Dear Planet Waves,
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I am a recent college grad with what I am told by professors and professionals is an unusual and highly precocious artistic talent. I have been writing and drawing for as long as I could hold a pen, and some very gifted astrologers have told me in no uncertain terms that I ought to have an extremely lucrative and very public career ahead of me — should I seize the right opportunities, of course.
However, I tend to have an adverse reaction to this suggestion. I often have a very strong feeling that I’d be better off in a position deeply retreated from society at large — in a convent, say, or in a subsistence farming situation.
Friends and advisers want to write this off as the result of ingrained fear of failure or some other sinister type of chronic insecurity.
I don’t know what to make of it myself; am I really just suffering from depressive agoraphobia, or am I allowing the well-meaning words of career-driven urbanites distract me from something that would ultimately be a greater boon to me? Is there some way of splitting the difference that I have not yet discerned?
This condition has persisted for many years and still I have a hard time “following my heart” on this one. At this point I find myself almost totally stalled out.
Regardless of whether this note makes it to virtual print, I am compelled to thank the entire PW team for their stalwart and compassionate work over the years.
Thank you, Eric, for this important project. I wish it long life.
Best,
C.
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Dear C:
I am not sure who your astrologers were, but I would not have made any such promises. It is a good thing that most of what astrologers say in no uncertain terms does not actually come to pass. I’m not saying you lack talent or potential. It’s just there’s a long way to go from drawing or painting well to having an extremely lucrative and very public career. It may be the longest distance between any two points on Earth. And people do cross that distance, though you don’t often hear about how many pairs of shoes they went through along the way.
It is a little early to be worried about how rich and famous you’re going to be.
Here is a question for you. Why do you have this talent? I don’t know your spiritual orientation, that is, who or what you believe in, but let’s presume there is a reason. Or at the least, a use for your talents to someone besides yourself. You did not mention having a career that would express an idea, spread a message, or propagate beauty for its own sake. You don’t mention what you want to do with your abilities. You mention two options: being catapulted to some sort of public stature and well-endowed bank account, or being cloistered away.
Let’s take a look at your chart. There is something really interesting about it: the main focus is on the 3rd and 4th houses, which represent an interior space. The signs involved are Aries and Taurus, which represent a focus on oneself, ones inner mind, home and sense of security. With all due respect, your chart and your letter suggest that you are somewhat self absorbed. I think you’re bright, you seem to possess a measure of alertness, and you crave innovation — but you’re going to need to reach escape velocity to get free of your interior orientation.
You do have quite a few massive planets in the public sector of your chart, but they are all retrograde. The retrograde suggests that you pull back into yourself when you need (in my view) to be expressing yourself. To me that is the point of artistic talent. Usually it has a purpose, which is to help the person who has it process their reality and along the way, keep their sanity, grow and with any luck have the products of their efforts help people on our benighted world.
Here is something you should know. Around 2001, Pluto began its transition into your 12th house, which is a transit that pulls you deep into yourself. It’s not that your chart lacks this emphasis — it’s painted in bright colors just about everywhere. But Pluto through the 12th can pull you down under the depths of your psyche to the point where you really can feel like you’re the only person in the world.
Now, nearly eight years later, Pluto is about to cross your ascendant. It will do this beginning later this year and through all of 2009, when it will be in your 1st house. This will help you break out of your spell of being cloistered. But it will also push your sense of a special destiny through the roof. I suggest you wear that sense of destiny as humbly as you can, and make an effort to see that you can have a positive impact on the world. It may be in a large way or it may be in a small way. And it may not be a positive contribution at all, unless you guide it that way. But you will have an impact and you need to be aware of what you want it to be. If you equate having artistic talent with fame and fortune, you’re likely to miss the boat on living a constructive life just like so many of the people we read about in People.
You’re a young person with a wide horizon, and you seem convinced that you have an artistic gift. I suggest you focus on what you want to do with that gift rather than what is going to happen to you personally as a result of having it. You don’t need to worry about whether you want or need to be cloistered or not. Anyone who develops their talent tends to spend a lot of time alone mastering their craft and moreover the mind that is trying to apply it meaningfully to existence.
And anyone who takes the sincere path of a creative career is indeed fortunate to be supported by their work.
Yours & truly,
===
Dear Eric (and friends),
I am currently going through a change in my life which I’m having a hard time dealing with. I recently spent five months living in another country and rekindled a relationship there. We are in love and I want to move there for a few years but actualizing that feels like a huge struggle, internally and externally. I’m trying to be independent and create the life that I want because (in true Virgo fashion) I have been pleasing other people for so long. I love to be of service but I feel like an emotional paramedic and I’m exhausted. I’m a writer, performer and facilitator and I want to expand and be my most fabulous self, but I need some guidance on how to pursue my dreams without alienating people I love.
I was born on August 24th, 1976 at 4:35 pm.
Peace & Many thanks
Akimbo
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Dear Akimbo:
Why are you so worried about alienating anyone? Well, okay — I see you live with a pretty extreme polarity — a deep need for security or injured sense of safety (Chiron in the 4th house) and a powerful calling to make your innovative mark on the world (Uranus in the 10th house). However, I would propose that you need to go a little deeper than this discussion in order to find out why you specifically equate living your life, on the one hand, with being cast off, on the other.
Anyway, for all those who really want to do something with their lives, be it go on the road to visit a lover or play for the Yankees, be prepared to let go of friends who don’t get it, or who don’t actually support your choices. It could be said that you specifically need to alienate people in order to live your life, and in the process, discover the people who are going to be your true family of choice; your actual tribe.
From what you say, I am not sure you love them so much as you feel a need to take care of them. And if you can manage to alienate yourself from this lot, perhaps they will either learn to take care of themselves or find someone else to do so. But this would leave you without your old job, and a perfect opportunity to be your most fabulous self.
Yours & truly,
===
Dear Eric,
I was born on September 25th, 1955 at 8:06 pm in Wichita, Kansas.
As an early Cardinal Sun sign I am very interested to see your input on the significant changes that I will see with the upcoming cardinal grand cross and outer planet transits 2008-2012.
I have a strong interest in new career endeavors as well as new personal relationships but I have felt uninspired for a few years.
Regards,
Gary
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Dear Gary:
You are about to experience a once in a lifetime transit known as Pluto square the Sun. It is one of those transits that will basically get you off your ass. Then Saturn will make a conjunction to your Sun in late 2009, which is a nice way of saying that you come to terms with yourself.
Then you will experience Uranus opposite the Sun, which will get you moving even faster. You are going to experience these transits one at a time, so I suggest you analyze them one at a time.
However, there are plenty of people who would experience these transits as disruptive or difficult; the difference comes down to what you want from life, and what you’re willing to do in order to have it. By this, I mainly mean undergo a deep process of transformation (a Pluto transit), followed by a maturing process (Saturn) and then being subjected to what I can only call wild inspiration (Uranus).
I don’t think you will be bored. But I suggest you do your best to find ways to express yourself and therefore keep a very good attitude.
Yours & truly,
===
Hello Eric,
I’ve been following the eclipse cycles and now they’re in the Aquarius/Leo pairs. As you can see, the last eclipse fell a day short of my birthday.
My husband and I have been together for 19 years, and I understand very well how to keep a long term committed and loving relationship. We do not wish to divorce because we share a deep friendship and responsibility for a young child. However, the last eclipse gave me the the impetus to move myself beyond my traditional marriage, and I have been very fortunate in finding a new companion to explore polyamorous relationships with.
But now I’ve been feeling “antsy” in regards to my new friend, and rather surprised to find myself wanting to slip back into the comfortable pattern of a one/one classic partnership. My question I would like to know is how best to handle this energy? My understanding is that eclipses propel you into the future, not let you slide back into old patterns like a pair of comfy old slippers. I thought I was making progress, but now I’m confused!
Thank you,
Amy
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Dear Amy,
First, congratulations on your efforts at monogamy reform. While I think it’s natural and necessary that people be committed to one another in the long run, I also think that we need to make room for one another to explore life outside of long term committed partnerships, if that is what we want — and most people seem to.
I wish I had more to go on than antsy, however, regarding how you feel about your newish friend. I looked it up and the dictionary and found out that it means nervous, impatient and restless. Are you feeling confined by the relationship? Are you balking at a sense of disloyalty? Or are is the new relationship energy wearing off, with something lacking beneath that level?
I suggest you have a radical honesty clearing session with everyone. Get to the heart of how everyone feels, and don’t keep anything to yourself. I suggest you first talk to both of your partners individually, and give them the space to state exactly what they are feeling; then you do the same. And then I suggest you get all three of you in the same room and have one more conversation.
There are honest alternatives to monogamy, and they all come at the price of honesty. I think you have this capability. But you need to watch a tendency to be able to compartmentalize. By this I mean you can relate to someone in one way and then someone else in another way, and keep the two separate. I see this in both your Capricorn Venus and your Gemini Moon.
The Moon, for its part, suggests that you really do need some diversity in your life. That Capricorn Venus suggests that you have some unusual ways of processing your emotions, but you feel passionately and crave experimentation: but I don’t suggest that you fold your clothes before you make love.
Anyway, write back to me about the antsy part and let me know what happens after you have your radical honesty sessions.
Yours & truly,
===
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Today’s Oracle takes us to Apr 01, 2006 – Taurus – Monthly
You know that your ambitions are delicate, and the fact that certain individuals have found it within their rights to play dice with their loyalty or play politics instead of carrying water has been disconcerting. Yet if you can let the petty things remain small and keep your heart and soul focused on the vision for a better world that you’ve been nursing, you’ll find that all the games in the world cannot sway your steps. It has been said that there’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. You are currently in possession of such an idea, however humble or personal it may seem. Let the waves you seem to be making serve as a testament to your influence. It would seem that the greatest gift you have to offer is giving people an opportunity to cooperate, and setting an example for how they may take that too-often insurmountable evolutionary step.
Wednesday 30 July 2008
Arachne (12+ Libra) trine Nessus (12+ Aquarius Rx)
Sun (7+ Leo) sesquiquadrate Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Mercury (7+ Leo) quintile Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Venus (21+ Leo) square Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) square Ceres (21+ Cancer)
Sisyphus (14+ Libra) square Jupiter (14+ Capricorn Rx)
Sun (7+ Leo) quintile Admetos (25+ Taurus)
Amor (4+ Gemini) semisquare Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Venus (21+ Leo) septile Arachne (12+ Libra)
Pallas (28+ Taurus) septile Varuna (19+ Cancer)
Sisyphus (14+ Libra) quintile Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Venus (21+ Leo) trine Eris (21+ Aries Rx)
Vesta (9+ Taurus) quintile Ceres (21+ Cancer)
Mercury (8+ Leo) square Asbolus (8+ Taurus)
Ceres (21+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (14+ Leo) quincunx Jupiter (14+ Capricorn Rx)
Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx) quintile Logos (20+ Virgo)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) septile Ixion (12+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (15 Leo) sesquiquadrate Aries Point (0 Aries)
Atlantis (21+ Libra) semisquare Pholus (6+ Sagittarius Rx)
Ceres (21+ Cancer) sextile Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Venus (22+ Leo) quincunx Uranus (22+ Pisces Rx)
Eros (15+ Leo) sextile Sisyphus (15+ Libra)
Mercury (9+ Leo) quintile Atlantis (21+ Libra)
Mercury (9+ Leo) square Vesta (9+ Taurus)