Dear Friend and Reader:

SMALL WORLD STORIES is based on the minor planets, that is, recently discovered bodies that have been a mainstay of Planet Waves since the beginning of our work. In this our 10th anniversary edition, we decided it was time to move them to front and center. This took two years; Small World Stories was on the table as one format for last year's annual, but we decided to go with a Galactic Core theme called The Spiral Door. All the while, work on the minor planets persisted.

We have designed Small World Stories to be accessible to everyone, but to help you go as deep into the subject matter as you want to go. Follow the links on the top of the minor planet pages and you will see what I mean. In particular, the "research notes" takes you directly into the world of top-level astrological and astronomical research, taking you directly behind the scenes of this work.

You'll find that the 12-sign horoscopes are directly interpretive and don't make you work too hard, but they offer a nice portion of how to apply the ideas conveyed by the new planets to your life. In the horoscopes, I focus on a few you're probably more familiar with: Chiron, Pluto and Eris, but I also use about five others (including Pholus, Nessus and 1992 QB1). The horoscopes also cover the recent sign change of Saturn (into Virgo), as well as Jupiter (in Capricorn), Mars retrograde (opposing Pluto), eclipses and other events available to all astrologers. Many of the charts are included on the resources pages.

The planet section is where we take the new worlds to a greater depth. This section is based on a behind-the-scenes project called Planet Wiki, which (so far) explores 16 of the new energies, offering delineations and in many cases copious research notes. Why would you bother with this stuff if you're not an astrologer? Well, as a fan of astrology and as a reader of Planet Waves, you may be interested in the perspectives they offer, whether into human nature or the times in which we get to be alive.

These planets are way off the trodden path of mainstream astrology -- that is the point. But they are truly part of our human story, today. That they are ignored, treated as specialty items, sidelined as debatable points or considered too speculative (or too small) to bother with should deter nobody. Astrologers are not exactly scientists, but we need to proceed with the restlessness of science, and something called an open mind. More than that, astrology needs to stop pretending that these planets don't exist. Even if you work with three or five of them, you are at least welcoming the truth that we live in a different solar system than when we were born. And you will be reminded that no matter how good an astrologer you are, you need to push the edge to find out what a chart is trying to say.

With three exceptions, the small worlds covered in this edition were discovered starting in 1992. For this reason, even the few astrologers very experienced in working with them know we are just beginning to get a clue. Other astrologers, those who still remember what it was like not to know what the symbol for Mars meant, are more reluctant to dive in because they know how much work it was getting the gist of the first nine planets, much less the next 16 of them. The delineations will provide, at the least, a useful point of entrance to what they represent, as well as some methods of figuring it out for yourself.

Most people new to this subject will wonder just how we do that. It's a process of two things. One of the two includes using the mythology, the discovery chart, the orbital elements, news references from the era of the discovery, the circumstances of the discovery, and other tangible factors that can be documented and analyzed.

The other is simply experience -- years of experience. Like anything from a chainsaw to a potter's wheel, after a while you get a feel for something you're working with. That is a skill unto itself, but fortunately there's a small group of astrologers that is teaching one another how to do this (I mention my own teachers and collaborators on the credits page).

Finally, how did I select the planets to work with? Well, basically I went for the minimum I felt represented the whole. Except for Ceres, I leave out the asteroids. Those will be included in a second edition. Pluto and Eris, the two most famous minor planets, were obviously necessary. Chiron is also one of the most basic and useful minor planets, and while much work has been done on this I feel that misunderstanding is still pretty pervasive.

I expanded the list from there. From Chiron's group, the Centaurs, I included Pholus, Nessus, Asbolus, Hylonome, Cyllarus and Chariklo. From Pluto's group (the Plutinos) I included just one, Orcus. From Eris's group, there are six inclusions: 1992 QB1, Quaoar, Logos, Varuna and Sedna. Note, some of the articles are more developed than others; all will get the attention they deserve. If these topics interest you, please check in every now and then and watch the articles develop.

When you're reading this stuff, remember -- we're at the beginning here, nowhere even near the middle. But at least we do have a beginning, and a real one. The minor planet pages will be revised many times this year. The most updated version will be in Planet Wiki (directly linked from the top of each of the minor planets pages). The research notes are also under continuous revision, and we welcome your input, ideas, alternative theories, experiences and example charts.

Welcome.

Yours & truly,