Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for January 2019 (#1232)
This year you will meet Chiron. You might have at some point in the last four seasons, though most likely you were addressing some urgent material from the past that took up most of your energy. Yet in the sense of experiencing a particular kind of activation, and an unusual challenge that compelled you to grow, or threw you into some kind of crisis, what you experienced was pure Chiron. What you are learning is how to distinguish yourself from others. This is mostly an internal process. You begin by awakening to the degree that you allow your ideas about yourself and your existence to be determined and even dictated by others. The early stages of this — which you may well have experienced — may include the consequences of being different, such as you might stumble into accidentally, by stating your opinion. The place you will want to study is the point of resistance, where your will meets that of “some other force.” The “other force” you’re encountering is a combination of your past conditioning and the current movements in society that might reinforce it. So you might look at this as a clear case of you against the world, or vice versa. That is how Chiron can seem, at times, because it’s so closely associated with standing out and standing apart. There’s another way to experience this dynamic, which is internal: expressing your self as contrasted with your not-self. The quest — and the urgency — to be real exists entirely within you. It has nothing to do with all those other people.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for February 2019 (#1236)
In all that you do, it’s essential that you act above board. State your intentions, carry them out, and say what you did. Consult with others when necessary. Your astrology is advising nothing less than total honesty and directness, particularly when you are carrying out professional plans, and when you’re using official power and unofficial power, such as any form of organizing, movement-building or persuasion. It’s typical in such realms to cloak one’s purpose, or to act in ways that are intended to go unseen. Often, a few tricks are considered harmless enough. That’s not going to wash, under the current astrology. Such an approach could harm others, and it could backfire. While a straightforward, straight-shooter kind of approach may be less convenient, it’s also less susceptible to any form of corruption or abuse of your authority. Honesty is the only way to ensure that. Speaking to the friendlier side of the equation, you want your actions to be collaborative, and will benefit from their being so. This will bring in more ideas, and will serve to divide the work and some of the responsibility. Your role can include coordination and also a visionary element; someone has to handle that part, and to ultimately hold the bag. All of this is facilitated by your ability as a communicator. Keep everything on the level — that is, mean what you say, and say what you mean.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for March 2019 (#1237)
Tonight’s top story in the solar system is that Chiron has entered your sign. It’s rare when an era-defining event takes place in the home territory of your Sun or rising sign, though it’s happened to you many times in recent years. Yet Chiron will have a way of helping you integrate many unusual past developments in your life. You may have several of those moments when it all suddenly seems to make sense. While this transit lasts eight years, the first year will be one of the most interesting of them, as Chiron makes many aspects to slow-moving planets in the next 12 months. The upshot is that it’s time to wake up and get hold of your destiny, particularly where your professional aspirations are concerned. Your awakening and the work you do are now so closely linked as to be the same thing. At certain times you can feel who you are; at other times you can feel what you want to do. Now, taking action based on both considerations will be more intuitive. You may still feel like you’re balancing two sides of an equation, going back and forth between them — though that’s a sign of progress even if it feels like acrobatics. It’s significant that all of your current astrology puts you into contact with a wider public. You may feel the allure of being part of some larger group or ideology. You don’t need this. Keep your own counsel, and hold to your choices and personal values. When you see a crowd, walk the other way. Your true success depends on it.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for April 2019 (#1240)
You may be figuring out that your relationships follow different patterns from the ones you or the world think are normal. Of course there is no such thing, though something unusual about you and your nature has been dawning on you. Society makes a big drama about accepting that one is different, though in reality everyone is different. At the moment and for the foreseeable future, certain qualities of your nature are emerging in high contrast to some past expectation that you had. You are awakening in ways you have long aspired to, but could never seem to focus and do something with. Your current astrology describes you as a channel of service to others, particularly in the realm of intimate relationships. This is likely to include a close partner, though anyone could be involved. Every contact, every discussion, every observation you make, is designed to teach you something about the nature of your relationships. Our society is in crisis on a deeply personal level, being ascribed to “gender identity.” This layer is a scrim that’s veiling the deeper issue, which involves trust and the fear of intimacy. The kind of contact you want transcends obligation and expectation. The role you play in the lives of certain people close to you is to be attentive to their needs and desires, while seeking an understanding of yourself. These are elements of the same equation: the submissive element is, at this time, essential to cultivating your self-understanding.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for May 2019 (#1244)
You have a right to exist, and you do exist. A series of recent transits involving Chiron in your sign may have pushed deep questions onto you, or taken you places within yourself that you’ve never been before. Yet even the most seemingly ordinary questions are probes into the way you relate to your existence. Each comes back to what you’re free enough to feel, do or say. I reckon more people wander around with this type of concern in their minds, lurking right below the scrim of consciousness. It’s just masked as something else: a sense of not belonging, apprehension or anxiety, guilt, judging oneself or feeling judged — among others. What if all of these were about permission to be? One of the zeitgeists of our moment in history is that so many “causes” feel it’s their role to tell people they have no right to be who they are — even if who they are is not harming someone. Others tell people what they must be, even if it’s not true or they don’t want to be that way. Chiron often focuses on the most poignant kind of existential crisis. Make the most of it. Be aware that your feelings may represent questions — particularly any that comes along with tension, discomfort or irritation. They are your friends. Inquire, explore and seek understanding. Some may take you to a deeper level by way of a mental or emotional adjustment. Most will require you to experiment: to take action, and then notice how you feel.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for June 2019 (#1248)
This month you will have a series of opportunities to confront your fears, particularly those associated with authority. This would count for whatever form authority may take, whether the most powerful corporate or government powers, or whoever lives with you in your bedroom. Yet if you do this in an aggressive way, you will only reap more of the same. Anger and attack thoughts lead to insecurity more than any other factor. They don’t even need to be expressed to have the effect of making you feel impotent or helpless; you are likely to take them out on yourself, which is the root of the problem. However, that can get to the point where you need to discharge the energy, and get it out of your own consciousness, which is what typically leads to directing it at others. This is where it’s necessary to pause, preferably before the temperature gets too hot or matters seem too urgent, which is now, early in the month. You have an opening to conduct a civil conversation, which is best begun when you have something to say. This may seem to take courage, where waiting until you’re frustrated, enraged or depressed does not. But this is not a reasonable tradeoff, as finding the inner strength to speak about what is troubling you can and usually does get a positive result. I suggest you do so sooner rather than later, and that you get to the underlying matter — not the relatively minor surface issue.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for July 2019 (#1252)
The past month or two looks like your life has been the scene of nearly nonstop strife. In an odd way, you knew that this was centered with you, and yet there were others who seemed to be provoking you, making a compelling case for the energy coming from outside of you. All in all, I reckon you have at least determined that you’re sick of people holding power over you, at the expense of your ability to influence the events of your own life. Make a careful study of all that happened, and determine your exact role. This is more for your own forensics than anything else. As for what is ahead: events early in the month can conspire either to challenge your confidence in such a way that you feel compromised, or inspire you to take the creative risks you want and need to take, to assert yourself in a bold and courageous way. You are not the child who grew up in your family home; you are well beyond that, though it’s easy to get dragged back into your old insecurities, and the emotional manipulation of others. To create, and to create yourself, takes courage; nothing else gets the job done. Courage is an old French word that means coming from the heart. This is what it takes to be yourself in the current environment, where there are so many influences that say all you need is a little gloss and a little grease and you can fool the whole world. You want to fool nobody.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for August 2019 (#1254)
You’re still wrestling with your insecurity rather than burning it as fuel. The root of your hesitation is that you think if you speak up or express yourself, you would really shake things up. Well, if true, that would be fortunate, because a shakeup means that people care. The ultimate purpose of this astrology, in any event, is not to shake up anything but yourself. Any concern you may have about how someone else might respond is secondary. Challenge yourself to say what you need to say, for the sake of saying it: to overcome that phobia or inner resistance. Here is a clue: the way you know you’re really touching on “empowerment” — you experience fear, and you confront it. That particular word is overused to the point of verging on meaningless, but it’s worth one last thought before it’s relegated to the dustbin. Power is not about swagger or brashness or bravado. It’s not what you see at campaign rallies or on television commercials. You’re touching on your power when you have some sense of dread, or the sensation of standing at the edge of a cliff, wondering if you can fly. It’s really not all that bad, though you might be wondering. Anyway, in this situation, the risk is less than you may think, though it’s just enough to put you in a conscious relationship with your own aversion. Which will be just enough to teach you about thinking and speaking more freely.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for September 2019 (#1259)
Self-care is your top priority no matter how busy you may be. In fact the more you have going on, the more you need to focus on your inner needs, your basic nourishment, and giving yourself time to replenish the well. We live in an age when the theme is to exploit every resource till it’s depleted, and push every system until it breaks. That does not work in the human world, and it’s time to remind yourself that you have limits — and these must be honored. It may seem like a cliché to say that if you have your health, you have everything you need, though it’s ultimately the bottom line. You may be getting the message that your work is your top priority (all that action in Capricorn, at the top of your chart, and in Virgo, your house of activity and service). Yet this is set within the context of being a living creature that depends on food, water, rest and companionship. The world is growing more complex by the day, to the point where chaos theory is the only way to get a handle on things. That’s a fancy way of saying “pattern recognition.” To do that, your mind must be in a relaxed state. You need some empty space and available bandwidth to have an idea or to notice the solution to a problem when it comes to you. The problem is we’re forgetting about these things: relaxed state, empty space, available bandwidth. You must remember, and rediscover, if necessary.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for October 2019 (#1262)
You have both unusual magnetism and the ability to help others discover themselves. You possess something of what others need. Yet this can also work the other way; where Chiron is involved, it’s necessary to refine and focus the “do no harm” approach to existence and to relationships. This is not always possible, because people can make self-destructive choices even when you are at your loving best. Still, you will benefit from aligning your awareness with your psychic hygiene, and being fully present for everyone you encounter. You need to maintain your own sense of what people are ready for, and whether your communication is clear enough to sustain deeper levels of intimacy and sexual contact. One characteristic of people who enter your energy field is that they may be trying to define their reality their way. From your viewpoint this may be a “conscious” or “unconscious” process for them, though I suggest you err on the side of acknowledging the self-awareness of everyone you speak with. Listen to the words people say for clues as to how they want to exist within their reality, which includes you. It does not matter whether you agree or disagree with their position; whether they try to impose it on you or whether you pick it up in a passive way. Invest the energy and love into listening to people carefully. Figure out what they are saying about their state of being, and what they want from existence. You might be able to offer some of it; you might not. Regardless, your ability to bear witness to someone else’s reality will help you bear witness to your own.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for November 2019 (#1266)
We live in the age of politicized sex, which is not sex at all. This is reaching into every facet of human relationships, though it’s not always obvious what is happening. One challenge is that our society currently has little concept of sexuality that is not part of a public dialog involving power, rights or legal issues. Be aware that this might find its way into your most intimate partnerships. Out to one extreme, this could involve some legal matter arising. However, it’s more likely to work its way in subversively, through unquestioned beliefs and expectations. There’s also the question of how contemporary issues relating to gender and women’s rights influence the most sensitive elements of your life. The question you might ask yourself is, what do you want? If you’re seeking emotional exchange, vulnerability and pleasure, then relating through a political filter will not serve you. If you are seeking respect, that is done by agreement, and through a claim to natural rights rather than legal ones. Most people are not interested in being equals in some legalistic sense. Relationships involve complex dynamics, with “topping” and “bottoming” in various shades being distributed through the emotional and logistical landscape. If you want to be treated with respect by someone, you must treat that person with respect. You decide for yourself what that means, and then can communicate in a way that will hold someone’s interest voluntarily. Throwing down an ultimatum may be honest, but it will have consequences.
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for December 2019 (#1270)
Your most important work is bringing people together. It does not matter in which context this occurs, though it’s likely to have manifestations in your professional life. Taking part in this will be helpful to the world, though also essential to your healing. One of the problems undercutting human harmony is a degree of nearly obsessive toxic competitiveness that you can find almost anywhere. Your current spiritual project, as I read your chart, is to resolve this in yourself. That means taking a different approach to professional and social situations: extending yourself more, doing things for which you’re not paid and don’t get recognition, and where you set the example of being helpful for its own sake. You may not be able to ‘make’ everyone get along; not all of them want to, though it will help if you study their differences. Imagine the politics you see in the environment surrounding you in some way reflecting attitudes and values you possess. As well, the helpful actions of others will provide a positive example and a map to your healing. Note that you may be feeling an increasingly intense need to compete with others. This is precisely the impulse you are learning to transcend, on a quest for new ideas about both success and what it means to participate in a community. The message is that life is not about what you do. Rather, your life is about who you are.