Kingston, NY, Feb. 21, 2008
Dear Friend and Reader:

Back in November, we published for our subscribers a rundown of the astrological/astronomical events of winter. We reached the peak of those events over the past three days, with Mercury stationing direct, the Sun entering Pisces, and then a total eclipse of the Moon in Virgo last night (that is covered in greater detail in yesterday's edition). Take a look at that rundown -- it's the second article down; you will be impressed with what we've all lived through these past three months.

Astrology never stops, of course. Sometimes the biggest and/or most challenging developments follow these potent clusters of events; the truth is, as individuals and as a society, we need a lot more change than we are allowing ourselves. As an astrologer, part of my job is to make the changes seem meaningful, appealing, and necessary, and to point out the benefits.

We earthlings have an odd relationship to change. We love it, and we hate it. We want the benefits and not the work. Having built society to a kind of pinnacle, and having depleted the human realm about as far as it's going to go before we asphyxiate on lack of human contact, we are basically stuck. Any significant change we make seems to require a collapse of some kind. For example, our prosperity and values have allowed most of us to go into debt. If we wake up in the middle of debt, deciding we want to do something else with our lives, we risk not being able to pay the bills of the past. We risk a kind of collapse.

It' funny, student loans and credit cards and "careers" are sold to us as necessities, usually without alternatives. Anyone who sees an alternative usually gets scorched by friends and relatives for not being sensible. Alternative means alternative vision for who you are. Many people know they don't fit the cookie cutter, but few have the strength to break free. Then as often happens, we build on and around these not-so-true ideas about ourselves. If we reach that point where we want to actually live, not just do this routine, it can seem like any change at all -- to a relationship, to a job, to one's location on the planet -- pulls down the card house. But this is the same illusion as the first time around.

Astrology helps us measure time, change and progress. It will inform us of the little doses of advancement and destruction that come with planetary movements. It gives us a way to start the discussion about who we really are. The world turns, the planets orbit the Sun, time moves on, and astrology helps us see our lives in perspective; we get the chance to make our changes incrementally, in a more humane way toward ourselves and to others around us.

Planet Waves is here for just this discussion. We have the ideas, the philosophy, the astrology and lots of things you can't talk about or read about anywhere else. Sign up today.