Monthly Archives: January 2012

My desk in Paris in early 2006, a little while after I finished the Parallel Worlds annual edition. Photo by Eric.

Every annual edition of Planet Waves has a distinct feeling. I’ve spent every late autumn and early winter doing the project since 1998. It entirely dominates this time of year for me, I love doing it, and it’s a real challenge to do that many readings in that short of a time. Eventually in the course of every project a world opens up, and in that world your interpretations are created, and the articles are gathered.

In the spirit of Planet Waves, the annual edition is a bridge between our most personal subject matter — the nuances of psychology, healing, growth, relationships — and the events of the world. The annuals are designed to be reference points, reminding us of where we are and, as we look back, where we’ve been. For me each of these editions is connected to a place — early ones in the New York area, then the West Coast, then two in Paris and one in Brussels (with some parts done in the north of France) — and then the past five in upstate New York.

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New edition of Planet Waves by Eric Francis

The same company that publishes Reality Check (your 2012 annual reading) also publishes a weekly astrology magazine called Planet Waves. This week’s edition covers the Mars retrograde, which begins Monday. I look at how this might influence us personally — especially people born in the 1960s. Planet Waves is a truly spectacular astrology publication, offering excellent personal astrology as well as a look at the kinds of cultural news you wish you could find on TV or in other magazines. We really have it — and Planet Waves also publishes my weekly horoscope.

I interpret this for all of the signs personally in the annual readings that are posted to this website. Mars retrograde influences everyone a little differently, depending on how your chart is oriented, and this is what I explain in your annual reading.

To read today’s subscriber issue as a single purchase, please use this link. The issue includes a second article outlining the themes of the last several Mars retrogrades, a wealth of astro/current events briefs, and Eric’s unparalleled horoscopes for this week — which interpret the weekend’s rich astrology for each sign, including Mars stationing retrograde and the Aquarius New Moon. If you’re ready to commit to the inner investigation and healing Mars retrograde implies, consider signing up for our weekly subscriber service for three months here, and you’ll be covered for the whole retrograde.

Today is Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The Sun enters Aquarius today at 11:10 am. It joins three other points currently in that sign: Nessus, Pallas and the last moments of Neptune in Aquarius. Neptune joins Pisces on Feb. 3 after 14 years in Aquarius, so these are our parting and perhaps most conscious intervals of Neptune. However, there’s more immediate news on the event horizon.

Janapese dragon from a Chinese school, wood carving, 19th century.

Monday is a big day in both Western astrology and Eastern. For those of us who are fascinated by planets buzzing around the Sun, Mars turns retrograde in Virgo. You don’t hear the term “Mars retrograde” very often, but it happens. Virgo is already a sign known for its intensity and even obsession, though those who try to express masculine energy through Virgo can be a little insecure doing so. Imagine how Virgo herself feels, taking up Mars as a guest for longer than the average vacation, eight months. The peak of that time involves Mars making apparent retrograde motion between Monday and April 13.

Between April 13 and late June promises to be an interesting time in the story of the world, and Mr. Cock and Balls treading backwards through the sign of the Virgin sounds like she becomes a woman in the process. Retrogrades are often recovery missions, about claiming lost energy, forgotten personal assets, and aspects of ourselves that threatened others when we were little. Every kid does this — to some extent figure out how not to piss off the adults, however meek the insults.

Children thus embark on a self-pruning process that can leave them feeling neutered as adults. Then come retrogrades, which send us on a soul retrieval scavenger hunt. Mars in Virgo will be useful this way, helping us come to terms with what we think of as aggression (and might feel as self-aggression). I suggest being mindful of the pattern establishment quality of retrogrades. The last time anything like this happened was in early 1965, when the script was cast for the thing called The Sixties that ensued.

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A bit of Gemini Reality Check

Yes, after months of hard work, Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. — the 2012 annual edition by Eric Francis — is ready. Each of the 12 signs gets a three-part audio report and a substantial written exploration of the forces that will be shaping your life this year. You can check out the RRR Diary and certain features here, but the written and audio sign reports are a premium service you can access via purchase here.

Below is some of the early feedback we’ve received from people just in the hours since we released the annual Thursday night. If you have further questions about all that the 2012 annual by Eric Francis entails, you can post them below, or email Chelsea at chelsea@planetwaves.net or give her a ring at (877) 453-8265. Please keep in mind she’s pretty swamped since the RRR release, but rest assured she will get back to you.

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Jan. 18, 2012 was a great day in Internet history.

Don’t worry, I’m not such a fool that I think these people won’t be back attempting their next parasitic seizure of the Net. They would be more likely to go through the back door but now at least we are fairly warned of their intent, in case anyone needed evidence. Also I know what energy is and how subtle it can be; how small influences can correct the course at the fulcrum, where it matters. Today, we knocked a little energy into environment.

You know it’s funny — the one guy whose name I haven’t heard all day till it perked up in my mind a second ago is:

Julian Assange.

When was that? That whole episode with Amazon kicking them off the servers and their DNS being taken away, reduced to an IP address and all of that? When was that? It had to be 2010 or something. Remember that whole bit? The first time the government and corporate colluders went after someone’s Internet presence? It wasn’t to protect the dignity of The Little Mermaid.

It was to try to stuff the WikiLeaks genie back into its disk drive. Or stuff the whole Internet back into Al Gore’s mind.

By the way it’s been an exciting week on other fronts. A million people signed on to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Obama rejected the Canada-Texas oil pipeline. The Republican primary race degenerated into even deeper hilarity. There’s something in the air. Something, that is, besides the impulse to legislate the imagination out of existence and charge a licensing fee for every idea uttered, since after all it belongs to someone. Jan. 18 was the day we consciously stood up to the people who are trying to colonize our minds.

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