Not just another great excuse to talk about sex

Dear Friend and Reader:

Mercury is conjunct Eros today. I take this as a personal invitation from the cosmos to continue my discussion of astrology and sexuality. True, my kitchen table is piled high with these invitations. But this is a good one.

Where you see Mercury, you can fill in the verb ‘communicate’, ‘express’, ‘idea’ or ‘message’. What is being expressed will be modified or described by the sign, the aspects and if you are using a natal or horary chart, the house involved. Today Mercury is exactly conjunct Eros, so presumably we have some form of a message of love or erotic feeling. Note, the god Eros is the root of the word ‘erotic’. So highly did the Greeks value this concept that they assigned it a deity. You may say that everything in Greek myth gets a deity, and you would be right — they lived in a different world than we did; a world that was worthy of respect and awareness.

However, Eros is not just one of the Gods. Eros is one of the prime creation deities, along with Gaia. So with Eros we are on another level entirely, than, say, the Olympian gods and goddesses. (The name Eros should be given to a trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper Belt, but because it’s assigned to an asteroid, it cannot be.)

Martha Lang-Wescott is one of the modern masters of asteroid delineations. I respect her work deeply and I tend to use her ideas as a solid starting point for the asteroids. (For centaurs, I depend on the work of Melanie Reinhart, Juan Revilla and Phil Sedgwick, who I’ll introduce properly on other days.) I also have a friend in Wales whose insight is so clear that she makes this rather highly competent lot look like the three blind mice.

Of the themes of Eros, Martha says: Sexuality; reproductive organs; the heart & cardiac system; the history, experience and behavioral repertoire of eroticism; joie de vivre; what “turns you on;” the Will to Live (the “passion” for life.)

People who wonder why they need to consider sex more fully, investigate their hangups and commit to letting go of them; or who want to live with greater gusto, might well consider how all these things are wrapped up in one idea: Eros. Even astrology, as defined by a careful, even prudent astrologer, is connected with the Will to Live and the joy of life. We all know this. Why do we shun it? Are we ashamed not just of sex, but to live fully? Maybe we’re being influenced by something. Maybe it’s the Church of the Marketing Culture, which says “be ashamed of your body so you buy our products.” If you catch yourself feeling that one, tap your knuckle three times and say, “I don’t need that.”

Mercury is conjunct this point in Taurus today. Taurus is the sign of the season of Beltane, where we are right now. Taurus and Beltane connect the ideas of eroticism and the flow of resources; access to our own resources; and feeling good enough about who we are to enjoy life and pleasure. The astrological cue is to express yourself on what in this subject area is important to you. If you have a lover or partner, say clearly what you like and see if that gets the energy moving in a new way.

If you are afraid to do so, perhaps consider all the things you have not said, and use that as a measure of your intimacy. We are in an unusually potent time for concealing our truth as a way of supporting the structure of a relationship. If this seems like a virtue, it’s in the short run. The longterm cost is incalculable. Eventually, lies , secrets and silence smother passion and the joy of living. As William Pennell Rock said on one of the most searched pages on Planet Waves, “Only the truth is erotic.”

* * *

Saturday, I went to the Beltane celebration at the Center for Symbolic Studies in Tillson. This is an annual event hosted by Robin and Steve Larsen, perhaps best known outside the local area for their book A Fire in the Mind, the biography of Joseph Campbell. This was my first opportunity to go in many years. I’ve been away in Europe for five of the last 10 Beltanes, and spent most of the rest of the time on the West Coast and in Florida.

I’ll post pictures from the event on the cover for the next few days, to give you the feeling. This was Beltane for the whole family. There was a pageant with droves of young people (between five and maybe 16) acting, singing and dancing the drama of the change of seasons (organized by the old-timers of my generation). The wee ones danced the May Pole (see today’s cover) and there was a kind of prancing pony show in a mini-Stonehenge that has been constructed on the property. At night we had a fire ritual without the fire (forest too dry to risk that) and then drumming well into the night. I drummed for the first time in years. it’s one of my passions, and it’s part of my Plan For More, Better Sex.

But what I must congratulate the Larsens on is making Beltane normal. It isn’t even easy to put together a Beltane celebration among the Pagans and pseudo-Pagans in your community. I tried on the West Coast, in Washington, and to my shock, nobody was even interested. Here, in sophisticated rednecky upstate New York, we have this celebration where everyone brings their kids and the girls are all wearing little floral wreaths and the May Pole is danced (which weaves the cosmic vulva [the ribbons] around the cosmic cock [the pole].)

In the world of liberating the sensibilities that defined humanity before Constantine, St. Peter and all those popes, what is missing is some sense that these old rituals are normal. Normal, as in Christmas, softball or a barbecue. With the worldly wisdom I have gained from a decade of traveling and living in different parts of the world, I returned to where I started and saw it as someplace new.

Here are today’s aspects, Note Mercury sextile Uranus and trine Jupiter, and Pallas conjunct Eris.

Have a great day. If you love Planet Waves, please sign up.

Yours & truly,

Monday 28 April 2008

Pallas (20+ Aries) quincunx Psyche (20+ Scorpio Rx)
Mercury (21+ Taurus) conjunct Eros (21+ Taurus)
Mercury (21+ Taurus) sextile Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Venus (26+ Aries) trine Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Eros (21+ Taurus) sextile Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Mercury (21+ Taurus) septile Aries Point (0+ Aries)
Sun (8+ Taurus) opposite Chariklo (8+ Scorpio Rx)
Pallas (21+ Aries) quintile Kronos (3+ Cancer)
Eros (21+ Taurus) septile Aries Point (0+ Aries)
Apollo (22+ Cancer) opposite Jupiter (22+ Capricorn)
Vesta (4+ Aries) quintile Jupiter (22+ Capricorn)
Mars (24+ Cancer) quincunx Neptune (24+ Aquarius)
Mercury (22+ Taurus) trine Jupiter (22+ Capricorn)
Mercury (22+ Taurus) sextile Apollo (22+ Cancer)
Pallas (21+ Aries) conjunct Eris (21+ Aries)
Venus (27+ Aries) trine Orcus (27+ Leo Rx)

Today’s Oracle takes us to Jan. 24, 2002, Aquarius – Weekly

Since Mercury went retrograde in Aquarius I’ve been having little problems with contained water: leaks, pH problems in my fish tank spilling things and so forth. It seems like the water bearer is reminding me of her existence. How are you doing in this regard? Are you sufficiently hydrated both physically and emotionally? If you want to feel a lot better for relatively little work, drink more water than you think you need, get your body into water and near a lot of water if you can. Step two would be plugging any leaks that you’ve noticed on the emotional level just by getting clear with the people around you — a fine way to start the year or better to define it.