Today’s edition of Astrology News, which has been sent to subscribers, also includes an interview with me about the relationship between astrology and technology. The interview was originally intended for one of the big gaming websites — they didn’t publish it, so we’re running it here. This is a sample of the interview. -efc
A lot of people don’t believe in astrology. What do you say to them?
Astrology is a tool like any other. It works, but I think it needs to be mixed with plenty of real-world knowledge and experience in order to have ethical grounding and actual use. Here’s an example: You can be a database programmer and be very good at programming, but unless you know how people tend to think and work, your databases aren’t going to be convenient to use. You need to know almost as much about people as you do about computers. If you follow the basic lines of human thought habit, you can create intuitive programs that ease our lives mentally, and help people unfold their potential.
Astrologers need to work in the same spirit. We need to remember that people are quirky, that we’re all unique, and most of all, that symbols stand for something else. The thing that distinguishes astrological symbols from many of the symbols that we typically encounter (say, for example, in commerce) is that they’re so well used by so many people that they are archetypes.
Carl Jung gave us this term. Archetypes are a special kind of living symbol which moves down the ages and which exists in some form in every culture. Many or even all of them are already in your mind when you’re born. Imagine if the characters on South Park had been around for 3,000 years, and revered by many of your ancestors and billions of people down the ages, collecting momentum in the genetic memory — that’s what astrological symbols are like. They have residence as living psychic entities in our minds and bodies; they have gravity and cycles. That’s why the concepts associated with them have such validity on the human level. They’re not external to us; they’re part of us.
The virtual world to some extent demonstrates that there is existence beyond the body, as does astrology — we’re overcoming this belief that everything is strictly limited by physical reality. To get into virtuality we need these interconnective devices. So far there are no psychics I know of who can get onto the Net with their minds, but the time may be coming. Without the need to use any equipment at all, astrology can demonstrate that we’re all part of the same reality, and that communication extends beyond the body and the known senses. We try to emulate this with all of our technology. That emulation, much like astrology, can point us toward the reality, or it can keep us trapped in a little model of reality.
Martha. . so sorry I didn’t see your remarks before I posted, but thanks, and yes the river seems to accelerate daily. May Day is looking better and better for a celebration!
be
Thanks Len, thanks suzyc, I appreciate your acknowledgements. I thank Fe too for all she writes and all she feels, and that she also spreads the words accessible to some (here) on to others (there) who will appreciate, like your words below suzy. Thanks to Eric and all the staff at PW for sharing your space and for your teachings and your insights and your caring spirit.
be
Eric, masterful, as ever. Please take a holiday – we need you. I haven’t had one either this year as too many important life events have intervened, each worthwhile and beautiful in their own complicated ways, but at this stage I feel your tired right down to my marrow. A lovely Quaoar bit for you – my dear friend, breast-cancer and leukemia survivor, who was adopted, was told by her parents she never had a birth certificate all her life (she’s just over 50). Thursday the day before the Mercury Rx began she found it in her own house, just out of the blue, and one she has only lived in for a couple of years, totally different state than either origin or her family home. Wild stuff. Also greatly appreciate the recent audios, including the Leo b’day, and the thoughtful and thought provoking piece on technology – all spectacular. Please, rest in our Great Mother’s arms for a spell – the world needs your voice.
And Be – thank you for repeating one of my favorite quotes – so very timely right now … “the river is flowing now very fast” … no kidding! … “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hjvOzn7m6g
U2
If God will send his Angels
Nobody else here baby
No-one else here to blame
No-one to point the finger
It’s just you and me and the rain.
Nobody made you do it
No one put words in your mouth.
Nobody here taking orders
When love took a train heading south.
It’s the blind leading the blond
It’s the stuff, it’s the stuff of country songs.
Hey, if God will send his angels
And if God will send a sign
And if God will send his angels
Would everything be alright?
God’s got his phone off the hook, babe
Would he even pick up if he could?
It’s been a while since we saw that child
Hangin’ round this neighbourhood.
See his mother dealing in a doorway
See Father Christmas with a begging bowl.
And Jesus’ sister’s eyes are a blister
The High Street never looked so low.
It’s the blind leading the blond
It’s the cops collecting for the cons.
So where is the hope and
Where is the faith and the love?
What’s that you say to me
Does love light up your Christmas tree?
The next minute you’re blowing a fuse
And the cartoon network turns into the news.
If God will send his angels
And if God will send a sign
Well if God will send his angels
Where do we go?
Where do we go?
Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score.
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it’s hard to get in the door.
It’s the stuff, it’s the stuff of country songs
But I guess it was something to go on.
Hey, if God will send his angels
I sure could use them here right now
Well, if God will send his angels…
Where do we go?
Where do we go?
Thanks Fe! I have been having great conversations on my FB with my conservative friend Boyce who has many of the typical ‘knee-jerk’ reactions and restatements of conservative media BS. But I tell him regularly that I appreciate him staying my friend on FB. Some of my liberal friends don’t see why I stay friends with him. But I refuse to see him as a one-dimensional fixed point. I don’t care to change him, but he nurtures me in giving me a sounding board for arguments I never got to have with some of the men in my life, particularly my father. We have actually gotten to the point where we are identifying areas of commonality. I think I pretty consistently tend to freak him out a bit, so I appreciate his courage in staying connected with me. I did share my prayer with him, by the way, which he responded to in typical Boyce fashion, “different.”
Awesome edition!
My mind has been so scattered lately I havent had the attention span to devote to a book. But this morning I remembered a book I picked up last summer at a Friends of the Library booksale for a quarter — Mercury Retrograde: Its myth & meaning by Pythia Peay. Well I never heard of her, but I am attempting a disciplined commitment to reading this book during the retrograde period.. well, at least the first few chapters… Six pages in I see:
“Many astrologers have noted the growing influence of the planet Mercury over modern-day life, depicting it as the “ruling god” of our culture. In his July 2000 article for stariq.com, “Spicing Up Your Mercury Retrograde,” astrologer Eric Francis calls Mercury the “cosmic modem.”
Thanks Eric for all your work that is always ahead of its time.
L
susyc:
I cross-posted your letter at Starlight News for the ongoing discussion there, which is, putting it mildly, quite lively and representative of the tension from the Saturn-Pluto square.
Its a good time to bring the dark dense matter to light and put it up for review, and if we can, let it go.
susyc:
What a gorgeous and so appropos letter to spirit, and so right for this passage. It does feel like a rite of passage for our tolerance and opening of heart. As I keep hearing and saying, we need to release, and grow bigger.
Thanks bkoeler for that beautiful quote. Get ready to ride the rapids everyone!
Eric,
::::checking e-mail:::: I wonder if my mail program is having problems again (with Merc Rx, it is a possibilit) because today’s edition is not in my in-box yet. Do you know when it will arrive? It is 2:19 PM Arizona (Pacific) time. I have had problems with my e-mail program before so any insight you can share about things would be very helpful. Thanks always for what you and the rest of the Planet Waves folks do.
Dear Eric, This is in response to New Edition: Mercury Retrograde; Astrology & Technology
Hoping you can let slide the traditional language and understand that I am speaking to the benevolent ‘ground of being’ that I visualize as only one thing, Love.
Dear God,
You know I took it under advisement and asked You first and waited upon Your will as best I could, considering I usually, or at least have been known to do none of those things. Dearest and most patient Lord, it seems to me that being known by You, involves my own willingness to know myself, and that we go into those dark places together, or not at all, because of Your gift of free will. What a brave God you are, laying Yourself out in a creation that can say “No,” to you. And the “Nos” we ascribe as coming from You, are they really “Nos” or just the cause and effect of existence in physical reality, or even just our own imagination? What if You, Your Godself, really never says “No,” despite all appearances and interpretations to the contrary made by your hopeless, grieving, and suffering children? What if all we had to do to hear your endless “Yes!” was to ask you for the willingness to change our own minds?
be,
Of all the things worthy of celebrating, your gentle support and informed optimsm are foremost. Your words never fail to be a true blessing of erudition and encouragement.
“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.
“Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
“The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
`attributed to an unnamed Hopi elder
Hopi Nation
Oraibi, Arizona
This is an exerpt from a comment posted on another blog (Nancy’s Blog) earlier today. I know Fe has read it and I’m sure many others have heard or read it too. I re-post it here in honor of Mercury in its Retrograde stationing conjunct my Neptune and squaring transiting Ceres the Nurturer. It is a time to celebrate.
http://www.docudharma.com/diary/22653/embracing-chaos
Thank you, Eric. From this perch, the two feature articles (Mercury station and your interview) have a through line: It is difficult to be aware and have perspective when we are in the midst of an unprecedented set of experiences. Your hard-won skill for doing that consciously is amazing enough. Add to that your proficiency for teaching others how to do the same and that makes a Planet Waves subscription the most affordable tutorial since a fish was the ticket.
Such a needed and timely piece.
I especially loved the section on our Internet identities and mistaking them for reality.
Its about how this tool is a double-edged sword – powerful in that it can create communities, dangerous in that it can also isolate us from each other even further. And bad information (disinformation) is a very dangerous tool.