Brief update…I just talked to a commercial pilot who said that some big storms can be quite high up; then Cam passed along this excellent analysis by a pilot as well. I have to say while this kind of issue makes me cringe a little bit, it takes nothing away from my love of aviation and my respect for its pioneers and pilots. We who are willing to climb aboard airplanes, no matter how advanced they seem today, are among them.

On an astrology update, one of our readers points out the obvious that I missed, the potential that a 12th Pluto in Cap points to something sinister, despite the perfectly viable storm thesis (outlined in the analysis above). There are other excellent comments below, clarifying my questions about navigation issues. Thanks guys.

Original article follows:

For those wondering or writing in about the chart for Air France 447 from Rio to Paris, I’ve checked the takeoff chart — and like the incident itself, the chart reveals very little on the first few looks. Honoring the traditions of horary astrology I am not delving into asteroids and centaurs; when an event chart speaks, it will speak through the basic planets. With horary we are not looking for psychological details, but rather a clue to the fate of the passengers and the aircraft. Yet the main clues seem to be psychological in nature. And we are distinctly lacking something vis a vis technology.

Flight 447 chart. Click on image to enlarge.

This is not a crash chart; that is impossible to place, because we don’t know whether there was a crash and if so, where it happened. The information we need should be in the takeoff chart, which is cast for just past 7 pm local time yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The closest thing we get to a clue is that Pluto is four degrees from the ascendant, in the 12th house; that is to say, Pluto is rising. Pluto is in the ascendant range (say, within 20 degrees) for about 80 minutes a day; in this chart, it rose about 15 minutes earlier. While I’m not surprised to see that in this chart, it’s not enough to say ‘ill fated’ much less offer a clue as to the nature of the fate itself.

The fact that Mercury stationed direct in Taurus less than one day earlier is also a clue; Mercury retrograde is famous for technical issues that can become increasingly complex if they are over-reacted to. Still, that is not a concrete cause or even sufficient to implicate anything. The Moon in Virgo is in a close, applying trine to Mercury, which is the one thing in this chart that does point to the recent station-direct.

When looking at the nature and cause of death, the 8th house and its ruler are planets well worth checking out; and in this case, we have the first degree of Leo on the cusp, which points to the Gemini Sun. The Sun also rules the 9th, which is the house of aviation. The Sun is placed in the 6th; which suggests that whatever occurred might have been complicated by a health issue in one of the pilots. Given the fact that there were three pilots on board this airplane at the time of the crash, were there a pilot issue involved, it’s unlikely to have been mere disability; the issue would have to be psychological, such as a dispute or power struggle; these things happen, but they are unlikely.

Most of us have taken a trans-Atlantic flight; there is a lot that can go wrong with an aluminum tube 40,000 feet above the ocean traveling at close to the speed of sound. I don’t see any indication that something truly extraordinary happened (such as something Bermuda Triangleish), in case that’s what anyone is thinking. But the questions are still odd. Why for example can I be tracked to 15 feet with the GPS unit in my phone, while a state of the art aircraft is not being followed along by GPS? How come I haven’t heard the term GPS, which was designed for aircraft, mentioned once yet?

It was a strange weekend; the news has been rife with relatively small events that feel like they have profound significance — such as the assassination of a prominent abortion doctor while he was working as an usher in church; a shooting at an Army recruiting station; Susan Boyle coming in second place and checking into a psych ward; then the GM bankruptcy today. Reading your personal accounts below, there has been a lot of pent up energy trying to break itself loose. Mercury is still slow and powerful and is going to take over a week to reach a square to the Aquarius alignment.

Easy does it. Take every opportunity to do less, to rest, to think and to take care of your body. By the time Mercury reaches its square to the conjunction next weekend, you will be happy you did.

Dear Friend and Reader:

As the long-anticipated Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction reaches full strength, we are in the midst of some meaningful short-term astrology: the current Mercury retrograde has reached its midpoint. You can tell this by Mercury’s conjunction to the Sun, which was exact yesterday. This was the interior conjunction, with Mercury coming directly between the Earth and the Sun. Both remain in Taurus; the Sun has about two more days in this sign. Currently the Sun/Mercury conjunction in Taurus is square the triple conjunction in Aquarius. Mercury will be there for a while, and spend all of that time talking to the conjunction; this brings both events into full consciousness and the two processes activate one another.

Mercury is retrograde for about 23 days, three times a year. But there are warm-up and cool down periods before and after that in effect make the phenomenon last about half the time — about eight weeks, three times a year (for a total of about 24 or 25 weeks per year). I consider this a pause time, on making new commitments or major purchases. I also don’t have things repaired during this phase; waiting always proves to be profitable because the problem is not usually what you think it is.

Though I’ve seen such things go strangely under Mercury retrograde (a good reason to avoid signing or buying, or to be ready to have to do it over when the retrograde ends), I use it to help me organize my time; for example, by restricting my purchasing activities to half the year, which in effect saves money. This is in part by buying less, and by purchasing at more appropriate times so the what I do buy has a higher value.

This discussion, however, is worth filing under routine astrology. Mercury is one of those things that you need to be able to navigate like a good driver can get someplace safely when it’s raining. You have to negotiate the same roads under slick conditions, while other people are being careless. So it’s interesting that we have this particular weather leading into the conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune. The conjunction peaks the last week of May, while Mercury is still retrograde, and then after Mercury goes direct, all within days three planets involved in the conjunction turn retrograde at once.

Continue Reading »

Dear Friend and Reader:

I’m going to intrude on the vibe of Beltane with a bit of political truth about our rights and freedoms being eroded in the United States. For those who think Europe is better, the difference where food and supplements are concerned only looks better because no European government in this day and age would order a police raid on a home food coop, as you’re about to read about. But beneath appearances government policies are equally frustrating. In France, for example, it’s illegal to sell flax seed oil. Why? Well, it might go bad. But I believe the dairy industry solved this problem around 1925.

Eric Francis.

I digress a bit. I mentioned Joseph Mercola earlier in the week, an osteopathic doctor who publishes a health newsletter. Today I got this rather disturbing edition about a family that endured a police raid for organizing an organic food coop out of their home.В  The YouTube video is worth watching, though the code on the newsletter page not quite working so you may need to go directly to YouTube to watch it.

Nobody wants to call this tyranny because it’s “too scary” to do so. But we have a little problem because the police are too powerful, there are too many laws, and certain individuals in positions of power know there are unlikely to be consequences if they do anything wrong; who polices the police? Anyone who might (such as the District Attorney) is already their friend.

When I look at the Stowers family and their story of starting a family food co-cop, I think of this as being the agrarian spirit of my country, and of my European foremothers and forefathers. And when the journalist in me runs through the hundreds of ways that a local municipality could intervene, I could fill pages without even referring to the policy regulations.

Now, you may think this could never happen to you. You may think it’s ridiculous to think that this will happen to you for using organic shampoo. That may not be the issue; it may end up getting thrown in jail for a tail light bulb going out. I am pretty sure something like this happens to everyone at least once, only to a greater or lesser degree. And I don’t mean for smoking a joint. We all know when and when not to do that. I am talking about for minding one’s own business.

Here is the contact page for the Lorain County, Ohio (home of Oberlin College) Sheriff. I just called and said I was aware of the issue. I plan to get the street address and mail them a copy of the Constitution. Please spread the word. Posting it to the cover of Planet Waves seemed the least I could do.

I am up early on my last night in Madison, for now – and Priya Kale sent this with a one line note, “You will appreciate this.” It is a conversation with Osho on the subject of marriage and children. Incidentally, Priya grew up near Pune, where the original Osho ashram was. Here, we get a glimpse of why he was such a controversial figure.

Friends, Romans, Readers:

We’re in the last few days before the New Moon, which is to say — in the extreme waning phase. This is a seed moment and also one of completion. With a little practice it’s possible to work both at once during these last few days of the lunar cycle. Today the Moon is making its way through the final degrees of Pisces, and as of this writing is about to form a conjunction to the Venus/Mars conjunction in the last degree of Pisces.

Then both the Moon and Mars ingress Aries and conjoin the Aries Point. This is one of those moments where the momentum of change is gathering, even though the Moon happens to be waning…this particular waning cycle is the seed of a moment of renewal.

We can see this signaled in another set of conjunctions (not only Venus to Mars, but the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune working out all year, and peaking now). One last one to add to the mix is that for the next 24 hours, the Sun will be crossing over the degree where Chiron was discovered, nearly 32 years ago in early Taurus.

True that today the Moon will square Pluto, and then Mars will do so and finally Venus — which is suggesting that this is a time to keep a clear inner focus. The world may not feel like a party (but you never know, if you’re only following the astrology there are a lot of reasons to live it up). These internal aspects remind us where our focus needs to be, so that we can stay clear about who we are and what we want and let that sense of clarity radiate outward into the world.

The Taurus New Moon is Friday at 11:22 pm ET.

I will say again that these are special times; unusual in their potential, as new realms of awareness open up for us. I am seeing this as a vast collective psychic meeting place, as indicated by the perfect fusion of Aquarius and Pisces — and today with Aries coming into the picture, sparking up the initiative necessary to make anything happen; you know, the cosmic ignition key: Mars on the Aries Point. If you are available for something in particular, signal that availability. You know: open heart, third eye.

Keep your mind on what is positive and on what you want to create. We are in a manifestation vortex to rival the Hall of Records in the Great Pyramid at Giza.

Love & lovingly,

Dear Friend and Reader:

It’s confirmed — the Bush administration approved and conducted torture to extract information from prisoners during the “War on Terror.” The methods violated international and American law, and were widely considered illegal by everyone except the administration and it’s legal advisory. This week, by his own volition (i.e., not forced to by a court), President Obama released memos from 2005 detailing the intimate justifications for torture between high ranking legal professionals and administration officials.

According to these people, the United States is able to hold other countries to standards that it does not have to follow…

Steve Bergstein is Planet Waves’ civil rights columnist. In two parts, he spells out how torture demeans us, undermines the integrity of the rule of law and where we’re to go from here. He writes:

One of the highest ranking government lawyers, Steven Bradbury, who ran the prestigious Office of Legal Counsel (which advises the president on legal issues) baldly stated that “we recognize that as a matter of diplomacy, the United States may for various reasons in various circumstances call another nation to account for practices that may in some respects resemble conduct in which the United States might in some circumstances engage, covertly or otherwise. Diplomatic relations with regard to foreign countries are not reliable evidence of United States executive practices and may be of only limited relevance here.”

Check out this column at Psychsound.

Cam Hassard
Assistant Editor

…that I did not ask in today’s edition involves intimacy. I’ve noticed that we have a false sense of intimacy with “God” because the government is archiving our emails and shopping lists.

Yet what about this idea that the more details you offer about yourself, the closer you are to people? This might make an interesting game of International Trivial Pursuit were there not such widespread panic about something unexpected happening; in other words, were it not a psychic corner we’ve painted ourselves into with this mix of technology and obsession over presumed safety.

One thing about the technosphere is that it’s all-but-entirely predictable. It’s one of those Aquarian models of pattern establishment that, within very narrow parameters, basically stays the same. The whole environment is set up on an acceleration and complexity curve — the speed always increases, the files get heavier, the games grow more complex. That’s a form of change, but it, too, is predictable because it exists within parameters.

The environment is specifically “safe” because nothing out of the ordinary can occur, such as when you actually meet someone. I have found this particular phobia (“What? We might meet?”) to be halfway between frustrating and (in my demented hobby sociologist way) amusing. There is always the implied notion, “You could be a ____” [reach into your 12th house and fill in the blank: serial killer, Tantric master, loser, someone offering me what I really want, already married, too good for me, etc.].

Speaking of meeting — I have a notion to get out of Kingston tonight and head down to the city — probably the Village — to find something new to do and take some street photos. If you’re in that neighborhood or if you can get there, and you would like to…meet in person…you’re invited to drop me a note. My cellphone has gone missing, so it’s dreams – at – planetwaves.net.

Stay tuned in a little while for Fe Bongolan’s “Fe 911″ piece on the forthcoming tax revolt.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Up Close & Personal. Photo by Eric Francis.

I’ve long avoided using Facebook and Twitter, but tonight my friend Savas was sitting at my desk with his cattle prod, and well, it’s time to send this note. His job is to get me to experiment…so for once, I’m following orders.

Would you please join our Facebook group? Here is the link, where you can click “join group.”

And here is where you can follow Planet Waves on Twitter and get tweeted. I’ll be sure to start with summing up Venus retrograde in Aries in 140 characters.

I’ll post something interesting daily or close to it, and let you and your friends know what we’re up to…let’s see how our experiment works. Many thanks for helping us weave the web.

Yours & truly,

PS: Here is my personal page on LinkedIn, and in case you’re so inclined, here is my page on Model Mayhem.

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) said Monday that it had acquired its first Eric Francis photograph, “Sacred Union.”

"Sacred Union" by Eric Francis was purchased from Mr. Francis and donated to the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection last month. Click image to enlarge.

British ski mogul Butley Waterfield III purchased the piece from Mr. Francis in early 2009 for $3.1 million, and donated it to the museum’s permanent collection last week. A spokesman for Mr. Waterfield had no comment. But the spokesman’s spokesman said, “You’re not going to hang up anything like this in England, not even at the Tate Modern, so everyone figured it would be better off in New York.”

“We don’t really understand it,” said MOMA’s photography curator, Wilma Bernstein. “However, our committee decided that it seems to be making an important comment. This is precisely the criteria we are looking for in our permanent photography collection.”

“We think it’s a reference to Hitchcock,” said Anna Sofai, a professor of photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Photographer Gregory Crewdson, who graduated one year ahead of Mr. Francis from John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, described the photo as where “Hieronymus Bosch meets Betty Dodson.”

“He is definitely making a statement about society. Many people feel this way, but they don’t have the words for it. I hope they hang this thing somewhere that people can actually see it.

“But he should really print it with us,” Crewdson added. “We could get it bigger than 600 pixels wide.”

“It seems more postmodern than modern,” said Richard Tarnas, author of Cosmos & Psyche. “But it also reflects the profound cultural tension associated with the Saturn-Uranus opposition.”