Summer Specials from Planet Waves

Dear Friend and Reader:

Every summer, we experience a little dip in sales, which our marketing gurus have attributed variously to bikini waxing, people going on vacation, and the ultralow frequency (ULF) radiation experiment being conducted on the Northeastern United States that has locked in a monsoon weather pattern.

So we’re here with some special offers, so you can keep up with all the super-interesting astrological developments that are coming up. If you’ve never been a subscriber, we are sure you will enjoy receiving our beautiful, well-written mailings that keep you in sync with the astrology as it affects us personally and collectively. If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you will have the satisfaction of supporting the excellent daily work that you see read. If you’re a former subscriber, we are here to graciously welcome you back into the fold.

Here are your options. You may share this offer with friends.

1. One year of Planet Waves Astrology News for $66. You will receive two mailings a week, including the Friday edition, my weekly essay, weekly horoscope, holistic health and science news briefs and the amazing Judith Gayle. Astrology News is the only magazine of its kind, blending spiritual themes with news reporting and personal growth. This is truly the journalism of the 21st century.

2. Six months of Planet Waves Astrology News, Next World stories and Midyear Report for $66. This bundles our three most popular products for a nifty discount. You will get all 12 signs of Next World Stories in this comprehensive annual resource; as well as our bestselling Midyear Horoscope report.

3. Three months of Planet Waves Astrology News, Next World Stories and Midyear Report for $49. This is the same as above, only the subscription to Astrology News is more of the sample size.

With any of these options, you will receive the subscriber rate on the 2010 annual edition of Planet Waves, when that product is announced — a substantial discount over the non-subscriber rate. So your savings will extend well into next year.

Thank you for reading, for being involved and for making this a most unusual incarnation for all of us here on Planet Earth at the dawn of the third millennium. It’s not an easy time to be alive, but it’s definitely a meaningful one. Thank you for helping us keep it real — and keeping our pages advertising-free.

Yours & truly,

Dear Friend and Reader:

This week I’ve invested my energy into an extended horoscope that looks closely at the eclipse of the Moon next week, as well as the sign change of Venus from Gemini to Cancer. This happens to be weekly horoscope number 777. Today I will leave you with a few thoughts on next week’s Aquarius Full Moon and penumbral lunar eclipse.

Dina, photographed for Book of Blue by Eric Francis.

As we have reported previously, this is the third in a sequence of three eclipses [view chart]. This one takes place in Aquarius, conjunct a centaur named Nessus. This is the third centaur; the first planet ever named by astronomers at the suggestion of astrologers; and an energy that we all must work with on a day-to-day basis in our relationships and our attempts at relationship. As I go through the process of writing, corresponding and teaching on the topic of this eclipse, I am gradually working out a new interpretation of Nessus. One thing I can say, at least, is that this point addresses some of our deepest vulnerabilities.

We don’t need to look too far to see that we live in a world where it is possible and indeed likely that we will be collecting injuries, violations of trust and various traumas as we proceed through life. And if we look carefully we will also see that we live in a world where healing is indeed possible; and if we agree to that possibility, it verges on inevitable. The pace of experience is quickening and these opportunities may be coming in at an unusually rapid pace, and/or old traumas may be coming up to be addressed faster than we are accustomed to. Given that a fair number of people don’t actually deal with the material, how much is coming up may be presenting some significant challenges.

Therefore, we need to consciously, humbly bring healing process into our relationships. We need to learn to communicate about things that are relevant to us, to our partners and the situation, not just at the end of a relationship, but at the beginning and in the middle. We need to listen and take what we hear under advisement, setting aside the control agenda.

To put it politely, this is potentially inconvenient, it takes time and not so many people think it’s any kind of fun. In order to have any sense of safety in the current psychic environment, we need at least to be able to trust that we can communicate honestly about what counts; and be heard.

We have been going through the process of these eclipses for well over a month; in fact I would say that the June 22 New Moon conjunct Vesta, on the solstice (therefore, involving the Aries Point), was something of the opening bell. I think there is a pandemic of emotional exhaustion going around; we deserve to claim that. Meanwhile, the presence of Vesta in that potent New Moon suggests that we are being called upon to come out of our own limited, personally-driven reality boxes and offer ourselves in service to others as we move through our own healing.

Many factors point to a collective healing process underway, involving profoundly deep issues of trust, individuality and sacrifice. We find it nearly impossible to trust one another. We struggle to express our individuality, at the expense of being cast out of our tribe or relationship. And we are obsessed with the idea of sacrifice, which creates a state of paralysis around some of the most basic experiences of giving and receiving.

There will come a day when we are each available to admit our vulnerabilities and our needs without the fear of terrifying others. That day will come sooner as we begin to embrace that we all are working through similar injuries, though in slightly different patterns. We currently live under a system of tyranny by fantasy: the notion of getting real is still a vast taboo, one that is upheld by our culture of expectation and distraction.

New York City. Photo by Eric Francis.

In the midst of this, the process of awakening is compounded by the many admissions we must make to ourselves; and by the incredible pressure we are under to stay asleep. In actual fact we typically delay some of our most important growth until the last hour of life, which is another way of saying that we are conditioned to live like we’re going to live forever; but without actually embracing that which makes life worth the experience.

This eclipse is informing us that if we want to be close, the only way to do that is by being vulnerable. That, in turn, requires both experimenting with and building trust, which I would propose is the basis of all functional relationships. This in turn requires being willing to be hurt as a result; not desiring to be so, but recognizing that it’s one of the risks of vulnerability.

Vesta’s presence in the solstice New Moon is reminding us that we must all hold emotional space for us all. We need to practice patience with one another, and we need to check in with how the other is feeling, doing and experiencing existence. I offer a special reminder to men: as women develop their power of will, you will need to respond to that seemingly unusual thing with equanimity. I would remind women that as men develop their emotional capacity, you need to open up, listen and bring empathy to the situation.

This is no time for anyone to be proud, haughty or to withhold the most basic compassion.
Indeed, compassion is what we all need, and it will grow exponentially as we offer it to one another.

Lately I have been corresponding with someone in Wales named Sari. She has provided me with a series of interpretations of this eclipse, one of which I would like to share with you here. Before I leave you with her wise, compassionate words, I want to remind you that we are indeed building to a Full Moon that is exact at 8:54:52 pm EDT on Weds., Aug. 5 /В 1:54 am British Summer Time on Thursday morning, Aug. 6. Readers in other zones, please calculate off of London time.

This eclipse building is likely to come with exceptional tension, and if it’s not handled carefully the results can indeed damage our relationships. Therefore, we need to both be careful and especially forgiving, and ride gently through this energetic shift.

Yours & truly,

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Weekly Horoscope for Friday, July 31, 2009, #777 – BY ERIC FRANCIS

Note: Planet Waves weekly horoscope sequence numbers began about four years ago, when I was briefly living in San Pedro, Spain, and hired Jessica Keet (of South Africa and then Los Angeles) to be the Planet Waves horoscope coordinator. We began with number 531 as something of an arbitrary beginning place, so we could keep track of our projects. Today we reach horoscope 777, one of those truly beautiful esoteric numbers. Today’s horoscope is an extended edition, interpreting the sign change of Venus from Gemini to Cancer, and the eclipse of the Moon that happens next week conjunct the centaur Nessus.

Aries (March 20-April 19)
There are indeed two ways to look at the world. Of course there are usually many more, but two is a good start; it’s better than being stuck in one, particularly if that one relates mostly from the place of fear, guilt or contention within yourself. The questions you face now go something like this: what is influencing you to be biased one way or the other? What motivation do you have to take over your power of choice? And finally: what preconceived ideas about yourself, going back as far as you can trace the history of your life being influenced at all, are directing your decisions today? I understand that you may feel way behind a partner in this process of raising your awareness to the level of what really matters. Yet there are social forces that are currently vying not only for your attention but your devotion. These, I suggest you scrutinize carefully.

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Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
You may be viewing the future with a sense of apprehension. Recent events may have you feeling like it’s difficult to plant both of your feet on solid ground. Yet the only solid ground in the universe is your own integrity. That is the filter that influences the rest of your reality, and the more aware of this fact you are, the more true-to-course your life will feel. This, even in the face of others who are uncertain, who are slipping backwards, and who choose to let their sense of identity be dictated by factors outside their control. You are in the process of figuring out that you are indeed different than the world you perceive. That can be quite an uncomfortable state of existence, but then it is the ultimate expression of individuality to be who you are despite what the world is. Then, as I am sure you have learned at certain points in the past, there comes a reconciliation process. Here is a clue. You will know you are making a contribution when you are able to give and feel that you are losing nothing.

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Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 22)
Make sure you notice when people treat you compassionately. Decide consciously whether you want to pull away, or welcome their offerings. Given your nature, you may feel that to acknowledge their kindness and commitment will imply commitment on your part. I believe this is true, and I believe it’s a reason why so many people insist on being so remote and aloof from the people around them, yet all the time begging for attention of the kind that they don’t really need. To put it mildly, you have tendencies that isolate you from the deeper levels of human contact that you seek; and now you have opportunities to experience both that closeness and also to step beyond your fears. Attachment is not an option in this world; how we choose to express that attachment is. Sharing is not an option; what we choose to give and receive is. Over the next few days and well beyond, you will experience a series of opportunities to breathe in the exchange of love, of passion and of nourishment. These things take nothing from you. Each time you recognize this will take you one step closer to authentic fulfillment.

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