The 2012 Annual -- The Most Important Year of your Life

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Dear Friend and Reader:

This is a special edition of Planet Waves FM that is devoted to the top five events of 2012 — a year, and indeed a phase of history like nothing we’ve ever experienced. This audio series an introduction to the 2012 annul edition of Planet Waves, which provides detailed readings for each of the 12 signs — Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. It is on sale to subscribers only at this point — and has become a runaway bestseller.

In this year’s annual, the first topic I cover is Uranus square Pluto, an aspect we’ve been writing about constantly at Planet Waves. That’s the miraculous astrology that has resulted in Arab Spring, the uprisings in Wisconsin and Ohio and finally the worldwide Occupy movement. Just how is it possible that the world seemed lazy, apathetic and ready to let anyone do anything to us, and then suddenly We, the People were rising up and not taking any bullshit? The answer can be found in astrology; Uranus-Pluto aspects are the most revolutionary of them all, and we get to live through one new through 2015. In this segment I explain the aspect and its basic energy, and describe some of the most personal manifestations it may have for you.

If you’re not a subscriber, you will see information in this space offering Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. on a per-sign basis; subscribers can currently purchase all 12 signs at a special discount. To get that, all you need to do is sign up for any subscription at all — recurring, three months, six months or a year. You can do that here, first option, top left. Remember — the annual reading is NOT included in a subscription, but being a subscriber entitles you to a substantial discount that will pay for the subscription.

Enjoy the recording — your comments are welcome below.

Lovingly,

Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc

By Sarah Taylor

Today, I’m inviting you to work with an archetype from the tarot deck.

Ace of Wands from the Camoin-Jodorowsky Tarot, a restored version of the Marseille Tarot.

This might bring up a few questions along the lines of ‘What is an archetype?’, ‘Where do archetypes fit with the tarot?’, ‘Why would I want to work with an archetype, and how?’ — all valuable things to ask, and all of which I’ll be addressing in this article. Or, I’ll be addressing them as much as I can. You see, on our evolutionary journey through life, archetypes walk hand-in-hand with the unconscious: Both can only be known in part, and indirectly through our own specific filters. Clear as mud? Let me try to explain.

In an article in the Journal of Analytical Psychology, Timothy Chouinard (1970) describes an archetype in this way:

“[An] archetype is not a specific content unless realized consciously; it is otherwise a pure form — unspecifiable of its very nature. … [And he goes on to quote Jung:]

‘The symbols it [i.e. the collective unconscious] creates are always grounded in the unconscious archetype, but their manifest forms are moulded by the ideas acquired by the conscious mind. The archetypes are the numinous, structural elements of the psyche and possess a certain autonomy and specific energy which enables them to attract, out of the conscious mind, those contents which are best suited to themselves. The symbols act as transformers, their functions being to convert libido from a “lower” to a “higher” form. This function is so important that feeling accords it the highest values. The symbol works by suggestion; that is to say, it carries conviction and at the same time expresses the content of that conviction.’ [Jung (1956)]

“… So we can never experience an archetype first-hand; it must always be consciously filtered — or in-formed — through some sort of symbol.”

In other words, archetypes are:

• A blueprint for a feeling, behaviour, state of being
• Universally recognisable, transcending gender, culture, race, religion, region
• Pure potential until we ourselves bring meaning to them; they ask for meaning through us, we derive greater meaningfulness through them

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Some 1,000 police officers raided the Occupy Los Angeles encampment in a park outside City Hall over night, arresting scores of people and evicting what has been the largest Occupy camp in the country. Meanwhile Occupy Philadelphia protesters vacated their encampment this morning after more than a thousand police moved in and warned them of mass arrests. Democracy Now! has eyewitness updates on both raids from National Lawyers Guild legal observer Ken Montenegro in Los Angleles and Occupy organizer and activist Jeff Rousset in Philadelphia.

One of the most disturbing details I heard in this broadcast was the use of horses to charge a group of peaceful protesters in in Philadelphia in the same way bicycles have been used elsewhere. One woman was in fact trampled, and is in the hospital. Quite frankly, I consider this to be a disgusting and cruel use of an animal — to cause it to harm someone it would not normally. -amanda
(Rush transcript was not yet available at the time of this posting.)

Sacred and Profane festival, Battery Steele, Peaks Island, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Here is the new edition of Planet Waves FM

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Today is Wednesday, November 30, 2011. The Moon continues through Aquarius all day, working into a conjunction with Neptune early Friday morning.

An Aquarius Moon offers some potential perspective on what could otherwise be overwhelming events in our lives these days. The same sky that may be lending one person an exhilarating sense of potential and adventure may be suffusing another person’s experience with a sense of chaos and pressure to exceed their capabilities. What we have going on is Mercury retrograding back into another conjunction with the centaur planets Pholus and Hylonome in mid-Sagittarius. The first similar conjunction occurred a couple weeks ago, while everything was more closely aligned with the Great Attractor. Planet Waves covered this in an article called The Chaos Generator [premium content, offered today to all readers].

One of the ways we are seeing this setup manifest is in the perhaps-surprising power of ideas — specifically, we can see it in action with the official responses to the Occupy movement. Pundits, celebrities and political leaders are lining up on one side or the other (most celebrities are polarized in support of the 99%, political leaders seem not to want to alienate it, pundits line up by network leaning). Given the influence of the planets involved, particularly Mercury picking up everything like a satellite dish connected directly to your mind, this will be palpable astrology. It could manifest as a passing thought finding a foothold and growing. Whether it becomes an inspiration or an albatross, a doorway to action or a blockade to understanding, is another question.

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Cancer weekly for April 20, 2007.

Enjoy the tension while it lasts. An odd thing to suggest, perhaps, given the not-entirely-pleasant meeting of energies that is basically keeping you awake and alert and making decisions, but you must admit it’s useful for those purposes. Anything you see outside you is the dramatization of an experience within, and if you will merely acknowledge that, you will take away the power it seems to hold over you. Okay, but what has this got to do with enjoyment? Well, to work with this situation effectively is a stretch, and it will push you to be creative, and that will have benefits. They have the potential to be extremely pleasant.

Note, The Oracle is a random selection from the Eric Francis horoscope archives. Each day we publish one entry from among the 10,000 in our database. It’s a little slice of horoscope history — but chosen by our Oracle program, which always speaks to the present moment. New horoscopes are published each Friday plus twice a month in Planet Waves subscriber edition and Planet Waves Light. And for your annual reading, check out Light Bridge.

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This is the new (regular) edition of Planet Waves FM. In the first half, I cover the current astrology: Mercury retrograde, the approaching lunar eclipse, and Venus conjunct Pluto — the aspect of lust. In the second half of the program, I discuss some issues involving the Occupy movement, relaying some information I received from C.T. Butler, a previous guest on Planet Waves.

The Guardian UK reports:

At 9:40 am EST, dozens of Iranian protesters have forced their way into the British embassy in Tehran, tearing down the Union flag and throwing documents from the windows.

Photo By Raheb Homavandi/Reuters.

The attack came two days after the Iranian parliament voted to expel the British ambassador, Dominick Chilcott, in retaliation against economic sanctions imposed by the west over the country’s disputed nuclear programme. The Foreign Office said it was “outraged” at the events and that they were “utterly unacceptable.”

Fars news agency reported on Tuesday that a small group of students chanting “death to England” had replaced the British flag with the Iranian Flag. British and Israeli flags were also reported to have been burnt during the protests. Another semi-official news agency, Ilna, said the protesters had “conquered” the embassy. The episode was shown live on state-run Press TV.

Around a thousand protesters gathered on the street in front of the embassy, waving pictures of the Iranian nuclear scientist, Majid Shahdirari, who was assassinated last November in Tehran. Others held pictures of another assassinated Iranian scientist, Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, and a senior commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Suleimani, who is said to be in charge of the group’s overseas operations.

State TV reported that another group of hardline students gathered at the gate of the British ambassador’s residence in northern Tehran, at the same time.

This event is taking place during a Mercury retrograde within the Sagittarius-Gemini eclipse window, which should at least give you pause to discern what is really happening, if it’s happening, and what IS it that’s truly happening — as should most any news story involving the trifecta of the US, the UK and Tehran. Despite the history of tense relations between the US and Iran, today’s situation gives me neither fear or alarm. Call it intuition, or call it years of being fed bullshit about our intentions in the Middle East, my eyes and ears are yet to believe what I’m seeing and hearing. Anyone want to take a guess as to what is occurring behind the scenes? — fb

Open quotes:

The essence of the democratic surge of the 1960s was a general challenge to existing systems of authority, public and private. In one form or another, this challenge manifested itself in the family, the university, business, public and private associations, politics, the governmental bureaucracy, and the military services. People no longer felt the same compulsion to obey those whom they had previously considered – superior to themselves in age, rank, status, expertise, character, or talents. Within most organizations, discipline eased and differences in status became blurred.

Each group claimed its right to participate equally—and perhaps more than equally—in the decisions which affected itself. More precisely, in American society, authority had been commonly based on: organizational position, economic wealth, specialized expertise, legal competence, or electoral representativeness. Authority based on hierarchy, expertise, and wealth all, obviously, ran counter to the democratic and egalitarian temper of the times, and during the 1960s, all three came under heavy attack. In the university, students who lacked expertise, came to participate in the decision-making process on many important issues.

In the government, organizational hierarchy weakened, and organizational subordinates more readily acted to ignore, to criticize, or to defeat the wishes of their organizational superiors. In politics generally, the authority of wealth was challenged and successful efforts made to introduce reforms to expose and to limit its influence. Authority derived from legal and electoral sources did not necessarily run counter to the spirit of the times, but when it did, it too was challenged and restricted. The commandments of judges and the actions of legislatures were legitimate to the extent that they promoted, as they often did, egalitarian and participatory goals.

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Dear Friend and Sagittarian:

I’ve just finished your Sagittarius birthday report and tarot reading. Sagittarius is encoded with a sense of cosmic mystery, and as I’ve written in many recent articles, there is a lot going on in your sign right now. I’ve broken this reading down into two parts: the first is about relationships and the second is about career and creativity — though the two are closely related.

Whiskey and Owen. Photo by Beki Herrbach.

The current Mercury retrograde and the upcoming lunar eclipse in Gemini will offer you the experience of relating to people you wouldn’t normally relate to. Think of this astrology as taking you on an introspective journey where you are able to make real contact and truly experience the “other” within yourself.

Your birthday report includes an hour of astrology that covers some of the more meaningful astrological influences that will bring you through to your next birthday, including the partial solar eclipse that occurred over the weekend and Mercury retrograde in your sign over the next few weeks.

My birthday readings all come with a tarot session, using the Voyager tarot by James Wanless. I include a 20-minute tarot reading (many people’s favorite part of my birthday products), which looks at your life using a tool that speaks in pictures. A photo of the spread is included, as are some supplemental articles.

The whole package is just $14.95 — priced to be affordable. It’s posted to a permanent link which you can play as many times as you like, or download into iTunes. I include the chart and the tarot spread for reference.

Lovingly,

Photo by Eric Francis - Book of Blue, New York. The model is Onyx.

Today is Tuesday, November 29, 2011. The Moon moves into Aquarius just after 2 am EST. This is a mental and detached placement for the Moon. This benefits those who need a little distance on their feelings, but most are distant enough.

That said, the sky’s emphasis is still on Sagittarius and Capricorn — and the aspects being made that involve those signs. One of the most prominent developments is Venus newly in Capricorn, which brings Venus into the Uranus-Pluto square. Venus first made a square to Uranus in Aries, and then makes a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn on Thursday, so it becomes a focal point of how the square is expressed in the physical world.

This aspect structure is bringing to our attention questions regarding the power of change (Uranus and Pluto) versus the power of tradition (Capricorn), freedom versus intimacy, and the strange devaluing of intelligence in today’s world — and where that leaves intelligent, self-directed women (Venus in Capricorn). Venus can also represent deeply held values, and so on some level potentially represents everyone.

We often refer to the Uranus-Pluto square as being a single, unified force pushing for change right now. But it may be helpful to break it down a little, in terms of how Venus is interacting with these planets. True, Uranus and Pluto are only about six degrees from an exact square, but that means that technically Venus engages first with Uranus (square), and then with Pluto (conjunction). Uranus is the part of the revolutionary aspect that shouts, “Oh, something new! I want something new!” It points out the need, or it provides an idea, but that itself does not necessarily lead to lasting change. Pluto acts as the enforcer. It says, “I really have to change to do this new thing.” Pluto calls for nothing less than full commitment and the necessary evolution that true commitment brings.

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