Dear Friend and Reader:

NO MATTER WHO is declared president in the wake of the election or the "election" of 2008, Tuesday, Nov. 4 begins a new era in history. It's rare that a major planetary alignment coincides so directly with a global historical event, but occasionally it happens. Today, the 2nd and 3rd largest planets, Saturn and Uranus, oppose one another exactly for the first time since the tumultuous year 1968.

Sunrise in the path of an annular eclipse, Valencia, Spain, 2006. Photo by Eric Francis.

When Saturn opposes an outer planet, something happens, the world changes -- and it's not always pretty. The three outer planets (I'm referring to the pre-Eris, traditional outer planets, also called the modern planets: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are fairly close together now. Pluto is in late Sagittarius, on the brink of Capricorn; Neptune is in mid-Aquarius; Uranus is in mid-to-late Pisces.

Saturn (which orbits our Sun more than double the speed of the quickest of the three above) moves through a sign in about two years and three to six months. So lately, it's been opposing an outer planet every few years. This pattern is unusual, and not coincidentally, we live in an unusual time of history: unpredictable, unstable, strange -- and we need to learn how to have more fun.

Saturn opposite Pluto occurred between the summer of 2001 and the spring of 2002. We all know that story: a false flag terrorist attack, a war and the setup for a second war -- but really a new era of global history commencing at the peak of Pluto in Sagittarius.

Saturn opposite Neptune happened in the summer of 2006, and the first half of 2007, coinciding directly with hurricanes Rita and Katrina. But it has an extremely wide orb -- all Neptune aspects do -- and I count its effects as going back to the tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004 (just weeks after Bush was re-selected).

Now we are in a new phase that begins today, Saturn opposite Uranus. These two starkly contrasting planets (which usually are held to represent the past vs. the future, tradition vs. innovation, government vs. revolution, and so on) will oppose one another five times between today and 2010. This occurs as Pluto makes its way across early Capricorn -- and then Uranus and Pluto meet at a 90 degree aspect. And that aspect, even as it's developing now, will make the Sixties (to those of us who remember and those of us who read the book), feel like a walk in the park.

There are interesting times ahead, cousins, and they start today.

Here is your Inner Space horoscope for November 2008.

For the Planet Waves team, this is

 
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Life always seems to present a paradox between the possibilities of the imagination and the limits presented by material reality. Have you ever considered that the opposite is true? Looked at another way, our imaginations are rather desperately lacking in energy, and the material world presents them with nothing but opportunities. Not everyone views life this way. You need to decide what is true for you. In fact, I suggest you start by deciding which you want to be true for you. Your imagination is on fire, and there are factors developing in your chart, long in the making, which suggest that physical reality is more like clay you can work with and less like a wall you are facing.
 

Sunset through screen. Photo by Danielle Voirin.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
You seem uncertain about what another person is thinking or feeling. If so, why don't you ask? There would seem to be a few good reasons, one of them being that you know that the information you hear could change you. You might be called out of a concept of yourself that you seem to be attached to, even if it doesn't serve you. But no self-concept is actually convenient if it denies the reality that another person is experiencing. In other words, self-concept doesn't end with yourself; to be functional, it needs to embrace your environment, and that means the people around you.
 
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
These days of your life mark the end of an era: Pluto is now leaving your opposite sign, Sagittarius, and entering your 8th solar house, Capricorn. Pluto was in Sagittarius for about 12 years; depending on your date of birth, there were several key peaks of energy (two come to mind), resulting in some of the most profound changes of your life. Pluto's move to the 8th house means that you are taking the energy of Pluto in a less direct way, but one that still calls for your full attention. If the past 12 years have taught you independence, this next phase is about interdependence: mastering the art of negotiating mutual needs and recognizing the power that these give us over one another.
 
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Consider carefully how your relationships have gone this year. Remember what situations have arisen, and how you handled them. You are entering an extended phase -- extended, meaning till the mid-2020s -- when you will be exploring the impact that people have on your life. You have many ideas about 'autonomy', and what is a relationship and what does not count. I am here to introduce another idea: mutually independent relationship. That is, relationship in the context of people mutually supporting one another as individuals. For this to happen, all of the people involved in any given scenario need to want it. Intentions are good; desire is better. One paradox is that we can never be 'independent' without the conscious support of others. Don't take that support for granted.
 
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
You're heading for a moment where you get to feel what you've been missing. This will provide some evidence that you need to observe things from three different angles or you don't really see them at all. You'll also get a clue about how you tend to look at things from the perspective of the past -- a perspective that you are rapidly letting go of these days. The thing about taking a futuristic angle is that you need to envision it, and that means a process of trial and error. In other words, you may envision a change that you want to make in your life, and then it happens -- and you got it wrong; you wanted something else, or didn't fully align with your deepest level of reality in making the choice. The good news is that the process of manifestation worked; now you just need to refine your imagination.
 

Under tolbiac. Photo by Danielle Voirin.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
You cannot control everything, and neither can everything control you. You are about to learn something about finding the balance between politics and pleasure; between bureaucracy and art; between stagnating and exploring; between fear and emotional freedom. The distinctions between these dichotomies are too often missed, but they are now coming into high contrast. You will see them less in terms of the choices you have, and more in terms of the way you approach those choices. Unless you work in a chicken factory, there is a boring way to do everything, and an interesting way to do it. One way to tell the difference is that the interesting way will make you nervous. You don't like being nervous, but I suggest you hold out for a while.
 
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
You like to keep things in equilibrium. That is the theme of Libra. You are, however, embarking on an extended phase of disrupting your emotional structure and sense of balance. I think what you're poised to discover is the way that seeking stability above all else has kept you unfree. This has more to do with the way you structure your emotions than anything. You tend to sort your life into neat compartments, and you also tend to put things into rooms that you lock and then forget where you put the key. You are entering an extended phase of your life that involves rearranging your boundaries, and step one is removing a great many of them. This is likely to be distressing at times, because you're probably afraid to feel so exposed. But as George Harrison once said, "Daylight is good, arriving at the right time."

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
In the summer of 2006, a bunch of astronomers decreed that Pluto is not a planet; it's a dwarf planet, evoking images of Snow White and a bunch of little guys trailing behind her skirts. Pluto is changing signs this month, and we shall soon see if it is "still a planet." As for the personal side of this equation for your sign, I consider Scorpio to be one of the deepest thinking, most psychologically astute signs of the zodiac. Pluto diving into the sign associated with your mental environment is going to open up your intellectual process. It is vital at this point of your life that you give yourself a means of expression, or develop the ones you've got going. The ideas you're working with will burn a hole in your mind otherwise.
 
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
Despite its reputation for being the flighty sort of optimist, Sagittarius casts a thin veil over its deep sense of grounding and practicality. Now that sense of worldly connection is being fully activated, though for this to work you need to embark on a journey of doing what is the most important to you as much of the time as you can muster it. There is a direct relationship between your financial autonomy and your ideological freedom. If you are true to yourself, you will succeed; if you do what so many people do and live a life of endless (and mostly unconscious) compromises, you will get drawn into a tub of spiritual red ink. As you feel your truth, speak your truth, and act on it, you will rise up into the world and finally, finally make your own way.
 

Escalier homme noir. Photo by Danielle Voirin.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
Pluto enters your sign this month, on Nov. 26 to be exact. Plenty of other activity is on tap to shake you out of whatever sleep you may be carrying around; and whatever notion that the way things currently are is better than any other way. You will have some influence over the other way -- though I would caution you against holding any dogma that at this moment you know what is best for you. I suggest you stay away from before-the-fact judgments and instead, directly assess your environment, your feelings and your needs the moment that you notice them. You are likely to go through a series of changes this month that you are not expecting and do not fully understand. For this to be anything but painful, you need most of all to keep an open mind. Open, as in consciously listening, and seeking new awareness.
 
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
If you want control, be prepared to take leadership. If you are not ready to take leadership, I suggest you give up on any hope or wish of having control. Aquarius is one of those signs that is associated with the idea of freedom, though you know you have a kind of staunch quality that at times doesn't let you explore the possibilities of your own life. At the moment, these two characteristics are meeting one another face to face. Here is the problem: the quality representing control is somewhat stronger than the one representing creativity or the drive to explore. The reason control is so appealing to so many people is because it feels safe. It would indeed be safe in a world that always stayed the same, a condition which is of course the dream of petty tyrants everywhere. You have a different agenda.
 
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
The planets are moving in your favor, but don't take this for granted. You have an emotional blind spot, and you need to keep an eye on it. It's an old problem -- a lurking sense that you don't fit into the world. While you've been busy having that particular crisis, the world has been making room for you. I know that if you look around or pay too close attention to certain aspects of your personal life, it might seem you're sliding backwards. I suggest you set aside the temptation to fall for this. Allow the flow to take its course. Keep your eyes on the future and not the past; strive to find that spot between confidence and insecurity; the sincere state of mind where possibility is real.