Dear Friend and Reader:

This is Beltane weekend; some Celtic folklore regards the entire month of May as Beltane, the festival of spring. Here is an article from a few years back that coves the subject well, and here is another that reviews all of the Quarter Days and Cross Quarter Days.

Red buds dangling like delicate earrings in one of the lesser-known but charmingly diverse gardens of Paris, Bercy Park. Photo by Danielle Voirin.

The Moon is in Sagittarius, picking up fire and air energy and finally crossing over the Galactic Center late Saturday night; it will be in Sagittarius until Sunday morning when it ingresses Capricorn at 6 am sharp ET (3 am in California, 11 am in the UK, noon in Europe, and late Sunday night in Oz). The Moon will make a nice sextile to Chiron as it enters Capricorn. Ceres has stationed retrograde just shy of Pluto in early Capricorn, though the two are close and making the same basic transits in your natal chart.

The Saturn-Uranus opposition is still at full strength, though technically it was exact (for the 4th time) Tuesday. Uranus in Pisces is in direct motion, as is Jupiter in Pisces — both are headed for a conjunction in early June in the first degree of Aries — the Aries Point. Though this astrology is ‘in the future’ we are under its influence today.

That influence is: a moment of renewal on a cosmic scale; a new idea about Life, and Self, and The World — it’s like a trump card coming out of the astrological deck, one that you see only every 75 years or so. That sounds like the old definition of jubilee.

Meantime, for a bit of the Beltane spirit, here is The Mummer’s Dance from Loreena McKennitt.

Have a great weekend, and if you have any thoughts, please share them in the comment area below.

Yours & truly,

Good morning readers,

It’s a little past 7 NY time and I am in the last stage of editing and production on the Friday edition of Planet Waves Astrology News, our subscriber edition. This week’s issue looks at the cluster of historic events that surround the ingress of Chiron into Pisces, the Scorpio Full Moon and the alignment of Saturn and Uranus. Judging from the amount of fact checking and the number of edits swimming in my mind, we will distribute to subscribers at about 9:45 or 10:00 am NY time. Please check your inbox or the subscriber page then. Thank you.

Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Gemini weekly of July 25, 2003

Certain factors may seem to be beating you into retreat on your more adventurous goals, but don’t let that dampen your process of creating ideas and possibilities for the future. Recently something unusual occurred to you that included an idea for transforming your life without going very far or doing too much, and that’s the plan to develop. It’s possible that a female sibling or the approximate equivalent will be very influential in making your life a lot happier, if only by setting the example that you have no need to ever be stuck or run in circles. Find those people and study them.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. New horoscopes by Eric are published weekly plus twice a month in Planet Waves Astrology News and Planet Waves Light. The Oracle itself is a divination tool available to subscribers to either of these services.)

By Len Wallick

It’s less than eight weeks since Venus entered Aries. Seems like a long time already. At the time of that ingress your faithful correspondent marked that planet as a trailblazer, a pace-setter, a pioneer. Preceding the Sun across the Aries Point, it started the new astrological year, keeping ahead of even speedy Mercury. First in transit, first in aspect. Leading the way as the sky gradually spreads itself out. Today’s astrology finds that trend in continuation, but the tone has changed.

Speeding through Gemini with an apparent motion faster than the Sun, Venus is casting a jaundiced eye forward while also reminding us what did not quite play out. Leading the pack on a day of aversion.

The dictionary definitions of the word aversion are without comfort, pleasantry or relief. Alternatively expressed as dislike, repugnance, antipathy or distaste. Associated with the act of turning away, of avoidance, shunning or fending off. As far as the English language is concerned, there is no good to be found where that term is used. In astrology, when two or more planets or points are separated by either 30 degrees (called a semi-sextile) or 150 degrees (a quincunx) they are defined to be in aversion. For it is in such aspects that the signs they occupy have little or nothing in common, sharing neither element nor mode, nor gender nor rulership. This is not quite as severe as the where this epistemology takes us. It’s enough however, to suggest estrangement, alienation and separation at the very least.

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Gemini weekly of November 11, 2005

The strange thing about potential is that when we get close to the positive side, we can fear the approach of the negative side. Using power for good always comes with the chance of hurting someone; ethical people will question their motives; many hesitate to do anything real for fear they may do something bad. You seem poised to do something entirely original in your own way. This seems eminently possible, truly within reach. You may, at the same time, have a sense of danger or darkness, or that you’re going a little too far. The planetary alignment associated with the upcoming Mercury retrograde suggests this hesitation is natural, but also that the more edgy you feel, the closer and more tangible success is.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. New horoscopes by Eric are published weekly plus twice a month in Planet Waves Astrology News and Planet Waves Light. The Oracle itself is a divination tool available to subscribers to either of these services.)

Hey there. The other day I was watching something, I’m not sure what, and saw Mike Allen interviewed. Mike is a reporter for Politico.com, and he’s the editor of something called the Playbook — a summary of that day’s news that comes out at about 8 am ET. Mike and an assistant get to work at about 5 am, scan thousands of news articles, and prepare the Playbook. This is an impeccable piece of newsletter-type journalism, full of cool details, stuff to ponder, marvel over, roil at and send your friends. It’s a free daily service, delivered by email. Here is how to sign up.

Editor’s Note: Last month, we began posting the work of Enceno Macy, an inmate in a US prison. I was contacted by the person who edits his work, who asked if I had any article suggestions. I said that I would love to see something on health care in the prison system, since we’re having such an interesting conversation about the health care prison among the supposedly free. He said he was already on the project when I asked; this is what he submitted earlier this week. One thing that’s clear is that we need prison reform; we need a lot less people ‘on the other side’, and we need to see how cruel of a system this is, where many people find themselves for petty offenses or for no good reason at all — draining the taxpayers and enriching private companies who provide prison ‘services’. Enceno’s articles are sent handwritten, then typed and edited by a trusted editor who I have known and loved for about 18 years. Comments typed into the response area will be sent directly to Enceno. Thanks for reading and for the warm response he received last time –efc

By Enceno Macy

Some people dream of freedom. I dream of elephants. One of the many amazing and wonderful things about elephants is how in their wisdom they truly care about each other. How could we kill something so majestic and intelligent and caring by commercializing it? Starting with P.T. Barnum the elephant was doomed, and I can’t even blame Barnum, who bought the world’s largest elephant for his Barnum and Bailey circus in 1882.

Phineas Taylor Barnum made millions on the philosophy that there’s a sucker born every minute. He was also a Republican who championed emancipation of slaves and founded one of the first hospitals in Connecticut. Barnum was no saint. He was a jail-bird himself, in fact, but at least he believed in giving good value for the money he conned out of suckers, and the hospital he founded was dedicated to quality medical care. What would he think of Republicans today who refuse to accept a black president and foam at the mouth over health care for all?

He would probably wonder if the care part of health care was as doomed as the elephant.

Without doubt, universal health care would be in the best interest of everyone in the U.S. A government’s priority is supposed to be the safety and well-being of society, and trillions of dollars are spent on military, police, firefighters, and other important agencies to ensure our safety and well-being. But what’s the point of the police or military saving us from murderers or terrorists if we can’t afford our cancer treatment or organ transplant or other life-saving care? Lack of health care kills and maims as surely as murder and terrorism. Yet insurers who profit from denying people medical care have convinced a nation of suckers that universal health care would be creeping socialism and destroy democracy.

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Friends, Cousins, Readers — here is your Full Moon audio. The article below — while a bit esoteric — looks at some of the subtler points of today’s lunar event. If you’re new to this kind of astrology, have a gander. It’s not quite “wear mauve, Gemini plays a role,” but there is some rich information and lots for the imagination. This article looks at some of the nonconventional planets that were closely conjunct this morning’s Full Moon. I explain them one at a time.

Sample of ephemeris listing for the current Full Moon from Serennu.com. To get the planets to appear in this order you have to use the feature "sort by degrees of zodiac," which will put them in the order they appear from Aries to Pisces. There are other sorting methods which are useful for other things.

Tracy, the author of the Serennu Ephemeris, emailed me a minute ago with some late-breaking news, to say that this Full Moon, the one happening now, is conjunct Ceto, Deucalion and Poseidon.

In Greek myth, Ceto was or is a primal sea monster with several other names. He is the child of Gaia and Pontus. Pontus was one of the first-born generation of Greek gods, and early god of the seas. Gaia was his mother.

In planetary science, Ceto is known as (65849) Ceto is considered by most astronomers to be a centaur (in the class of Chiron, eccentric orbit-crossers) though I have seen it listed elsewhere as a trans-Neptunian object. It may be one of those points that defies easy categorization because it meets certain qualifications of both.

Deucalion is a character from a Greek flood myth. One day a long time ago, Zeus was pissed off, so he let loose a deluge, “so that the rivers ran in torrents and the sea flooded the coastal plain, engulfed the foothills with spray, and washed everything clean. Deucalion, with the aid of his father Prometheus, was saved from this deluge by building an ark, like his Biblical equivalent Noah and Mesopotamian counterpart Utnapishtim” (in the words of the Wikipedia editors, if you can believe them). In astrology he is a TNO. In astronomy he is (53311) Deucalion, a trans-Neptunian object with an orbit of about 295 years — a classical Kuiper Belt object. From an old article on the water worlds, I quote my colleague Philip Sedgwick: Deucalion relates to “understanding the flow (tides of life), manifestation ability, magical, resourceful, and seeing the talent in everyone.”

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Scorpio weekly of March 14, 2002

You may find the actions of a close partner or associate to be emotionally confusing or threatening to your security. But why do you think this happens when you start to get what you want, in terms of having your intensity matched by another person? And if you’re being met in what feel like negative ways — for example, by strife instead of by love — do you see any choices you can make to help you move you beyond this condition? Remember, life is made of energy. Energy changes forms, and these changes are usually the result of awareness.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. New horoscopes by Eric are published weekly plus twice a month in Planet Waves Astrology News and Planet Waves Light. The Oracle itself is a divination tool available to subscribers to either of these services.)