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“A belief is only a thought you continue to think; and when your beliefs match your desires, then your desires must become your reality.” — Abraham

Dear Planet Waves Reader:

Pisces, as the last sign of the zodiac, represents the primal waters to which thought, action and memory return — and from which they emerge. Seawater contains traces of nearly every element, from oxygen to iron to gold. The history of humanity is contained in the world’s oceans, as rivers course through canyons and cities and carry everything to the shore. Those things carried include the trace contaminants and drugs that have been created during our current age of industry, and which inevitably find their way into the sea — which we then dip into as the supposedly eternal source of food. Meanwhile, scientists have reported a ‘water memory’ phenomenon, where water retains the properties of what it once held, and responds to everything from thought to prayer to microwaves.

Photo by Bev Dulis.

In calendar year 2011, we will learn a lot about Pisces. You can think of the most watery water sign as the universal recipient. It’s the cosmic realm that contains every element, and is the place where the story of humanity collects from moment to moment. The ocean refuses no river.

Pisces is about to receive two new planets, which will shape our experience of life and be reflected in changes in the world we know. One is Chiron, which made a brief visit in 2010. On Feb. 8, Chiron will return to Pisces, where it will stay until it begins its process of entering Aries in 2018. Chiron, which has a wildly elliptical orbit, is currently moving at close to its slowest speed through the signs (eight and nine years in Pisces and Aries respectively); at the other end of the dial, in Virgo and Libra (where it was in the mid-1990s) Chiron sails through a sign in 18 months — faster than Saturn moves through a sign (which takes about 30 months). So currently we have Chiron in its incarnation as an outer planet, slow and powerful. I have many reasons to believe this transit will take center stage, even amidst the truly momentous changes portended in the transits of 2011.

Wherever it may be, Chiron focuses attention, and the oceans (signified by Pisces) need attention. So too does the vast interior of human consciousness represented by Pisces. This last sign of the zodiac works for all of us as a source of creativity, emotional contact and escape from the hard-edged world of the ego. If not for Pisces, there would not be music or art, and sex would not be the same. We would not recognize the subtle shades of our emotions. Yet we tend to pollute this realm with everything from mind-bending psychotropic drugs to contact with 5,000 advertisements a day.

Melanie Reinhart says of this sign, “Forms disintegrate, the past is dissolved and our separateness is relinquished.” These are processes that extend over time, rather than sudden shifts. Chiron focuses energy and accelerates any movement already underway, instigating its knack for healing first by raising our awareness — or attempting to do so. With Chiron in Pisces (the sign of the hidden dimension), we will see what we’ve been missing.

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Libra monthly of Feb. 1, 2004

If I may put on my newspaper horoscope writer hat for a moment, get out to parties this month and wear bright colors, in the yellow to orange range, possibly a little rust, but vibrant. Stay visible and keep your mental vibe clear and alert. Remember that every public event is a meeting place of society and hence a place where you personally encounter society. The veil between the general population and your immediate circle of friends is being lifted for a good long moment, and certain new people who come into your life are ready made for artistic and amorous adventure. Please, though, remember to be discerning. Not suspicious, just aware of motives and motivations, and most important, aware of who people actually are in both the resume sense, and the spiritual sense.

(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.)

Preveiw of Friday's edition of Planet Waves by Eric Francis.

Friday’s edition of Planet Waves includes the January horoscope, which is an extended edition — and an article describing some of the biggest developments of 2011. This edition is being posted to all readers, available now. It’s the preview of Light Bridge, the 2011 annual edition of Planet Waves. You can learn more about Light Bridge at this link.

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by Amanda Painter

On Democracy Now! two days ago, I was struck by Amy Goodman’s summary of 2010 in terms of ‘extreme weather’ (as well as the mainstream media’s refusal to make the connection to climate change, in an interview with Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School). In fact, I almost can’t believe how many natural disasters got packed into 2010, keeping the Planet Waves team on its toes. All the activity is testament, I suppose, to an untenable confluence of intense astrology (cardinal grand cross/Aries Point activity and more) and the cumulative demands human development has placed on our home planet over the decades.

We’re about two weeks away from the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti — an event Eric covered in real time here on the blog as well as in a subscriber issue. Just over a month later, an even larger quake rocked Chile, though thankfully with a lower degree of catastrophe.

And then a couple months after that, Gaia decided to shift gears to ‘expulsion mode’, with an Icelandic volcano spewing enough volcanic ash to halt European air travel for days (also here).

In late summer, Fe Bongolan began connecting the climate-change-and-media dots on this very issue with her post titled “Ohh, the water” in August. She mentions the rampant forest fires in Russia and the other disasters that marked the first half of 2010, but the article’s primary focus the massive flooding in Pakistan. She writes:

Yet it’s so odd that there isn’t the same media circus we’ve come to expect of our disaster coverage for this disaster. Is it because a flood is not as instantaneous a disaster as a volcano that disrupts international airspace or the flattening of a country by massive earthquake? Is it because we’ve reached the limit of so many disasters in one year that we’re feeling relief fatigue?

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Note to Readers: This is a summary of SUNY New Paltz PCB and dioxin incident. While focused on the local issue, it has many implications for dioxin policy in total. It will be of particular interest to students or former students of SUNY New Paltz. One original of this letter to New York State Assemblyman Kevin Cahill is posted as a static page, and another is here. My intention is to provide a resource for people searching for information about the New Paltz incident, as well as to keep Mr. Cahill’s name associated with the issue. More information is at a website called Dioxin Dorms.–efc

Eric Francis Coppolino
Investigative Journalist
PO Box 3606 | Kingston NY 12402

VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS

May 5, 1993

THE HON. KEVIN CAHILL
Member of the New York State Assembly
Committee on Higher Education
Legislative Office Building Room 625
Albany, New York 12247

DEAR MR. CAHILL:

When we met to discuss the SUNY New Paltz PCB, dioxin and dibenzofuran situation on Jan. 29, 1993, we agreed that I would express my questions to you in writing and that you would do your best to seek out satisfactory answers. Our initial communication, at which I presented you with a collection of published materials on the subject and provided an approximately one hour briefing on facts and questions uncovered through my reporting, was conducted at the suggestion of Edward C. Sullivan, chair of the NYS Assembly Committee on Higher Education. Mr. Sullivan said that as a member of the Higher Ed. Committee and as the representative of the legislative district which includes the college, you would be the appropriate initial person with whom to communicate on the issue.

During the sixteen months I have been covering this $25 million (and still counting) [Note: the final cost of the cleanup exceeded $50 million. -ef] cleanup project, my work has expanded beyond New Paltz and now encompasses reporting on the more than 50-year history of the dangers of polychlorinated biphenyl chemicals and PCB-containing equipment. This history includes an apparent pattern of concealment by PCB manufacturers, who have also allegedly made misleading and outright false statements to the federal government, the public, their workers and, most pertinent to this situation, their customers. The denial of reality by the manufacturers continues to the present day — in March, for example, a Westinghouse spokesperson assured me that “PCB transformers cannot explode,” period. The transformers formerly located in Bliss and Gage residence halls on the New Paltz campus, both of which were manufactured by Westinghouse, exploded Dec. 29, 1991. Given this history of concealment — of which New York State is no doubt a victim — there is no level of misinformation on the issue that would surprise me.

Indeed, my own ignorance about the issues at the time of the 1991 incidents has taken some effort to transcend. Since that time, my research has been facilitated by a considerable number of individuals, including scientists, medical doctors, authors, journalists, environmental attorneys, toxicologists, engineers, professors and other specialists in various disciplines related to the issue. They have provided instruction and a great deal of reading material, including scientific studies, books, articles, primary source documents and other literature, of which I have done my best to gain a genuine understanding. The questions that follow are based on a synthesis of information I have gathered through this research, as well as the examination of state documents and other investigation into the New Paltz PCB fires and explosions.

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By Len Wallick

Since this is your curmudgeon correspondent’s final blog of 2010, some expressions of gratitude are in order.

Profound and astonished thanks to Eric who plucked yours truly out of the back pew and put him in the choir without an audition or background check. Still don’t know what you were thinking, dude. May it come to pass that Karma reward you in proportion to your audacious, unaccountable decision. Thank you as well for your daily example of integrity, maturity, compassion and responsibility.

A huge debt of thanks also goes out to Fe Bongolan and Amanda Painter, my intellectual and creative superiors, for so kindly acquiescing to edit the mundane musings of (let’s face it, folks) a functional illiterate without portfolio, diploma or degree. Their gracious and patient support helped provide the readers of Planet Waves with something readable. Fe and Amanda, you have helped me to improve. Still trying to figure out how to return the favor.

Anatoly, thank you for providing the magic carpet and for the underlying presence of a true giant among men. Judith, Sarah, Carol, and other author-contributors, thank you for your inspiring words and for exquisite writing styles to aspire to. There are, for sure, others who have served me without introduction and my thanks go to them as well. To Tracy Delaney, Kirsti Melto and other great astrologers, thank you for showing how it’s done. Perhaps one shall eventually learn from your example.

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Scorpio daily of Aug. 9, 2005

The truth is you have more meaningful things to think about than conflict. This was not always so but thankfully life on Earth offers many opportunities for maturity. It may seem that your current goals exceed your ability to feel safe and secure within yourself. It’s clear enough that you’re stretching your potential including your emotional strength and your ability to believe in yourself when you have few tangible reasons to do so. This is easy enough but not when one’s mind is involved in a cycle of attack and revenge; in sum conflict undermines faith in ourselves. Just remember that if somebody pisses you off.

(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.)