
have been attempted. I think neither of us wanted to approach a “scary
dude,” which he must be.
Then one week, I noted to Bruce, “Hey, the motorcycle guy next door must
have moved or something.” Bruce gave no reaction or hint of the actual
“something.”
About 6 months later, Bruce said, “Remember the guy in the apartment
next door with the big, loud motorcycle every night?” “Yeah?” says
I…..”Well, I put pancake syrup in his gas tank,” says he….My jaw
dropped. “Oh Bruce!”
Bad Karma…poor problem solving…but a funny kinda memory.