PLANET WAVES By ERIC FRANCIS
For the week of Aug. 6, 1999

This is the first anniversary of Planet Waves Weekly. Thanks to all my readers, clients and friends who have made this project possible. You know who you are.

Special weekly for the Total Solar Eclipse in Leo. For additional articles, including interpretation keys and the chart for the event, please go to the main contents. Link to the August monthly horoscope is below.

Photo above: Solar eclipse in Venezuela, Feb. 26, 1998, Copyright 1998 by John Sanford, all rights reserved. This image is a composite of shorter and longer exposures (1/60th to 1 second). Full information about this image is available at Astronomy Picture of the Day.

 

"Hey, kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight's hitting something
that's been known to change the weather..."

-- B-b-b-bennie & the Jets

 

For the Faithful

Solar eclipses are awesome astrological events, perhaps the most influential alignments we encounter in which planetary conditions are associated with experiences on Earth.

The total solar eclipse next Wednesday morning at 4:08 am PDT / 7:08 am EDT is exceptional because it's synchronous with another rare alignment, a "grand cross" aspect involving the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Saturn, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes, all arranged in a huge, near-perfect "X" with the Earth exactly at the cross-hairs. Our little planet takes center stage of a wild cosmic drama, as we well deserve.

This is a mighty threshold. Sure, there are plenty of people whose witty intellects won't let them make the connections. Other people are really struggling, and we have to do what we can to help them. Yet there are many who are being propelled through the space-time vortex, and whose lives will take new and brilliant shapes as a result of living and working with these aspects, whether consciously or not.

In summary, this eclipse represents three basic things; fr a detailed look, check out Burning Man, the August Planet Waves essay.

++ A break in continuity. This is a time in which we have extra stopping power, or at least pausing power. The world is never quite the same before and after a total solar eclipse, but the eclipse is the moment between the old and the new.

++ An acceleration of both world and personal events. Many of us are feeling this -- the sense that something is running out of control. It's not, but we are surely in a moment of celestial speed-up.

++ Repatterning. Be conscious of what you are doing in the days of and around the eclipse, because this is what you are inviting into your life, indeed, this is what you are growing, creating and magnifying.

Sign-by-sign interpretations follow; I truly hope I've covered the important points, and that they steer you in some positive, exciting directions. What you do with the actual energy and opportunities of this time in your personal history is up to you; horoscopes merely represent potentials. Though I've gone over the eclipse charts six ways from Sunday for more than a year, I'm sure I've missed some obvious things, not to mention subtle ones, but I'll have to let the Universe take care of that.

I want to offer my sincere thanks to all the people, including my colleagues, clients, students and friends -- and in particular, Jonathan Cainer for his unfailing insight, optimism and vision -- who have worked with the light to create positive, expansive and loving possibilities for our culture and for us as individuals during the approach of this stranger-than-life astrology.

Sign-By-Sign

ARIES (March 21-April 19)
To start with, I want to be super-clear on the "bad versus good" question about eclipses. It's true that the Olde Astrologers got really whacked out of shape by these high-powered alignments of the Sun and the Moon, and that strange events do indeed happen around them. But the Olde Astrologers and the people who inquired of them were working with a lot less information and far fewer choices than we are today. Eclipses are opportunities. For fiery Aries, an eclipse in blazing Leo is a gorgeous opportunity for creative, sexual and personal freedom. It is a moment of self-definition and a time of birth directly into the heart of the child-self. It is a moment to take chances -- sane, conscious risks that are the basis of art, love and work. (Oh, one last thing. Just because something is bigger than you doesn't necessarily mean it's stronger.)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
What can you do to make your home into a temple of self- expression, passion, life-force and creative experimentation? An eclipse in the solar fourth house of "house and home" says doors are opening right where you live, in the room you occupy, the city or town which you call your community, and within your feelings and body. These are inner doors, but if you turn the keys and push them open, there will be outer results, actual effects which will give you a much more clear idea of who you are than anything you could -- for the moment -- find in a remote location or another person. If you're looking for action, it's just what you feel, right where you stand.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
If there are angels, have you ever wondered how they think, create and perform miracles without brains? What this eclipse comes down to for Gemini is going far beyond the words and ideas you hold so dear. In fact, you would be giving up nothing at all to slip past your current methods, notions and opinions, and throw open the doors to a whole new way of thinking, which presumes you are directly connected to the very source of thought; one with the master consciousness that does little things like, for example, orchestrate the genius operating behind nature. How? Walk around these weeks repeating the mantra, "There is another way of looking at this." And then, look. And then, see.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)
Quote from the Miracle Sutra: "Every decision you make stems from what you think you are, and represents the value you put upon yourself. Believe the little can content you, and by limiting yourself you will not be satisfied. For your function is not little, and it is only by finding your function and fulfilling it that you can escape from littleness." End of quote. If you are not understanding this, I suggest you read it at least 25 more times in the next week, till it makes perfect sense. You are being called upon to make a decision, or a group of decisions. Very good things are possible. Stay close to your purpose, and if you refuse to worship the god of greed, abundance will rain on you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
Leos are allegedly the most "self-centered" sign of our horoscope. This relates to the fact that the Sun, which rules Leo, is at the center of the whole planetary system, and the Sun represents the self. But I believe that very few people, Leos included, really understand the power, importance and creative potential of remembering that they are at the midst of it all, as is every sentient being perceiving reality through his or her conscious mind. Yes, we live in a universe with many centers, and this may seem like a paradox. I assure you, it is not, and neither are you. To most people, the words,"I Am" are an incomplete sentence. I suggest you repeat them again and again until their vital, awesome meaning is very, very clear.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
In theory, you are good at making changes, but in practice, well, it's often difficult. Yet change is synonymous with life, growth and evolution. Confusion may enter the picture when your inner idea of what can or must change is so all-encompassing that you can't even put it into thoughts, much less words. Remember this: all change, on some level, involves relationships. In particular, you are now in the midst of a complete re-definition of the concepts of marriage and expectations of your partners, and are unlearning the strange ideas about love you were taught as a child. And yet there is so much more happening; interpreting this eclipse for Virgo is most musterious, because it arrives in your 12th solar house of the unknown and all-encompassing. So sail your ship of consciousness from moment to moment, enjoy the pleasures of life as well as the details, and do so knowing that the power of Heaven is working with you to make fulfillment real.

LIBRA (Sep. 23-Oct. 22)
What do you consider your true possibilities? How do you estimate your potential? In order to correct some distortions in this aspect of your thinking, I suggest you start by mapping out or listing what you now feel are your highest goals and visions. Consider carefully what you come up with, then double it -- twice as great, twice as brilliant, twice as much impact on the culture and value to the community, worth twice as much money -- and then restate all your goals on this scale. Then, consider these new possibilities and double the highest potential outcome once again. This is much closer to the truth than what you now think.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
It is now, as you may sense, time to take partnerships more seriously, but it's impossible to do this without taking yourself more seriously. And at this point it is abundantly clear that a significant meeting of Self and Other is at hand. Astrologically, there are reminders of stuck or outdated values lurking both in you and in the people around you. Yet even if you do nothing, this condition cannot withstand the force of current changes. Though if you take conscious, willful action, provoking yourself and the world to reveal their true natures, and also do what few would ever dare -- be as passionate all the way through your being as you are at your very core -- then failure in love, or for that matter, in anything else, is surely impossible.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21)
An eclipse in Leo in the 9th house combines the idea of what we often call "the ego" -- allegedly the average, everyday self -- with the "higher self," which allegedly sees to things like healing and the deeper intuitive functions of the mind. Spiritual theory from Buddhist to New Age supports this model, but clearly the greatest mistake of mystical ideology is to presume this supposed separation is real, rather than to celebrate the miracle of consciousness itself. Forget about what mortal limits we seem to have; how is it that we think at all? How could we ever be "separate from who we really are"? You can safely assume that the "I" is Divine, if anything is, and that your bold wisdom is valid, and that your intentions are gold. In fact, we're counting on you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Our lives are usually made of patterns, and these patterns are usually dictated by what others want, need and expect of us. While this can be turned into a game of escapism and self-denial, which is a convenient form of sleep, I believe that most people would just love to have their freedom, especially to the extent that it means freedom from others. Capricorn, this is your moment to dissolve any contracts you want to get out of, whether of marriage, servitude, or employment, whether entering them was optional, karmic, familial or satanic. Now is your time to exercise your total independence. You may be left with some inner oppressors, but those can be successfully handled at a later time, in a different way; but really, all you need to be thinking about now is what freedom is for: not merely for psychological edification, but really to become free enough to accept any brilliant offers that may come your way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 19-Feb. 18)
One of the more astonishing facts about the way we tend to have relationships, particularly where sex and love are concerned, is that each one strives to block out others. Again and again, we live through the script which reads, "You are the one. I will never have another love in my life." However, anything that assumes that there will not be change is based on death and not on life. How would it feel to be in relationships that allow possibilities for the future? How would it feel to be who you really are, all the time, with everyone, and to insist that they do the same? As an Aquarian, you have natural gifts in this area -- especially now, and in the aeon to come.

PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20)
You are what you do. So here's my question: What do you do? How does what you do fund not only your rent and car insurance, but also the deeper purposes you have set for your life? This is not a time to be casual about the future, nor is it a time to ignore the necessity of aligning your purpose as you know it to exist, and the activities of your precious days. The eclipse is but one of several approaching thresholds of growth and expansion, but remember one will build on the next, so today's efforts count for twice as much tomorrow. One last thing. If you want to have fun, sex is great, but take my advice. Get a tropical fish tank.++