New Moon, New Year, New Ideas, with your extended weekly horoscope by Eric Francis

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Dear Friend and Reader:

We are in a most extraordinary week of Aquarius astrology — the best I’ve ever seen. This means that there will be transits to minor planet configurations in Aquarius that are in the charts of many people born in the 1950s and 1960s.

This New Moon is Asian New Year. For billions of people around the world, this is the time of the year turning over. We are about to begin Chinese year 4719, represented by the Metal Ox. The last Ox year was 2009, the Earth Ox. In Western astrology, the equivalent is Capricorn. We get conventionality, persistence, and dependability.

We are also back to Kala Sarpa Yoga — all the classical planets are set to one side of the lunar nodes. This has the feeling that the stakes are high, and what happens now affects the future.

Aside, this is also good information as we approach the end of Mercury retrograde, which is all about completing matters from the immediate past. This week, that’s about refining the topics you need to cover, and getting clear with people in your life.

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

The Product of the Immediate Past

Yet Kala Sarpa is also the product of the past. One interpretation of this pattern in a natal chart is that events in the person’s immediately prior life have unusual influence and impact on the present one. (That is not always the case; it would seem it’s rarely so.) Kala Sarpa is therefore about addressing recent unfinished business. Doing so gives tremendous advantages in the present life, or the present moment. For that, it helps to have some idea what was left incomplete and why.

Aside, this is also good information as we approach the end of Mercury retrograde, which is all about completing matters from the immediate past. This week, that’s about refining the topics you need to cover, and getting clear with people in your life.

In addition to all of the classical planets and the lights (the Moon and Sun) being placed to one side of the nodes (which is all you need for Kala Sarpa), we have most of the important minor planets in the pattern as well. Those include the first three centaur planets (Chiron, Pholus and Nessus), the first three dwarf planets (Ceres, Pluto and Eris), other very useful slow movers (Salacia, Ixion, Quaoar) and several important asteroids.

That is a lot! This has the sensation of raising the stakes, and perhaps of complicating matters.

Mercury retrograde in Aquarius is giving you the opportunity to question reality rather than just swallow whole what other people believe.

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Our Complicated Moment, with Much on the Line

The stakes are high now, and life is complicated. Yet most of the complication is synthetic. And most of the problems we face can be resolved by being closer to one another, and stepping as much as possible out of the in-silico situation of mostly living our lives online.

Another metaphor for this is living a theoretical existence. Most of what people are afraid of exists only in theory: in computer models, in press releases, and in the demented minds of politicians and those who count themselves as “health officials.”

Mercury retrograde in Aquarius is giving you the opportunity to question reality rather than just swallow whole what other people believe. You will hear this a lot, if you listen: people acting a certain way because everyone else is, or thinking a certain way because there seems to be no acceptable alternative.

Here is an interesting test of your perceptions. Is what you believe in accord with what is being broadcast on all of the television channels? If it is, I suggest you need to ask questions. Does what you see there seem true? You won’t see much of that on any television news program or in any newspaper.

Part of what makes me nervous is that people don’t realize how disoriented we are, and how upside-down society is.

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Focus on Social Existence

All the activity in Aquarius is placing a focus on our social existence. Many places, the entire previous social pattern has been completely erased. And in those places it has been replaced by fear, suspicion, and a sense of emptiness. Many people are struggling with isolation right now. This is always a problem in our society, which tends toward dehumanization.

People have been pushed apart and forced onto the internet for a generation. Fifteen years ago people were worried about text messaging alienating people. For the past decade we have worried about social media alienating people.

Then — bang — one day everything that was not already online went online, from kindergarten to the Supreme Court. We had a new version of the Giant Sucking Sound (the famous Ross Perot quote): the digital realm inhaling everyone and everything that it had not already consumed. It’s like that last stage at the car wash, where the big vacuum comes down and eats all the moisture left behind.

We must also mention the rapidly creeping existence of biometrics, biosecurity, facial recognition, social credit, and actual credit (there is a proposal in existence to connect credit score to internet search history).

All of this has taken a toll on our ability to get together, and moreover, to trust one another. Four years ago I was envisioning the Summer of Trust, as a function of the Great American Eclipse. Here is that article.

Part of what makes me nervous is that people don’t realize how disoriented we are, and how upside-down society is. The tide creeped up on us for 25 years, and then a tidal wave hit. Suddenly nearly all of the business was going toward high tech. The big winners this past year were all the architects of the commercial internet.

The one safety that humanity actually has is our ability to be together and work together; to join our efforts and collaborate; and to be social.

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Great Times for Robots, Difficult Times for People

It’s been a great year for robots. It’s been a terrible year for people trusting one another and their bodies. The assault has been on our concept of what it means to be in a body. We are being taught that the body serves one purpose only: a disease vector. With that as its purpose, it is then subject to all the corporate products that in theory prevent it from being a disease vector, at which time it becomes a device.

This orientation wrecks our ability to have trusting relationships. The terror of everyone being a disease carrier, no matter how subtle or overt, means we cannot trust one another. We are being told we especially cannot trust one another in groups.

We may think that this is offering us some short-term safety, which is absolutely not the case. That safety already exists. Our bodies are perfectly adapted to navigating our environment. It is our minds that are being crushed and shattered, overwhelmed and distorted.

Yet the one safety that humanity actually has is our ability to be together and work together; to join our efforts and collaborate; and to be social.

Without that, there is no society, no community, no family: no sense that we are all in this experience of incarnation together.

We need to find our common ground. We need to find our ability to trust ourselves and one another. Those who are not so keen on having your fear used against you, please — stand up.

With love,

Eric signature
Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Aquarius Astrology Studio
Aquarius Astrology Studio

Dear Friend and Reader:

Astrology Studio for Aquarius 2021 is ready. My annual reading — All of Us Here — left much unsaid, especially for Aquarius, where all of the most interesting astrology of 2021 and beyond is centered.

Eric Francis

Your central quest is nothing less than the deepest message of your sign, which is about being the distinctly different human that you are: in the face of much pressure to give that up.

Yet as someone getting your astrology from me, not on my watch.

Aquarius is a human sign, and it is your destiny to emerge from the current crisis unscathed, in possession of your soul’s mission and purpose.

The combination of Jupiter and Saturn in your sign is a rare opportunity. It has not happened since you were much younger — way back in 1405.

Astrology Studio readings are 75 minutes, with original music, and access to last year’s recording for review. This reading will help you make sense of astrology that is widely commented upon, but that few truly understand. You may order here.

Thank you for your business and your trust.

With love,

Eric signature

Listen to a sample of the Aquarius reading on the player below.

Get instant access to the full reading here.


PS — This reading is included with the Backstage Pass. When it is ready, it will appear on your BSP Readings feed in your personal account on the new website. If you have not established a personal account on the new site, please contact us immediately so you get your materials. Write to cs@planetwaves.net.

For those interested in the Backstage Pass, which includes all Astrology Studio and the Spring and Midyear readings, you may learn more here, or call (845) 481-5616. I answer when possible and if not, someone will get right back to you.


All of Us Here annual readings now available for instant access

“My study of astrology has in many ways been a study of history. One thing I’ve observed is that when things seem the most bleak, many of the most unusual possibilities are available.” — Eric Francis

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Get instant access to your 2021 Annual Reading by Eric Francis today. Visit this link for more information.



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Scopes

Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscope for February was published on Thursday, Jan. 28. We published your extended monthly horoscope for January on Tuesday, Dec. 22. Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope after the Sun has entered a new sign.


Planet Waves

Weekly Horoscope #262 for February 9, 2021

By Eric Francis Coppolino


Aries

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Social existence has been thrown into chaos the past year, and you’re likely to be feeling it more than most people. Yet you’ve also got the most potential benefit from opportunities created by the situation, as long as you can do two things. One of them is to take leadership. That means initiative, action and follow-through. The second is to be true to yourself. That means honoring what you understand as your basic reality. Not every situation where you need to make a modest compromise is, however, selling out. Many act that way, as if accepting the least thing they disagree with would mean they have no soul. That is not practical. It’s crucial that you work with priorities. Know what is important and what is not. Know what is designed to be temporary and what is not, and set time limits. That means saying something like, “I’ll give this three months and evaluate in April.” However, my larger point is this: though much damage has been done to the world, that has created many needs, and many opportunities. You are likely to have a sense of what those are. You can both be of service and take advantage of these opportunities at the same time.


Taurus

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You may not think of yourself as a person who takes on public responsibility, though you’re being called to do so. “Public responsibility” means matters of collective importance where the buck stops with you. I don’t mean setting a good example of some kind, though that counts, particularly if the example you set is grounded in reality. Rather, I mean hands-on work, particularly the challenging task of engaging both groups and individuals in productive activity. This is inconvenient and time-consuming. The flake factor has gone through the roof, and for many people, everything is optional. You however are being called to take on a higher level of commitment than you have ever had. I recognize this goes against the (usually) prevailing Taurus ethos of life being about comfort and ease first. However, we are not in normal times, and your chart is under transits that have not been possible since 1405, so therefore, never before in your lifetime. I urge you to rise to the calling, and bring all of your talent, energy and spiritual training to the table. The needs of the many are calling you.


Gemini

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You will never know what is true until you question what you think is true, and fortunately you seem ready to do that. Once you do, you will see the extent to which you’ve lived on assumptions that have been a substitute for truth. The easy trap you fall into is that if many people think something is a certain way, they cannot all be wrong. This extends to the experts, who presumably cannot all be wrong. It extends to the concept of science, which cannot be wrong. Except for one thing. The whole notion of science is that the seemingly irrefutable knowledge of one day is always eventually revised. The problem we face now is that belief has become the primary indicator of so-called truth. Listen to people speak, and potentially to yourself: the prevailing logic is, “If I believe it, it must be true.” However, I suggest you identify your beliefs and ask yourself how you got there. Who told you? Can you account for the things you say and think? You need to put a sharp point on this. Listen to yourself and account for every statement. Beliefs are not facts, and facts are not necessarily true.


Cancer

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — There are many agreements and contracts that need to be reviewed, revised and gotten rid of. Therefore, go through all of them. How do you do that? Well, consider that you have one or more with each person in your life. Any time a matter comes up for discussion, no matter how small, ask yourself what agreement that is based on. It may be unspoken, and those are the ones to pay special attention to. You want to get all those underground, unacknowledged deals up to the surface and into words. Once you do, you may discover the extent of misunderstanding that has been leading to various degrees of confusion. Pay particular attention where the exchange of money is concerned. What are the promises, commitments, and expectations involved? As important: where does time figure into the mix, i.e., are deadlines met and appointments kept? Does either party to the agreement waste the other person’s time? Finally, there is the matter of sex or the lack thereof, which will factor into some of these situations. The question with sex and ideas about it is: can they be expressed in words? The answer is usually no. Yet there exists a deep need to do so.


Leo

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You may be striving to turn over a new leaf in a relationship, though don’t be so fast to fully commit to your position. Moreover, do not assume you understand where someone close to you is coming from. Rather, I would propose you need to find out where they are coming from. One way or another you will, except that either it will be in time to make a decision, or too late to do so. There is very little in the world that cannot wait a week or so. Yes, there are some things that cannot, but there are not so many. Use the time between now and Feb. 20 to look beneath the surface and between the layers. Use this time to have difficult conversations. Try to figure out what is not being said, or said overtly. The chances are that a group dynamic is involved. There may be a consensus view of some kind. Pay attention to the person who has the differing opinion, and who is perhaps unpopular. You may not want to agree with them though the chances are that the more “controversial” position is the one more reflective of the deeper reality, perhaps even the truth.


Virgo

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You may be in a rather complicated situation at work. Or so it would seem. However, much of your situation is that some trees are blocking your view of a splendid forest. Here is a description of your environment, based on what I can glean from your chart. There are large and powerful players involved, though it’s not easy to tell who is on the helpful side and who is on the detrimental side. You may discover that what seems to be true is the opposite of what is true. Meanwhile your view of the matter may be contrary to what the majority of people accept. While their views may be uncomfortable to resist, it’s vital to maintaining your integrity that you stick to your truth, and also, to constantly verify that you are correct. Therefore, hear others out to the degree that you actually understand their critique, and then address it to the point where you know any arguments or contrary views are addressed. The popular side is not necessarily correct, and the person ‘coming to the rescue’ may be doing no such thing. Someone who seems like a member of the establishment may be the one with the most useful point of view, and will also be a potential ally if you honor what you know to be real.


Libra

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — If you have any creative aspirations at all, now is the time when you can break through to the next level. Here is the thing about developing creativity, however: a lot of it is about coming back to the work every day, whether you want to or not. It’s important to be driven by passion and desire, though it’s not always dependable from day to day. That is where basic discipline comes in: you keep coming back to your goal or your objective every day, a little at a time, until you form a pattern that weaves a certain activity into your life. This counts for anything you care about, though for many, what they think of as artistic creation gets sidelined. Now that you may have figured out that the path through the economic and social weirdness is doing exactly what matters to you the most, all I can say is, there is no time like the present, meaning today, right now, and every day going forward for the foreseeable future. Every word you form will be triple word score.


Scorpio

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You must remain optimistic for your own sanity, and fortunately you have many reasons to be so. The truth is, most of your needs are fulfilled. The most significant question is whether you are open to receiving what the world is making available to you. It may not be in the form that you expect. It may not involve the people you expect. In fact it would seem that you are going through a process of figuring out who is who in your life; you may decide that people who in the past you did not like much are suddenly more appealing, and those you had a higher opinion of you would prefer to stand back from. While the world may not meet your exact expectations, you may discover that in the bigger sense, you’re doing better than you imagined possible. Part of being creative with your life is loosening up any rigid concepts of reality that you have, which can take a little extra work for someone born under a fixed sign as you are. Think of it as shuffling the deck and drawing some cards. See who turns up.


Sagittarius

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — There is so much going through the mind and language angle of your chart that you may feel totally overwhelmed. This is also the community angle, which for you has Aquarius gleaming from it. The odds are good that most of this activity is happening online. This is the perfect week for that, and if you keep your ears on, you will meet some interesting collaborators, and have a few excellent ideas of your own. Remember that the goal of all expression is being understood. There is nothing abstract about your chart at the moment, though there is plenty that is abstract about the times we are living in. Allow the general direction of workflow to be in the direction of making what is more easily comprehensible, what reaches people personally, and what is spoken in their language. Don’t let any of the seemingly excess activity make your head spin. Prioritize what is interesting and what is necessary first, and do your best to put the two together. When confused, or if you lose the plot, take it to the telephone or in person.


Capricorn

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — People who remain in harmful situations too long or compromise their values and integrity learned this from their families. The same is true for those who make their decisions based on avoiding upsetting others or making them angry, as a way of life. It’s time to do an audit of this realm of your psychology, because it is affecting you all the time. Now is a good opportunity because the issue is being pushed right up to the front and center of your life. Beware of the allure of happily ever after when everyone gets along beautifully — that is merely a trap. The ‘special relationship’ is another ever present temptation that makes it seem like it’s worth doing everything for the sake of the future. And we live in times when we are conditioned to believe that everything must be about acceptance by the tribe and for the sake of the collective. Yet all of this is pure fluff. You are an individual with a life to lead. You can see the tendencies in yourself that have set you back over and over. The decisions that seem so tough will not feel that way once you have made them.


Aquarius

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — We are approaching a New Moon in your birth sign, where all the classical planets except for one will be collected. (To give you a sense of just how many, those are the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Mars is the exception, and I will come to that in a moment.) This is likely to be an unusual time in your life, with more happening than you think you can handle, and many new people showing up. You might be feeling overwhelmed and under pressure, whether in terms of commitment, time, money or all three. Though it may seem impossible, you need to simplify and slow down. Even doing so a little will have immediate benefits, for example, of clearer thinking, which will lead to better decisions. The most important thing you can do right now, though, is live in the present. The past and all that happened there is a powerful lure and nothing but a distraction. You must use what you learned, and also do your best to not think in prejudicial ways. Take authority and ask questions until you know what you need from the answers. As for Mars in Taurus: yet another reminder that right now, your leadership counts and counts for a lot.


Pisces

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — There seems to be so much going on that has nothing to do with you. It all appears to involve everyone else. Yet this cannot be, since everything that is happening to you and around you, no matter how minimally it may involve you, is about you. While you don’t need to take on full responsibility for the conduct of others, you do need to know exactly why they are in your life. You need to understand why you put them there and what their actual role is, in practice and not in theory. Now is the time to figure this out, while you have unusual insight into these matters if you choose to be open to it. You also have the potential for unusual insight into yourself: your needs, desires and insecurities, for example. To gain full access to this, you will need to be highly conscious of how you think, feel, make choices and otherwise conduct yourself. Notice any tendency you may have not to get a grip: to leave things for later, or to expect that they will solve themselves, or to avoid what is too difficult. Right now this project is as easy as it’s ever going to be.


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