Dear Friend and Reader:
The Sun enters cardinal sign Libra Tuesday at 9:30 am EDT. Solstices and equinoxes are the turning of the seasons, and they are all therefore turning points in the solar year. Yet this equinox is particularly significant in that it is the 90-day mark to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius.
We are in a year of cycles coming up at once: the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in January (approximately a 36-year event), the Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions of April, June and November (really one event, marking a 13-year cycle), and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of Dec. 21, 2020 (a 20-year event).
Each of these would be significant in its own right, marking some major passage in society. That they are all happening within one year is truly unusual, and also indicative of the kinds of hurling changes that we are seeing take place around us.
In tomorrow’s equinox chart, one of the most interesting aspects is Mercury exactly opposite Eris. The goddess of chaos, she has come to represent the personality fragmentation that comes from out-of-body experience here in the digital realm.
The exact opposition is saying: look at this for what it is. Look right at it. Be with it. Be honest about what this chaos represents. Let’s consider some of what that is about.
The Beginning of a 24-Year Aquarian Phase
This year also begins a 24-year phase of accentuated astrology in Aquarius. We got a little taste of this with Saturn in Aquarius, from March through June, which we might note came with an unprecedented global lockdown.
When I say unprecedented, I mean it: never before have massive populations on all continents been subjected to one policy, notably, a stay-at-home order. This spanned from China through Russia, and then India, across nearly all of Europe, reaching across Canada and the United States, and into much of the Southern Hemisphere, particularly Australia and New Zealand.
Not only have populations of healthy people never been ordered to stay home before, there has never been one policy that spread around and across the world instantaneously, ever. It was presented as “the thing to do,” yet the mere fact that it happened points to the existence of some new ability for a global authority to spread policy locally, instantaneously: it happened in a matter of about a month.
This alone should be a source of marvel and wonder for any world-watcher or participant in the affairs of life. The notion that it happened due to a pandemic is a kind of lullaby. It does not matter why it is said to have happened. The fact is, it did.
That it happened under the influence of Saturn in Aquarius might raise the eyebrows of anyone with the meekest interest in mundane astrology.
Jupiter will dance between Aquarius and Pisces through 2021, making its last ingress into Pisces on Dec. 29, 2021.
Saturn will remain in Aquarius until it transitions into Pisces in 2023 — the same year that Pluto begins its ingress into Aquarius, which lasts clear through 2044.
On the Precipice of Transhumanism
Once upon a time, about 15 years ago, I saw an article on the cover of WIRED magazine that described a form of injectable nanotechnology plasma.
The concept made such an impression on me that I began to study the ethics of it in my fiction: the disturbing potential to morph human consciousness with artificial intelligence, and the colossal ethical questions that raises.
This subject has now raised its head in public discourse. I have added two videos about it below the current edition of Planet Waves FM. I also discuss the concept on the program and will do so again on Friday. One of them features Bill Gates explaining a core part of the concept: that injected nanorobots can rewrite human DNA. The merging of the human realm with artificial intelligence is called “transhumanism.” I would note that few know about this and even fewer are questioning the ethics of this.
We are now right at the threshold of a long period of our lives — longer than many of us will be on the planet. We are making decisions today that will influence us for the entire duration of this era. All of this involves our relationship to technology.
Currently there are two signs that are primarily involved in the relationship between our humanity and technology: Aries and Aquarius. This could be a fantastic astrology class, though I will sum up here. Most of the action has lately been in Aries. You may recall my coverage of Uranus and Eris in Aries via the work of the McLuhans, and this evolving definition of what it means to be human: the out of body experience induced by total immersion in digital.
Much of this has come through Aquarius. For example, Neptune in Aquarius took us from the ordinary 20th century dialup internet to the ubiquitous internet in everyone’s pocket. The chart for the iPhone is a Neptune in Aquarius rising chart (accompanied by Chiron, Venus, Nessus and Pallas). By the time Neptune left Aquarius in 2012, the internet was everywhere, all around us, connecting nearly everyone all the time.
Because Neptune was involved, this happened almost invisibly and with the full seductive power of a euphoric drug.
The Quest to Maintain Our Humanity
Then the sky’s emphasis moved to Aries, and the Uranus-Eris conjunction of 2016-2017, by which time human consciousness was sufficiently scrambled to facilitate something so preposterous as Donald Trump becoming president. This was the result not so much of election interference as it was interference with how we used to be able to think. And that has far reaching effects.
Running a presidential administration by Twitter is not the problem. Funneling all consciousness through digital technology is. It has had a profoundly destabilizing effect on intellect, culture, and every facet of life. If you are wondering why the world seems so insane, look here.
Pluto in Aquarius is where these chickens will come home to roost. Though said to be the planet of the soul, in mundane astrology Pluto has an authoritarian quality. And in Aquarius we will see that authority delivered by digital technology, as we are seeing it now, only multiplied by the singular power of Pluto.
Our current moment of Mars retrograde in Aries is about what I’ve described as soul-retrieval. It is about making contact with and retrieving some vestige of our humanity that we have lost through this digital dream we are living. Mars describes all those human feelings — desire and anger, passion and lust and ambition, need and aggression and frustration.
While that is happening, Jupiter and Saturn are getting ready to meet in a rare conjunction in the first degree of Aquarius, which I am taking as the inauguration of the Aquarian era through 2044.
Technology is Never Studied or Considered in Advance
We have some time to make decisions: between now and solstice; and between solstice and Pluto’s arrival just three years later. I know from my work with the McLuhans and from reading Marshall’s books that when technology takes over, it is unquestioned: the effects are neither studied nor considered in advance, and if they are, it’s more from a marketing perspective and not a humanistic or ethical one. Also, wartime mentality propels “innovation” beyond anyone’s expectations. In the age of electricity, war is always the excuse.
I want to suggest we wake up and pump the brakes on this whole transhumanism thing. We need to question this and question it openly, honestly, and thoroughly. We need to do so regardless of the fact that so many educated, liberal-minded people think that technology at any cost is the greatest thing in the world.
In Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, there is a part that I think of as the Atlantis passage. “As I have said, this isn’t the first time your civilization has been at this brink,” God says to Walsch at one point in their dialogue.
“I want to repeat this, because it is vital that you hear this. Once before on your planet, the technology you developed was far greater than your ability to use it responsibly. You are approaching the same point in human history again. It is vitally important that you understand this. Your present technology is threatening to outstrip your ability to use it wisely. Your society is on the verge of becoming a product of your technology rather than your technology being a product of your society. When a society becomes a product of its own technology, it destroys itself.”
The bell rings Tuesday: one quarter turn till the winter solstice and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, and 912 days till Pluto enters Aquarius.
We must pay attention.
With love,
Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Monday and Thursday evening in Kingston, New York, Planet Waves, Inc. Core Community membership: $197/year. Editor & Publisher: Eric F. Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. News Editor: Spencer Stevens. Assistant Editor: Joshua Halinen. Client Services: Amy Elliott and Victoria Emory. Illustrator: Lanvi Nguyen. Senior Finance Minister, First Cavalry of the Local Economy: Andrew Slater. Archivist: Morgan Francis. Technical Assistants: Cate Ryzhenko, Emily Thing. Proofreading: Jessica Keet. Media Consultant: Andrew McLuhan. Music Director: Daniel Sternstein. Bass and Drums: Daniel Grimsland. Additional Music: Zeljko. Additional Research, Writing and Opinions: Rachel Chaput, Loreen Costa, Robin Dann, Yuko Katori, Kirsti Melto, Cindy Tice Ragusa, Abby Rohrer, and Carol van Strum.
Planet Waves TV on Venus Conjunct Vesta in the Equinox Chart
The new Planet Waves TV focuses on one of the two most distinct aspects in the Libra equinox chart, Venus conjunct Vesta. Note, the link points to the Facebook edition as the YouTube edition is not ready. This is an invitation to and opportunity for sexual healing, guided by the exploration of embarrassment and shame. In the prior edition on Sept. 18, I took a more comprehensive look at the equinox chart. This edition is more specifically focused.
This is the Season of Personal Growth
“Without knowing the issues I’ve been going through, you, Eric, have helped me to put it all into perspective. I can’t help myself, I am who I am! Your encouragement to BE ME is medicine to the heart, cos I lost that footing over the years. Thank you VERY much.”
— S.C., on The Story of I AM midyear 2020 reading
Dear Friend and Reader:
Mars retrograde in Aries is an important season for personal growth.
In Aries, Mars retrograde is about self-realization. It’s about building your confidence. It’s about claiming your soul back from the internet.
We live in serious times. This is for social, political and economic reasons, which are precipitating changes we all have to experience or endure. Yet the astrology provoking these changes is about to become deeply personal, now that Mars retrograde is in the picture.
Mars is about the drive to be human: the human engine, as T.S. Eliot put it. It’s about desire, and need, and also about anger and aggression. Each of us contains all of these emotions, and they are about to be stirred up as Mars makes retrograde aspects to Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn.
Capricorn is the well of family material, which is sure to come up — and rather than seeing this as a problem, I see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to resolve deep material, or to get a lot of the work out of the way. One rule of healing that I follow is if you have an opportunity to do a large portion of the work in one go, then do it.
I have created a series of astrology sessions for you, called The Story of I AM. You can think of these as video readings, or you can think of them as a series of processing sessions. Each is relevant to you. Your Sun and rising sign are the most helpful, though each and everyone has many gifts for you: ideas, strategies, discussion and analysis of deep personal material.
With warmth, gentleness and imparting the gifts I have gained through long experience, I take you through the material in clear, accessible language.
These days a single therapy session goes for up to $300 some places. For $111, you will have 12 astrology sessions and an introduction providing the background you need to understand what is happening in the planets. These readings will stand up to many playings, and can serve as a turning point in your life.
Please take advantage of this opportunity while you have the leverage to do the work in the most efficient way. We will never pass this way again — and where humanity is headed calls for your full preparation, availability and awareness.
You may purchase single signs here, or all 12 signs here. Free video samples are below!
Thank you for your business, and mostly, for your trust.
With love,
PS — This set of readings is included with the Backstage Pass. If you would like to purchase the Backstage Pass by phone, please call me at (845) 481-5616, up till 8 pm Eastern Time.
Listened to I Am last night. Extraordinary. Have been through Taurus, Leo, Cancer and Aquarius. The confirmatory understanding of the past cycle, the work it has taken to attend to and the nudges I am already feeling about the next phase, so helpful. Seriously, you continue to communicate in such a way that openings and accountability can be digested. I think your work just gets better.
— Customer from Australia
“Firstly I just wanted to say thank you. Listening to your Dharma reading earlier this summer was a real turning point during my lockdown. It gave me so much direction and trust, and acted quite literally like a galvaniser that has got to where I am now. Your weekly and monthly horoscopes are always very helpful for me.”
Here are free five-minute reading samples for each sign:
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Chiron Return, our nonprofit arm, publishes Covid19 News every day, in fact several times a day. We have updated about 740 times since we began publishing on March 3. This old-style news weblog takes a panoramic view of the virus situation. We offer news and viewpoints from a wide diversity of sources, science news, international reporting, videos and other resources to help you see the wide diversity of information not making it onto television or major websites. We are tracking the vaccine and testing issues carefully.
Each Friday night, Chiron Return publishes Planet Waves FM. Running since 2010, with roots into Radio Woodstock in the 1990s, Planet Waves FM covers current events, current astrology, science history, personal growth and other themes, and includes original music by Vision Quest, the in-house Planet Waves orchestra.
Planet Waves publishes daily astrology and birthdays through the week. This feature includes a daily extended birthday reading and ongoing commentaries on developing astrology as it happens. Check in whenever you want — no password required.
Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes
Your extended monthly horoscope for September was published on Wednesday, Sept. 2. We published your extended monthly horoscope for August on Monday, August 3. Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope after the Sun has entered a new sign.
Aries (March 20-April 19) — The birthing process can be stressful, exhausting, violent and dangerous. It can also be peaceful, humbling, beautiful and transformative. You are in a rebirth right now, with the contractions close together and movement through the birth canal imminent. How you prepare, and how you think of yourself and your situation, will make most of the difference. You are facing a diversity of challenges, though they are not new, and you are now in a position to review how you did things in the past. This is for the purpose of doing things differently in the present. Give yourself options. You don’t need to do the same thing you did before, the same way you did it. Someone may be offering you an option in the form of a new approach. The question is, are you even in a position to perceive it? Or are you so engaged in your situation that you are not open to new ideas, or to communication? See if you can get out of your head long enough to engage with others about what you’re experiencing. This will save you energy, grief and much precious time.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Make sure that your idea of a relationship agrees with that of a person who may be interested in you. While it’s not usually possible to have 100% alignment, there may be a significant divergence in what someone wants, contrasted with what you are in a position to offer. Healthy mutual respect is important, though this will begin with you understanding your needs and your truth at this time in your life. The most important metric on the situation is jealousy. This emotion, usually taken for granted as one of those normal, expected things about life, is complex and contains many different expectations; to be jealous is to come from a certain worldview. That’s unlikely to fit your plans; you do not need the weight and gravity of expectations weighing on you. And what you need the very least is someone who defines themselves through their relationship to you. You’re learning how not to define yourself through a relationship to another person — and you’re making progress. Therefore, hold your own space and set your own terms. And remember, you cannot control anyone. It is equally true that they cannot control you. Everything is voluntary, despite the illusion.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Mercury, the Gemini planet, will be making a series of high-potency aspects, beginning Monday with its square to Pluto — a potential source of power dramas Sunday or Monday. Then come Mercury’s square to Saturn and opposition to retrograde Mars. This is likely to seem chaotic, though it is fertile chaos, or it can be if you allow it to. How you experience these aspects depends on your angle of approach, and your mental posture. You will need all of your flexibility and adaptability. You will need to do as little clinging as you can possibly muster. These aspects describe events that you will need to move and flow with. You might, in the process, be confronted by aspects of your thinking that often get in your way, though you may rarely notice this. On the Libra equinox Tuesday, Mercury stands face to face with Eris, a planet named for the goddess of chaos and discord. This is a bold reminder to stay in contact with yourself. It’s a reminder that you are not your internet persona(s). Gather yourself into one place. Focus inwardly, and respond to your inner calling. It will speak as loudly as your willingness to listen.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — While the world is going half or wholly mad, focus on your home and your immediate surroundings. That is the beauty of Libra time for you, that it takes you inward. While much has been said about the domestic qualities of the sign Cancer, few have noted why that is: you have Libra on the 4th house of your solar chart, which describes your affinity for beauty and balance in your surroundings. You absolutely need this, for your peace of mind and as a matter of preference, though also for rooting and grounding. You are someone with a crucial mission in the world right now, as described by all the activity in Aries (Mars retrograde, Chiron, etc.). So balance is crucial for you. Keeping your home just the way you like it is vital. So, too, is the approach that it’s not a fortress but a garden, an environment, a space where the windows and the curtains can be open. You will find safety in beauty and calm rather than in buttressing and defensive postures. If you live with someone, make sure that you address directly what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done. Put nothing off for the future.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — For many, the spiritual and the practical are at odds. Dharma and work struggle and compete with one another, or so it seems. Immediate practical needs block out the long-range vision. For you, none of this can continue or be an acceptable part of life. Work must foster your spiritual needs to find practical expression, and a definition that lends itself to some good use. Work must be dharma; invest your soul into whatever you do, so you get the hang of it — then take this feeling with you into your next endeavor. Meanwhile, in the coming days, retrograde Mars will be pushing you to align your spiritual quest with what you do every day. If you take the opportunity to stay fully present, you will make interesting and even exciting discoveries. The struggle between “the everyday” and “the cosmic” often seems to be like oil and water, though if you are conscious about what you’re doing, and you make a modest effort for every decision to count, you can make progress. Your focused efforts and faith in yourself are worth triple right now, as these two closely related facets of life are currently joined together as one.
Tailored for Virgo Sun and rising, this new audio reading by Eric Francis introduces you to your astrology through the autumn of 2021. We will take maximum advantage of the power you are drawing from the Earth signs at the time of your solar return: Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, as well as Uranus in Taurus. This is a grand earth trine, and the thing to do is gather momentum in the direction you want to go, and then point yourself there. Eric describes the influence of Jupiter and Saturn ingressing Aquarius later this year. The reading looks closely at Chiron in Aries, accompanied by Mars retrograde in Aries — your most important relationship house. Now with full transcript. Order now for instant access. This reading is included with the Backstage Pass.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your soul is on a quest to discover the true meaning of sex for you: in the past, in the present, and in ways that will lead to the future. The retrograde of Mars may be taking you on a grand tour of all the ways that your sexual choices have affected you, throughout your life. This is a topic that rarely gets any honest discussion, since sexuality is a non-topic. It is a thing many feel entirely uncomfortable focusing on, reflecting on, or even learning about — until they make a discovery that changes their life. Then suddenly it all means something. I am not merely describing “identity” or “relationship status” but rather the actual nitty and gritty and warm and slippery of eroticism. One challenge here is that there tend to be few people with whom you can be direct about these topics. You may have the idea it will get you in trouble, which is exactly the problem. You need to be able to speak your mind, your heart and your soul with no fear of repercussions or judgment. The place to start is with yourself, and then find one person — probably not a partner or lover — with whom you can have an ongoing, entirely frank, reality-based conversation. This will feel like finding yourself.
Notes to Myself: Astrology Studio for Libra
Dear Friends and Libras:
I am planning to record Notes to Myself: Astrology Studio for Libra on the equinox and have it ready soon after. As we have not done a proper pre-order, I will leave the price at $33 through Friday midnight Eastern Time.
The reading will cover the extraordinary astrology that brings 2020 to a close and that morphs into 2021. Much of this involves Saturn, the planet exalted in Libra and therefore one of its classical rulers.
This includes the aftershocks of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction back in January, and the influence of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in December.
Naturally, I will take a close look at your 7th house — Mars retrograde in Aries, making some very fancy moves at the time of your solar return. And I will give a new overview of Chiron in Aries, which is now center-stage in your astrology and your growth process.
This reading will serve Libra Sun, Moon and rising, or anyone with a strong Libra signature in your chart. It will also serve as a crucial general reading of the energies as they are manifesting right now, with the focus of casting divination exactly on the equinox. It will make informative and potentially transformative listening for everyone, as we approach these colossal milestones in personal and collective history.
You may pre-order the reading here. This reading is included with the Backstage Pass (sign up with personal reading, or without personal reading).
Thank you for your trust.
With love,
PS — You may upgrade to Backstage Pass by phone by calling (845) 481-5616. If I am available, I answer the phone personally. Otherwise, you’ll speak to someone else, or they will get back to you. The Backstage Pass includes all of these readings going back to 2019.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — The Sun enters your Sun or rising sign Tuesday, which will likely come as a relief. The Sun’s transit through Virgo (your 12th house) can be a bit itchy and scratchy. It’s as if you want to think through everything, and never get there because there’s always something new. This will be an exciting birthday season for you, as the Sun makes many interesting transits as it moves along the cardinal cross, which is where the action is these days. It’s like you’ll get a grand tour of everything happening in society at the moment, and be able to see it from a personal perspective where you actually question your assumptions. The Sun can take any transit, or make any transit, with relative ease. It is, after all, the Sun. Yet to make contact with Chiron, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, Eris and Mars — along with many other small planets too numerous to name — will be provocative. You will be challenged to think for yourself, and to stretch your perception. Chiron in particular will give you little choice but to see the world from the perspective of other people, something we could all use a little more of these days.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — The challenge of Mars retrograde in Aries is, for you, focused on your work, and to consider whether you’re doing the right thing. I suggest you monitor one issue in particular: any sense of burden you may feel. This might register as futility, frustration, or depression. It might show up as the sensation that you have too much to do and cannot get it done. More than anything, monitor whether you feel you’re fulfilling your sense of purpose, or if that is even possible. Check your pulse when you hear yourself make an excuse for why you must tolerate something, or why it’s helpful when you suspect that it is not. Current aspects could also fill you with determination. Mars is walking backwards into a strong, high-integrity square to Saturn. You can flip frustration around into determination, a fighting spirit and a sense of justice. If you are feeling confined in some way, don’t just resolve to do something about it: actually get that thing done. Experiment, check the results, and then try something else.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — This is all heading somewhere. You must tune into where, and make sure your choices reflect what your deepest inner knowledge is telling you. This is less about making a decision and more about tuning into what you already know and have discovered many times before. It’s not about an inner debate but rather an innate understanding of your personal truth. Be mindful of the cautionary signs about what does not work, take heed, and return yourself to a receptive state of mind and feelings. That much is a choice: you have more influence over your state of mind than you may recognize. If I may propose a strategy: guide yourself in the direction you want to go between now and your birthday. You have a little while, and the planets are developing into a very exciting pattern right at that time. Mars will have just stationed direct, and meanwhile, your ruling planet Jupiter will form its third and final conjunction to Pluto. This is about you connecting to your soul in some new and deep way. It’s about you discovering just how alive you are, and how meaningful your life is.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If you are wondering who is pushing you to pluck up some confidence in yourself, it is you. Be aware that this will involve going in other directions than what you thought gave you “security” in the past. Most of your ideas about security are concepts, not actual things that protect you. This is unwise for two obvious reasons, both of which relate to investing your confidence in the wrong place. It’s not that ideas do not provide protection: they do, if they are truthful and accurately reflect reality. Here, I am talking about understanding that you are who you are, not who you were told you were, or are expected to be. In any situation where you feel like you have to change, or conceal some aspect of yourself, to be accepted, that is the dangerous idea. It is so for being incorrect, and for concealing your true strength and purpose. Others may try endlessly to engage you in debate or discussion, or talk you out of yourself. You might tell them that’s impossible, or you can tell yourself this, because you are the one who needs to know.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — The Sun moving into air sign Libra this week will help you open up your horizons and see that you don’t have to negotiate for everything, with everyone, all the time. That is complicated, though there are some important ways out of the maze that you need to become familiar with. The essence of Aquarius is that it forms patterns. By that, I mean that things go from a liquid state to a frozen state very rapidly, and then they stay stuck. In a frozen state, things are cold and brittle and subject to shattering. So you want to keep that water flowing rather than in any other form. Flowing means moving, swirling, stretching, and shifting the way you do things. Alter all of your routines, any time you can. Travel to and from places by different routes. Drive down roads you’ve never taken. If you ride public transportation, one day stay on your bus or train till the last stop and see where you end up. Really dig the sensation of unfamiliar, of strange, of a little weird, and notice your responses. Talk to anyone and everyone. Keep the kaleidoscope turning.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The sign Libra is what drives Pisces’ idea of relationships, much more than your opposite sign Virgo. Libra is one sign over, the 8th place rather than the 7th. Given the choice, Libra is the way to go, which is good because that’s the way the sky is moving at the moment. Its placement on house eight of your chart describes the importance of sex and sexuality in your life. It describes the way for you that these matters are inherently relational, rather than something you can toss and then toss off. This is true even in the most fleeting and seemingly casual encounters: who someone is matters to you, and is interesting to you, and is therefore a dimension you want to explore. What you love is the experience of response: to respond and to be responded to; to notice how others feel and what their preferences are, sometimes having nothing special to do with you. It’s the sensation of energy exchange that you love, and over the next few weeks you will have some exciting opportunities to explore. Trust that you are guided by love and immerse your senses wherever you feel good.