Dear Friend and Reader:
Mercury and the Sun entered Taurus together Sunday and Monday, which seemed to hint at a message. I am taking this to be about a topic you never hear much about: financial literacy. Taurus addresses many of the most significant issues of incarnated life, and I plan to stick with the topic in the next few essays (I already began the discussion on last Friday’s Planet Waves FM, focusing on Alice A. Bailey’s intriguing thoughts about Taurus.)
In much of Western culture, money has become God and marketing has become Jesus. We are taught that money is all-important, and then take part in a society that is largely driven by retail sales, including of financial products. This makes most people slaves to what Bailey calls “the world glamour,” which is a growing problem with both Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius.
These are huge topics, and my intent today is to sketch out some issues in broad terms, so that we may see where they exist. This is a discussion that needs to happen, and astrology can help. Just the arrangement of the houses describes a way of mapping out matters of finances, shared finances, and the use of resources.
A Practical Matter
Money is rarely thought of as what it is: a practical matter. Instead, it is imbued with all kinds of mysticism, mystery, mystique and agony. Concepts like luck enter into the picture. Money is thought to grant magical powers, and in a sense, it does.
In the musical Fiddler on the Roof, there’s a famous song called, If I Were a Rich Man. And in that song, Tevye says he wants to be so rich, the most important men in town come to him for advice.
And he adds:
And it won’t make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong.
When you’re rich, they think you really know!
Particularly in American society, having money is thought to vindicate everything. (Steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king.) I once went to see the film Enron back when I was living in Brussels, and my date was impressed how much Jeffrey Skilling and Kenny Lay got away with.
She was also disappointed they got caught, no matter how many people they ripped off. This is all that matters to some people. (That was our last encounter.)
This sad state of affairs leaves most people clueless about how to handle their finances. They may be able to use the bank’s app on their phone, but that does not give any credit toward literacy. Money is a complex set of issues, and these are topics not generally taught in school, that I know of. I don’t hear parents mention it as part of what they teach their children. Most of what gets passed down the generations is anxiety and insecurity.
Families Complicate Things
I am one of those people who was told by one of my parents I could never make a living as a writer. Fortunately I did not believe it, and it would not have mattered to me anyway. But it has still been a tremendous challenge to overcome.
There is something crucial — we all know this — about doing things for their own sake. But this terrifies people who project most of their anxiety onto money, or worse, their need for control, and this is often projected onto money.
In these ways, profound complications are imparted by family, and it’s little wonder why so many people’s personal economic lives are a mess. This is an outgrowth of family issues that financial issues are so often laced with.
It’s often for this reason that parents do not teach their children about money: they are unclear themselves, and to get clear would involve unraveling their own legacy.
Yet this issue — which I define as a matter of literacy — is built on top of a deeper matter fundamental to Taurus, and that is values. Here, the family issues run even deeper. You can see this almost any time an inheritance comes up. This usually comes along with a control drama and the exposition of profound emotional issues.
We could take this from a therapy standpoint, though I think it would be useful to simply teach practical skills. These alone would help people cut through the emotional brambles.
Basic Needs for Financial Literacy
We need to get a grip on the basics. Here’s a rough outline for a book I want to write, called Money for Artists. I would include the following topics:
What are the different kinds of bank accounts?
What is the difference between cash and credit?
What are accounts payable and receivable?
What are the different kinds of interest structures, for example, how interest is calculated for a credit card versus how it’s calculated for a loan?
What is “self-employment”?
What are the different kinds of company structures, i.e., sole proprietorship, LLC, type S and C corporations, non-profit corporations, and others?
What is a business plan?
What are the basics about taxes?
What are the basics about contracts and contract law?
What are the different kinds of assets?
What is bookkeeping? How do you do it, and who should do it?
What are the different kinds of financial professionals and how do you work with them?
What are the different kinds of insurance? We hear a lot about “health insurance,” but there are about a dozen others that people need to know about.
What happens to your money and property when you get married?
Almost all the time, these issues are either not addressed at all, or “left to professionals” without any clue what these professionals actually do. You would think that a society based on money would educate people about this stuff. However, our culture is not based so much on money as it is on extracting it from people. To that end, the less they know, the better for those doing the extracting.
The Intersection of Money and Values
Here, we are deep into Taurus territory. Matters of this sign involve one’s personal wealth, and then the lesser noticed and more significant matter, one’s personal constitution. That’s also known as values.
How one makes one’s money can be in or out of alignment with one’s values. However, our society (by which I mean messaging from families, television, movies and other sources of glamour) consistently teach people to value money over what is personally important to them. This is a formula for the kind of misery that we so often see manifest.
Working with people as their astrologer, I have heard countless times, in countless forms: I wanted to do this, but my family said they would not pay for college unless I majored in business. Then they are in their 50s or 60s talking to me about how to recover and reclaim their time and creativity, to devote themselves to what they actually care about and want to do every day.
This leads to the question of time as it relates to money. We think of money as being a finite commodity, but really, time deserves that qualification. Money can exist in infinite abundance; time cannot.
The chart for the Sun’s ingress into Taurus calls attention to matters of time and its use. This shows up in the form of asteroids Klotho and Atropos, the fates of the length of life, and the cutting off of life.
And here we come to a bottom line distinction: is existence about what you do, or what you’re paid? For many, this is a question that would open up issues they might not want to address. However, it is time.
Faithfully,
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Instant Access: Aries Astrology Studio 2021-22
Aries (March 20-April 19) — The collection of planets now in Taurus is urging you to address your financial concerns directly, and not just from a defensive standpoint. First, study your use of money and how you allocate your most precious resource, your time. And you need to get organized, and informed, about how to work most efficiently where your resources are concerned. Most people take the money issue way too casually, and with no practical training. Your chart is calling for a financial revolution in your life, and the place that I suggest this begin is with financial literacy. Meanwhile, approaching aspects could lead you to take big risks where you might ordinarily be inclined to take none. This is about Venus conjunct Uranus in Taurus — which is fantastic for sex and art, though calls for caution with big ideas about money. That said, there may be something you want to gamble on, such as a small investment or luxury item (is there such a thing anymore?) and that might turn out to be fun. But skip the concept of a warranty or guarantee, and go right to: if this works out, that’s great, and if not, that’s OK.
Self-assertive, sometimes bold, Aries is always up for an adventure. A new adventure awaits — preorder your affordable reading by Eric Francis today.
2021-22 Aries Astrology Studio: The Continuing Adventure of Chiron in Aries
Taurus reading ready! Purchase here; sample below
— A. Wilson
— Cheryl Corson
“I’ve known Eric Francis and his work since 1997. He was my lifeline, which helped through 15 years of raising two boys solo, and still he’s still helping me through life/identity crisis, post children…his vision is uncanny — he seems to know Taureans better than we know ourselves.”
— Leo Loza
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The Sun entered your sign yesterday in grand style, accompanied by Mercury, the trickster god of the mind. They join a menagerie of other planets, making this birthday season suitably unusual, matching this extended time in your life. You are most likely doing things you’ve never done, or long wanted to do, because something deeper is driving you. In summary, I would read your chart this way: you may want to live closer to the edge of your own consciousness, or you may need to, but it amounts to the same thing. That is the direction you’re going. For years, Pluto in your fellow Earth sign Capricorn has been all but forcing you to reevaluate many facets of your being, though Pluto can have a destructive effect at the same time it can be, for some, renewing. The combined action of Uranus and Albion/1992QB1 is taking a whole other approach: the gentle lure to the edge of your boundaries; a redefinition of yourself that bubbles up from the inside, with a kind of irresistible appeal. Taurus can have a reserved or even conservative streak, an observation I offer as a compliment. That makes you an extraordinary revolutionary when you want to be.
Calm, collected and attractive on the outside, raging like a tempest on the inside, Taurus is the blacksmith shop of the soul. Forge your path with this reading.
2020-21 Taurus Astrology Studio: The Taurus Guide to Radical Transformation
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — One of my favorite of many Lou Reed lines is “Self-knowledge is a dangerous thing / The freedom of who you are.” That may be why so many people avoid it, though I don’t recommend this. Your inner being, and your sense of the substance of that who you are, is provided in your chart by Taurus, where many planets are now gathered. Here is my take on how these signs interact, which is my best pitch for self-knowledge. Taurus is the 12th sign from Gemini, also called the 12th house — and this is one of the first places we would look for self-knowledge and your values around it. This house is now brimming with activity, as described above. Taurus is the true engine of Gemini. It is the core fire of your sign. Mercury ruled Gemini provides your style, your wit, your quick mind, and most of all, your gleaming personality. Now, in this month before your Solar Return, you get to explore your inner realms, and there is lots of low-hanging fruit: ideas, inspiration, thunderstorms, unwritten erotic novels, unmade movies, and all kinds intrigue. Self-knowledge is not just dangerous. It is fun.
Geminis ask a heck of a lot of questions, and much of what you are curious about is yourself. Find some answers in your affordable reading by Eric Francis.
2020-21 Gemini Astrology Studio: The Sacred Space of Self
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — One of your most important roles at this time is to be the person who sparks up your community, and offers them something true to think about. You are in the position to educate, agitate and maybe even organize people. This will not be about claiming Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Reality is rarely popular; as has been said, humankind cannot stand very much of the stuff. So if everyone is cheering, and you’re wearing the same color shirt as the crowd, you’re not the one in this role. If you are stirring the pot, if you are getting mixed reactions which include some hate mail, some love mail, some questions, and some general comments, you are probably on the right track. The revolution we need is not political. It is not medical. It is not scientific. It is about social awareness. It is about the freedom to move around, to associate, and to challenge the evermore overbearing social norms that continue to creep up around us. In your own sincere and easygoing way, your current astrology describes you as a revolutionary. Do you want this role? I do not know — but you have it.
Nurturing, loving, devoted, cuddly, milky and self-centered, Cancer has it all. You can even have instant access to your reading when you purchase today.
2020-21 Cancer Astrology Studio: I Feel, Therefore I Am
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The world needs some stability of a kind you are able to offer. Yet what you have, as well, is an up-to-date perspective on the world, and what it means to be a responsible person. It is not what is so often being defined and described as such. Your role is to hold the tension between the way things were and the way they are becoming. You are, in a sense, regulating the passage of time and developments in the world. This applies only where you have personal jurisdiction: it might be your home, some aspect of your work environment, or perhaps the whole business. It is not lost on you how little makes sense, how much change has struck society how fast, and the struggle that people and the smaller corporate entities are having in forming a response. You have the ability to relate to many different viewpoints, and more than that, you are trusted. But you must have your facts straight, so that your point of view is grounded in reality. For that, you will need to do some additional work. It will pay off, and you have help if you need it.
Leo is THE sign of human vitality and in many respects the source of strength, light and creation. How’s this for a bright idea: get your reading by Eric Francis!
2020-21 Leo Astrology Studio: Notes on Love and Courage
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your life will feel more your own now that so many planets have moved out of Aries and into Taurus. The difference here is the distinction between your 8th and 9th solar houses. If you look back through Virgo horoscopes for a while, you’ll see the theme that I have been developing was reclaiming yourself from the shared territory of the 8th house (which governs things like joint finances, marriage, and wills). Your fellow earth sign Taurus is a more independent and liberated realm. The Earth-to-Earth resonance you share with this house is where you can explore your potential, and there is plenty of space for you to spread out. There are opportunities to connect with others on your own terms, and on mutual terms. It is true that you still have some work to do in the one-to-one relationship aspect of your life, though this is a long-term project that will benefit from modest but sincere attention every day. Meanwhile, the message of the planets in their courses is that you have new realities to explore, where you are not bound by the old rules — unless you say so.
As a Virgo, it’s your role to make the world a better place: to offer, if not solace, then solutions. Find both for yourself when you purchase your reading.
2020-21 Virgo Astrology Studio: I touch the Earth. The Earth touches me.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — How much time is enough time? Your chart reminds me of what would seem like an old trope from photography class: the best camera is the one you have. Which means, the one you have when you really truly need to take a picture. It sounds trite till the day you figure out that it’s true. As for time: you have enough, if you use it wisely. That means not putting important matters off to the future, particularly those relating to what you desire. In our disembodied age, where everything is reduced to pixels and glowing rectangles, the physical world can seem like an extremely dangerous place. This is for reasons that seem physical but which I think are really emotional: wanting, and yearning, and need, and craving, remind you that you’re alive. That immediately invokes a cliff-like sensation of insecurity, and the fear of disappointment. And, of course, we are constantly being fed reasons to avoid, eschew and dodge actual, motivating desire. Yet this would, if you are experiencing it, evoke the question: what exactly am I doing here on this planet? Now is a most excellent time to ask.
Aleister Crowley said that the essence of the sign Libra is the drive for justice. Tap into your essence with this reading, and bring balance to your world.
2020-21 Libra Astrology Studio: Notes to Myself
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — There has been too much happening at work, and now there will be far less emphasis there, and more on the out-of-work human realm. In fact you can have as much of this as you want. Here there are interesting people, and opportunities to share with them. The central question — really, the only question — is your fear level. Social anxiety has now been made mandatory. Even if you are not skeptical of everyone and wondering who and what you need to be scared of, someone feels that way about you. Right now, the level of fear being propagated, throughout the planet, is beyond outrageous. And the greater problem is how many people seem to approve of this as a solution or a way of life. It is not a solution and it is not about life. You are one of the strong and discerning ones. Your ruling planet Mars is now moving through an unusual area of the zodiac, which is late Gemini — and I’ve seen this associated with opaque things becoming transparent, and the truth coming out, particularly with regard to who is responsible for what. Please remember: the spiritual path that is based on fear is not one. That is something else.
Scorpio is an odd hybrid, both a product — and an instigator — of evolution. Purchase your latest reading to delve deeper into the mystery of yourself.
2020-21 Scorpio Astrology Studio: The Scorpio File
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — There is, I believe, a secret astrological sign called Sagittaurus. This is the combination of ethereal Sagittarius, and grounded, solid Taurus. This is the perfect combination of factors, on a deeper level, because it morphs the aspirational quality of your sign with the desire nature of Taurus. This can help you make aspiration real, on Earth, in a tangible way — a way that is necessary for your happiness, growth, peace and sanity. Or perhaps better said, productivity. Taurus, where the sky is now gathering, is the 6th place of your solar chart: work and wellbeing. It may be the single most important sign, relative to yours, because the 6th is where we make contact with purpose on the day-to-day level of existence. It’s not about the future or the past; it’s not about what is possible. It’s about what needs to be done now, and doing it. Yet because Taurus is so intimately linked to desire, it represents what you want to do, which you know is the thing you must do — but you don’t always do it. You have extra help now, and you have some bold plans. Be practical. Don’t think so much in terms of the grand possibilities but rather, the ones that are right in front of you: the wet clay, the wet paint.
Sagittarius, yours is the sign of the quest, the far away and far-out. Purchase your reading today and continue your adventure with the stars as your guide.
2020-21 Sagittarius Astrology Studio: Live from the Galactic Center
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You will benefit from all this Taurus activity, mainly by feeling less obsessively insecure. However, the new challenge is about being willing to dare to make something unusual happen, and in turn, not linger in your past ideas about yourself. I know it’s easier said than done, but personal insecurity is one of the single biggest wastes of time there is. By that, I mean fear about whether you are accepted, coupled with the struggle to express yourself based on that fear. You now get some relief from this, though it’s going to be easier to see that your real challenge is self-acceptance. This is never about other people, and ultimately, it’s always about choosing to live your life your way. The challenge, however, has been, this, in my reading: you may fear that if you are absolutely yourself, as you need to be, you will not be accepted by those closest to you. It may be easy to say, and, if that is true, go where you’re accepted. But it’s not so easily done, particularly if the whole issue is lurking below the surface of awareness, and manifests other ways. However, right now you would serve yourself and the world well to do something real that is all your own, for you, because you want to.
We depend upon Capricorn to hold things stable. But you’re not as boring as you like people to think you are. Unearth your inner revolutionary with this reading.
2021 Capricorn Astrology Studio: One Night Only Kala Sarpa Yoga
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Of the ways you have the power to direct the course of your life, one of them is making decisions about who your close associates are. This is your “family of choice.” You have many options for who to be with, and for the basis of how you might choose. Based on my reading of your sign, I would suggest that your sole criteria be harmony on the level of values. I try to explain this concept a few times a year, and I never find it easy. However, values, the real thing, are one’s fundamental principles of existence. It can be a real journey to find out what they are. This is because there is so much dross plastered over one’s personal truth, and even the fact of being alive and on the planet, that they can be forever obscured. Values are closely related to ethics, which are one’s fundamental ideas of right and wrong, or said another way, the ethos, or inner spirit of existence. We are talking about the stuff of the most profound spiritual path, or consciously lived life. Some people are born knowing their values. Some go through a challenging, ongoing confrontation for years till they settle on them, which might include three marriages where they discovered their values in the first two. Anyway, the upshot is: stick close to people whose constitution is similar to your own.
You’re not after progress for its own sake; Aquarius is the discriminating embracer of innovation that works. Get your reading and be brilliant.
2021-22 Aquarius Astrology Studio: A Reading For Our Moment
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Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — We have just embarked on a spectacular month of Taurus astrology. Glancing at the chart, looking for a theme, one stands out that makes me happy: writing. Let’s start there. Taurus is the third sign from Pisces, therefore, the 3rd solar house, or “place” as it is more accurately translated. This is the one about communication, ideas, commerce, gossip, siblings and neighbors. However, given the unusual conditions developing in Taurus, including Mercury and the Sun ingressing together, messaging and writing are emphasized. This is not about the usual kind of putting together sentences and paragraphs. It must be something special, with the collection of worlds that have now arrived and which are dancing around one another: Prometheus the Awakener (Uranus), Albion/1992QB1, the healer of transformation, along with Venus and an odd point called Sedna. This offers the tangible, physical, and emotional expression of unusual ideas. So if you feel moved, do some of that and see where it leads you. Speaking of movement, your local environment — walking distance — may seem to burst to life in the coming few weeks, with each day being a little different. Skip the car, the bus, the train and walk around like a cat, slipping into alleys, going behind things and poking into any shop you’ve never visited. Worlds await you.
The hidden realm is vitally important to Pisces: in a sense it is your home. Find your way back home, guided by your latest reading.
2021-22 Pisces Astrology Studio: Every Decision You Make
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